Caoimhe Dempsey

Caoimhe Dempsey is a Lecturer in the School of Applied Psychology, UCC. Her research explores family dynamics and children's socio-emotional development in home and school contexts. Caoimhe holds a Ba in Psychology from Trinity College Dublin, and an MRes and PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of Cambridge. She previously held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Economic and Social Research Institute and Trinity College Dublin. She is currently involved in a number of projects looking at how best to support children's socio-emotional development through the quality of relationships across contexts. 

Caoimhe's research can be broadly categorised into two key themes:

1. Family influences on children’s social, emotional and cognitive outcomes including spillover between family relationships, bidirectional and child-driven effects.
2. Early educational experiences as a moderator of family life and consequences for long-term academic and socio-emotional outcomes. 

Caoimhe utilises observational and advanced quantitative methods to examine these themes. Her work aims to inform evidence-based support for families and educational policy and practice. 

Current projects: 

• Family influences on children's adjustment during the transition to primary school
• Concordance of parenting qualities within dual-parent families and links with children's internalising and externalising problems
• School experiences contributing to student mental health and wellbeing 

Caoimhe teaches on the Ba in Early Years and Childhood Studies, Ba in Applied Psychology, and Ba in Applied Social Studies. 

She teach on the following modules:

• Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence
• Applied Developmental Psychology: Infants, Toddlers and Children
• Child and Family Health Psychology
• Applied Quantitative Research Methods

Caoimhe also supervises undergraduate and masters dissertation students and PhD students. 

Laura Mahady (DClinPsych 2025-2028) attachment and mental health