Dr. Prakashini Banka-Cullen

Dr Sonam Prakashini Banka-Cullen has over 10 years of research experience working with vulnerable communities such as children living in refuge, victims of domestic abuse, and people who use substances. She has special interests in child mental and physical health, health psychology, public health, service and intervention evaluation, mixed methods research, quantitative data analysis and statistical modelling, and evidence reviews. Her PhD work was on the implementation and evaluation of the WHO"s Healthy Schools Programme in six DEIS primary schools, with 600 children. She has substantial experience in conducting research with children and their families, in various settings, e.g., refuge, IPAS, school, and clinical setting, and collecting data using creative and engaging methods such as children"s drawings, collage and Lego Serious Play. Dr Banka-Cullen has contributed extensively to teaching in the areas of child health research, addiction studies, data analytics, research methods, and psychology at Trinity College Dublin. She was the module leader and supervisor on the international CHARM-EU Masters in Sustainability and continues to teach research methods and healthcare research in the Life and Health stream. Dr Banka-Cullen has also worked as a Programme Lead in the Education Stream of Tangent, Trinity"s Ideas Workspace, the innovation hub of Trinity, where she developed and implemented healthcare innovation programmes. She also worked as a Psychology Lecturer in Dublin Business School, and Research Supervisor at Dublin City University. In addition, she previously worked as a programme coordinator and facilitator at the International Humanitarian Innovation Academy in Tanzania. Dr Banka-Cullen is currently employed as a Research Project Manager and Fellow in the Institute of Population Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin. She has a BA(Hons) in Psychology, PhD in Psychology focusing on child health, PG Certificate in Statistics, PG Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and a H. Dip in Data Analytics in Science.

  CHILD HEALTH   Child Mental Health   Health Psychology   Quantitative Research   STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Sonam's PhD is on the relationship between childhood depression, obesity and poor school performance among urban disadvantaged children. Her research interests include health promotion, health psychology, service and intervention evaluation, child mental health and physical health, statistical modeling, depression, obesity, and substance misuse