Cathal is a psychologist by disciplinary background and is an established inter-disciplinary researcher with prior experience leading large multi-cohort projects of scale. Since 2006, he has been heavily involved with the two flagship longitudinal studies of development (Growing Up in Ireland) and ageing (TILDA) in Ireland, and is also a lead investigator on a pan-European funded project entitled LIFEPATH. His research utilises population-level cohort data to explore social differentials in health and longevity across the life course, applying cutting-edge insights and methodological innovations from the social sciences to the study of biological ageing. Over the past six years, he has been involved with projects securing €31million in grant income.
Cathal has an international profile as a life course scholar with expertise in the social epidemiology of ageing and his academic papers have received a number of awards and distinctions. He holds a prestigious Emerging Investigator Award from the Health Research Board to explore social differentials in health and longevity using putative biomarkers of biological age acceleration including allostatic load, telomere erosion, and epigenetic clocks. He is also Co-PI of a US-Ireland Partnership award funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) to examine cross-country differences in epigenetic ageing in the US, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences; a Research Affiliate of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI); a Member of the Expert Advisory Group to Growing Up in Ireland; and a Scientific Advisory Network member to the UK Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). He is a visiting scientist at the Center for Population and Development Studies at Harvard University and contributor to Imperial College London’s Environmental Epidemiology research group.
His research with the Growing Up in Ireland and TILDA studies has been widely reported in national print and broadcast media and through social media channels, including podcasts. He has presented to the Oireachtas – joint houses of the Irish Parliament – on the topic of childhood obesity.