Mr. Ian Hussey, a postgraduate student in the Department of Psychology at Maynooth University, has recently been awarded the Higher Education Authority Making an Impact award for his research into the development of a new tool to predict and understand suicide. The test can correctly identify those who are experiencing suicidal thoughts with 75% accuracy. According to the Mr. Hussey and his research supervisor Prof. Dermot Barnes-Holmes, the tool could be used in hospital and A&E settings to help evaluate whether an individual is at risk and better allocate scarce treatment resources.
The Making an Impact awards are run by the Higher Education Authority and the Irish Independent who invite research students in any discipline to make a short submission on the difference that their research work will make to a particular aspect of Irish life, to the country as a whole or indeed, internationally. This year's finalists presented their research to a lay audience and a panel of judges in the Helix, Dublin, on February 19th 2013. See the HEA announcement here.
You can also watch a video of Ian's winning presentation here.