Dr Mary Jo Lavelle, Ph.D.,is an assisant professor (Lecturer Above the Bar) in the Discipline of Health Promotion in the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Galway. Dr Lavelle is the Academic Director for the MA and Postgraduate Diploma Programmes in Health Promotion at the University of Galway. Dr Lavelle is a research project lead at the Health Promotion Research Centre (HPRC), which is a designated WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion research. Dr Lavelle's research interests are situated in the field of environmental sustainability, health and wellbeing, ecological and environmental determinants of health.

Dr Lavelle's research interests are situated in the field of environmental sustainability and health promotion and inequities; specifically sustainable lifestyles, pro-environmental behaviours, and quality of life and wellbeing. Mary Jo is particularly interested in the conceptual models that underpin behaviour change, and the role played by supportive structural environments and promotion of health. Mary Jo's research interests also include: environmental and social determinants of health, Emergency Preparedness and Response, social research methods, behavioural geography and segmentation analysis.

Current Research Projects

Building Bridges to Resilience: Identifying International Good-Practice Principles in Applying Health Promotion to Emergency Preparedness and Response

Role: Principal Investigator

Funding: An IANPHI Research Project funded by the International Health Grant Programme of Canada (Public Health Agency of Canada)

Partners: This IANPHI (International Association of National Public Health Institutes) project is delivered by academics and researchers at the the Health Promotion Research Centre (Unviersity of Galway) in colloboration with Public Health Wales.

Exploring Community Participatory Approaches to Eco-Health (2018-2026)

(Role: P.I and Co-Supervisor PhD Researcher: Ann Marie Crosse, HSE)

The research project investigates community-based participatory research approach to mapping local knowledge systems on EcoHealth and sustainability. The study utilises participatory research methods to explore community awareness and knowledge regarding ecosystem services, health, and sustainability.This research aims to co-produce a Community Toolkit to examine and evaluate community wellbeing through a community-based participatory research approach to mapping local knowledge systems on EcoHealth.

____________

Past Projects:

Energy Cultures I

(Funded by Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE); Energy Efficiency amp; Conservation Authority (EECA); Mercury Energy, New Zealand)

Dr Lavelle conducted postdoctoral research at the Centre for Sustainability at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Dr Lavelle investigated policy implications and knowledge translation of sustainability and energy-efficiency research as part of theEnergy Cultures II Project. Thislarge-scale interdisciplinary research project developed knowledge and tools to achieve a sustainable energy transition in New Zealands households, businesses and transport system; for example exploring issues related to energy efficiency and warmth,fuel poverty, aspirations for energy futures, developing strategic capability through eco-innovation, and sustainable transport. The interdisciplinary research team included academics and experts in the areas of human geography, physics, economics, marketing, and law. The Energy Cultures research programme was awarded gold status by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for performing above expectations based on MBIEs evaluation of the project. Highlights included (a) the widespread adoption, in New Zealand and internationally, of the Energy Cultures framework as a way of understanding behaviour, (b) the development of an empirical measure of the dimensions of energy culture, (c) new insights into efficient driving, (d) contributions to electric vehicle policy, and (e) a system dynamics model of electric vehicle uptake.

TCD Homelabs Project

(Funded by Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)) 

Prior to conducting research with the University of Otago in New Zealand, Mary Jo conducted postdoctoral research at the School of Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin. At TCD, Dr Lavelle's research involved an ethnographical study called Homelabs. Homelabs, an EPA-funded project lead by Professor Anna Davies at TCD, employed a range of cutting-edge social and technical innovations and interventions with households in order to test and evaluate sustainable washing andfood living-lab interventions. Mary Jo's research examined and evaluated longitudinal impacts of sustainable washing and eating behaviour change interventions.The study evaluated the benefits of combining innovative proposals in real-time, real-life situations through working within Irish households. The research found that combining information about the impact of current consumption practices with practical tools and tips, designed to help reduce that impact, far outweighed the success of such interventions adopted in isolation. The project was funded by the EPA STRIVE (Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for the Environment) Programme 2007-2015.

Segmenting for Sustainability Project (CONSENSUS II)

(Funded by Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (2013-2015)

Dr Lavelle was awarded EPA-funding to conduct postdoctoral research at the School of Geography and Archaeology at the University of Galway from 2013 to 2015. Her postdoctoral research activities concerned the role of segmentation analysis and its utility in promoting greater understanding of pro-environmental behaviours and sustainability in Ireland.Mary Jo developed two innovative typology tools to investigate pro-environmental behaviour change (see Lavelle, Rau and Fahy, 2015 ).This research argues for a disaggregation of pro-environmental behaviour into habitual and occasional behaviour. Mary Jo was successfully awarded postdoctoral funding from the Irish Environmental Protection Agency to conductresearch inthis important area. This research was conducted as part of CONSENSUS Project,which investigated household consumption, environment and sustainability in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland: see www.consensus.ie. The project was funded by the EPA STRIVE (Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for the Environment) Programme 2007-2015.

