On Wednesday the 4th December, we hosted the annual INFANT Study Day, welcoming over 80 attendees from across the INFANT team and colleagues in UCC that support our operations. The day was spent recapping on the highlights for 2024, showcasing ongoing research at INFANT while also hearing from students who presented posters on the day.

With over ten speakers, sharing insights from obs and gynae, to preterm babies, transitioning in the delivery room, connected health, medtech devices, to hidden hunger, early prediction of CP and using data to prevent chronic diseases – it was a day filled with engaging talks, inspiring discussions and a showcase of innovative research.

INFANT Director, Prof Geraldine Boylan, opened the event with a recap of the 2024 highlights.

Over 14 posters were presented by PhD students showcasing the diverse research areas.

Speakers included:

  • Dr Mairead O’Riordan, INFANT Investigator, CUMH Clinical Director : “Bridging the Gap: Translating Clinical Needs into Research Priorities”
  • Prof Brian Walsh: INFANT PI, Associate Professor, Dept of Paediatrics and Child Health,UCC: “Early Screening for CP in Neonatal Outpatients: Implementation Of International Consensus Guidelines”
  • Prof Frederic Adam: INFANT PI, Lead for Connected Health, INFANT, BIS, CUBS, UCC: “Connected health – wicked problems and boundary objects [or why someone who  knows nothing about medicine ends up being invited as speaker on an INFANT Study Day]”
  • Dr Mark O’Sullivan: Co-Founder and CEO, NeuroBell – INFANT spin-out company: “Alternative paths: PhD student to CEO”.
  • Prof Eugene Dempsey: INFANT PI, Horgan Chair of Neonatology at UCC: “Time to Transition”
  • Prof Mairead Kiely: INFANT PI, Lead for Maternal and Child Nutrition: “The impact of Hidden Hunger on outcomes”
  • Prof Deirdre Murray:  INFANT PI, Cerebral Palsy Foundation Chair of Early Brain Injury and Cerebral Palsy at UCC: “The Future of Early Risk Prediction in Cerebral Palsy: Can Machine Learning Help?” 
  • Dr Peter Barrett: HRB Clinician Scientist Fellow, INFANT & Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Department of Public Health HSE South West. “Can we harness obstetric information for chronic disease prevention? A public health perspective” 
  • Prof Helen Whelton: Head of the College of Medicine and Health UCC and Chief Academic Officer of the South/Southwest Hospital Group “Bridging Boundaries: The Integrated Research Development Project Transforming Research Governance”

Throughout the day, poster walks during refreshment breaks fostered engaging conversations and networking opportunities – Collaboration at INFANT is key!

INFANT Study Day underscores our commitment to innovation and translating research into impactful solutions. A heartfelt thank you to all speakers, students, attendees, and contributors for making the day a success.

Poster Presentations:

Name   Poster Title
Aoife Barry Paediatrics and Child Health Supporting parents and high-risk infants during a disrupted transition to parenthood: the Ei-SMART approach
Elizabeth Bodunde Public Health Pregnancy and Birth Complications and Long-term Adverse Maternal Mental Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Danielle Clifford Paediatrics and Child Health Current Practice in High-Risk Infant Follow-Up and Factors Determining Eligibility; Survey Report from the 15th International Newborn Brain Conference
Aisling Fanning Paediatrics and Child Health Feasibility Study of a Novel Device to Assess Newborn Brain Function using Artificial Intelligence
Sarah Fenton Pharmacy Preterm Standardised Parenteral Nutrition: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Implementation Determinants & Outcomes following National Scale-Up
Elaine Kennedy Paediatrics and Child Health Eplerenone Monotherapy in Paediatric 11 Beta-Hydroxylase Deficiency
Sonia Lenehan Paediatrics and Child Health Correlation between Eye-Tracking and Griffiths Neurodevelopmental Assessment at 18-months in healthy term-born children.
Jill Mitchell Obstetrics and Gynaecology Association between intrapartum fetal pulse oximetry and adverse perinatal and long-term outcomes: a systematic review and meta analysis
Anne Murray Paediatrics and Child Health Validation Of A Machine Learning Algorithm For Identifying Infants at risk of HIE in Unseen Data
Anne Murray Paediatrics and Child Health Strengths, Difficulties and Educational Supports Amongst School-Aged Children following HIE in the Therapeutic Hypothermia Era
Cathal  O’Connor Paediatrics and Child Health Sleep Disruption in Caregivers of Infants with Atopic Dermatitis
Kimia Rezaei Electrical and Electronic Engineering Assessing the Effectiveness of Heart Rate Variability as A Diagnostic Tool for Brain Injuries in Infants
Iyshwarya Stapleton Paediatrics and Child Health A Longitudinal Prospective Observational Study Protocol: Assessment of Diastolic Function during the Transitional Period and Infancy using Serial Echocardiography (DiFuSE)
Iyshwarya Stapleton Paediatrics and Child Health Investigating the Effect of Held Position during Kangaroo Care on Physiological Parameters of Premature Infants: A Randomised Controlled Trial
Kaiyu Yu Electrical and Electronic Engineering Detection of Neurovascular Coupling in Full Term Neonates
Shuwen Yu Electrical and Electronic Engineering HIE Grading with multichannel EEG using Fully Convolutional Neural Network