Congratulations to Lynn Farrell on being selected as the Student Spotlight Award winner for December 2018!
The purpose of this award is to highlight students who are doing important work in the CBS community whether for research, clinical, and/or volunteer-humanitarian efforts.
This is a way to highlight their achievements, let the ACBS community know important work students are doing, and possibly provide a platform for mentoring/collaboration/professional development/conversations around highlighted areas.
Learn more about Lynn:
Background of CBS Research/Clinical/Volunteering efforts/achievements:
I first came across CBS research through an introduction to Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) during my undergraduate degree in Maynooth University. This inspired me to research implicit relational responding, specifically how we implicitly relate gender to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields. Following this research path led me to University College Dublin (UCD) where I became a member of the CBS lab there, led by Dr. Louise McHugh. Here, I have had the opportunity to collaborate on a number of other research projects including examinations of cyberbullying, citation analysis and publication trends. I received a postgraduate scholarship from the Irish Research Council to continue pursuing my research into the nature and malleability of gender-STEM bias using the IRAP. To date I have published two papers on this topic in the JCBS and have disseminated this work both nationally and internationally. Along with a diverse team of inspiring fellow RFT researchers, I’ve been involved in the development and delivery of a workshop aimed at helping others to conduct RFT research and form research collaborations. This workshop was most recently delivered at the ACBS World Conference in Seville (2017). I am also currently one of the student representatives on the board for the Women in ACBS SIG, a position that has broadened my knowledge of how a CBS-based approach can contribute to social change.
Autobiography:
I’m from Dublin, Ireland and was the first in my family to graduate from university when I achieved my BA in Psychology from Maynooth University. My introduction to RFT changed how I approached research and topics of interest to me in ways I had never imagined. While working in UCD I was fortunate enough to be invited to join the CBS lab there. In my time as a member of this wonderful lab I have been introduced to some of the incredible people behind CBS research and its many diverse strands, including an introduction to ACT. Though I may never be the first to volunteer for ACT role-play exercises (“experiential avoidance!” I hear you cry), I do try to incorporate ACT consistent techniques into my life and live in accordance with my values. I’ve made some wonderful friends and have had the support of incredible mentors within the CBS community. My recent involvement in the Women in ACBS SIG has only strengthened this sense of community. I hope to continue to develop as a researcher and contribute to research that is both meaningful and useful, particularly in the vast area of equality. I am currently trying to develop interventions that strengthen positive relations between women and STEM to counter stereotypes within this domain. I have much still to learn but am grateful for the opportunity to do so with curiosity and compassion within the ACBS community.
Future goals:
I hope to continue to research and promote issues relevant to equality and diversity and to continue to develop as a researcher within the ACBS community.
Relevant publications:
Farrell, L. & McHugh, L. (2017). Examining gender-STEM bias among STEM and non-STEM students using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). Journal of Contextual Behavioural Science. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2017.02.001 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212144717300042
Farrell, L., Cochrane, A., & McHugh, L. (2015). Exploring attitudes towards gender and science: The advantages of an IRAP approach versus the IAT. Journal of Contextual Behavioural Science, 4(2), 121-128. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2015.04.002 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212144715000204
O’Connor, M., Farrell, L., Munnelly, A., & McHugh, L. (2017). Citation analysis of relational frame theory: 2009–2016. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 6(2), 152-158. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212144717300339
Munnelly, A., Farrell, L., O’Connor, M., & McHugh, L. (2017). Adolescents’ Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Cyberbullying: an Exploratory Study Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and Self-Report Measures. The Psychological Record, 1-10. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40732-017-0261-0