All-island Lifestyle Survey- CONSENSUS I Project

(Funded by Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Mary Jo was awarded EPA-funding to conduct large-scale quantitative research as part of her PhD research to examine household consumption behaviours and lifestyles in the areas of water, energy, food and transport, and issues quality of lifeacross the island of Ireland. Her PhD research was conductedas part of a wider EPA-funded study called the CONSENSUS Project (see www.consensus.ie) . Mary Jo received numerous awards for her research from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies (NUI, Galway); and the Centre for Environment, Development and Sustainability (CEDS). The CONSENSUS Lifestyle Survey provided an understanding of people's attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable household consumption and sustainable lifestyles, and explored respondent's household behaviours in the areas of mobility, food, water and energy use across the island of Ireland. It also examined their attitudes towards environmental regulation, environmental responsibility, self-efficacy, as well as issues pertaining to quality of life. This study produced the first extensive baseline data on attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable household consumption and sustainable lifestyles across the island of Ireland.

Smaller Scale Research Projects

2023 Exploration Of WHO-Five Well-Being Index Scores and Association With Bullying Among 10-17 Years School-Aged Children In Ireland

Primary Supervisor (Unfunded Project)

A Secondary Analysis Of The Health Behaviour In School-Aged Children (HBSC) Study In Ireland, 2018 Dataset. An exploration into the perceived factors that impact physical activity participation among female students attending an Irish University.

Supervisor (Unfunded Project)

An exploration into the perceived factors that impact physical activity participation among female students attending an Irish University.

2020 An exploration into the workings of successful Partnerships in the World Health Organization Healthy Cities Initiative? A scoping review

Supervisor (Unfunded Project,2020)

Desktop study a scoping review on exploration into the workings of successful Partnerships in the World Health Organization Healthy Cities Initiative.

2018 A Process and Outcome Evaluation of a Stress Control Programme for Staff in Hospitals in the West of Ireland

(Supervisor (Unfunded Project in collaboration with HSE)

This study evaluated the implementation and short-term outcomes of a Stress Control Programme in Irish hospital settings.The study identified factors inhibiting and promoting the effective implementation of the Stress Control programme and measured participants reported behavioural change outcomes in relation to controlling stress, and Facilitators feedback.

Health Promotion Research Centre, University of Galway (WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion)

Mary Jo has been involved in other research projects within the Health Promotion Research Centre at University of Galway,which is a World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion.

Examples of other projects include:

- Investigations of qualifications of non-nursing residential care staff in the Republic  of Ireland (Lead Investigator - Dr Martin Power)

- Development of Public Health Walk with third level students at HEIs (Lead Investigator Dr Barbara Griffith)

- Exploration of media reporting on Cryptosporidium outbreak in West of Ireland (Lead Investigator Dr Jane Sixsmith)

Building Bridges to Resilience: Identifying International Good-Practice Principles in Applying Health Promotion to Emergency Preparedness and Response

Role: Principal Investigator

Funding: An IANPHI Research Project funded by the International Health Grant Programme of Canada via Public Health Agency of Canada.

Partners: This IANPHI project is delivered by academics and researchers at the the Health Promtoion Research Centre (Unviersity of Galway) in colloboration with Public Health Wales.

Current Academic Leadership

Academic Programme Director (2024- present) for the following postgraduate programmes

i). Masters in Health Promotion Programme, University of Galway.

ii). Postgraduate Higher Diploma in Health Promotion Programme, University of Galway.

iii). Postgraduate and Undergraduate Certificate Programmes in Health Promotion at the University of Galway. See below for all programmes:

• • Specialist Certificate in Health Promotion in Youth Health {Course Code: 1UYH1}. Duration: 2017-Present
  • Specialist Certificate in Health Promotion in Youth Mental Health {Course Code: 1UYMH1}. Duration: 2021-Present
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Health Promotion in Workplace Wellness {Course Code: 1PWW1}. Duration: 2017-2023
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Health Promotion (Approaches to Cardiovascular Health and Type II Diabetes Prevention) {Course Code: 1PCH1}. Duration: 2017-2021
  • Specialist Certificate in Health Promotion in Oral Health {Course Code: 1UOH1}.Duration: 2017-2022

Module Coordination

Dr Lavelle is module coordinator on several postgraduate and undergraduate programmes in health promotion at the University of Galway. An overview of these modules is outlined below:

(i.) Masters/Postgraduate Diploma in Health Promotion Programme, Discipline of Health Promotion, University of Galway.  

• Module(s):HP848 Determinants of Health (MA/HDip in Health Promotion). Duration: 2017-2023

(ii.) Bachelor of Medicine (2nd year Medicine), College of Medicine

• Module: MD201 Disease and Health 1. {Duration: 2023/2024}

(iii.) Specialist and Postgraduate Certificate in Health Promotion Programmes, Discipline of Health Promotion. {Duration: 2017-2025}. Module(s):

• HP130 Concepts and Principles of Health Promotion
• HP131 Health Promotion Project Development {Duration: 2017-2023}
• HP6102 Concepts and Principles of Health Promotion
• HP6106 Specialism in Workplace Wellness
• HP6101 Specialism in Cardiovascular Health and Type II Diabetes Prevention
• HP6103 Health Promotion Project Development (Postgraduate level)
• HP134 Specialism in Oral Health Promotion