Having obtained interdisciplinary experience while studying Polish Philology and Philosophy at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland and completing BA (Hons.) in Fine Art and Design at the CIT Crawford College of Art in Design (2010) in Cork, as well as H.Dip. in Applied Psychology at University College Cork (2013) Katarzyna (Kasia) Pyrz is currently pursuing her PhD at the UCC, School of Applied Psychology. Her doctoral research, supervised by Dr. Audrey DunnGalvin and Dr. Samantha Dockray is funded by the UCC's Department of Paediatrics and Child's Health within an European Union 7th Framework Programme (FP7). 

Kasia is a member of an international research group investigating management, risk perception and risk behaviour in food allergy and social contexts in which allergic incidents happen. Kasia contributes to this trans-disciplinary team by drawing on the perspectives and contributions of Health, Biological, Cognitive, Developmental, Positive and Social Psychology. 

In her time as an undergraduate, Kasia contributed to research projects in the School of Applied Psychology as a research assistant. She has also conducted research into a role of resilience resources in the cardiovascular recovery from laboratory stress with her supervisor Dr. Samantha Dockray and her colleagues from the BEATS (Biological Explanations, Approaches and Testing of Stress) research group.

Kasia is a member of a Well-being and Social Engagement research group (http://www.ucc.ie/en/apsych/research/groups/wase/) in the School of Applied Psychology and the Institute for Social Sciences in the 21st Century in the School of Applied Social Science (http://www.ucc.ie/en/iss21/about-iss21/).

Kasia has also a work experience as a primary and secondary school teacher, a freelance artist and an art administrator, as well as a carer for children with developmental disabilities.