Farrell, Dr Lynn

Assistant Professor in Psychology

lynn.farrell@ncirl.ie

Key Responsibilities

  • Module Co-Ordinator and Assistant Professor on Psychology programme (full-time and part-time) – modules including Introduction to Psychology, Social Psychology and Coaching Psychology
  • Year Tutor on Part-Time Programme
  • Dissertation Supervisor for Undergraduate and Masters students

Research Interests

  • The nature and malleability of stereotypes and bias, particularly in relation to gender
  • Implicit relational responding and biases
  • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion particularly in relation to gender
  • Relational Frame Theory (RFT) and Contextual Behavioural Science
  • The application of RFT to social psychological phenomena

Education

  • Ph.D. in Psychology (Research) – University College Dublin
  • BA (Hons) in Psychology (1:1) – Maynooth University

Academic Experience

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast
  • Postgraduate Academic Research Supervisor, Queen’s University Belfast
  • Undergraduate Academic Research Supervisor, University College Dublin
  • Occasional Lecturer, University College Dublin, Maynooth University & Queen’s University Belfast
  • Academic Peer Reviewer for the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science and The Psychological Record
  • Senior Laboratory Demonstrator, School of Psychology, University College Dublin
  • Research Assistant, Schools of Psychology & Engineering, University College Dublin
  • Research Assistant, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University

Academic Awards & Funding

  • GSK Research support grant for “Personal & Occupational Experiences of Medical Professionals in Cancer Care in Ireland (POEM)” study (€9,560)
  • Queen’s University Belfast Engineering & Physical Sciences Faculty Postdoc Prize for Outstanding Engagement 2020 (£300)
  • Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) Student Spotlight Award 2018
  • Graduate Research and Innovations Fund 2017, University College Dublin Research (€261.00)
  • Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship 2016, Irish Research Council (€47,370)
  • SEED Funding, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Research Stream 2016, University College Dublin (€3,095.50)
  • W. J. Smyth Prize 2012, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University
  • Second Year BA Prize 2011, Department of Psychology, Maynooth University
  • Maynooth University Entrance Scholarship

Professional Membership

  • Professional Member of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS)
  • Full member of European Association of Social Psychology (EASP)

Research Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Farrell, L., Mizael, T. M., & Gould, E. R. (2023). Gender is the name of the frame: Understanding gender through the lens of Relational Frame Theory. Social Sciences, 12(10), 532.
  • Begley, R., Farrell, L., Lyttle, N., Alty, J., Curran, D., Williams, S., & Graham, C. D. (2023). Clinicians' implicit and explicit attitudes about the legitimacy of functional neurological disorders correlate with referral decisions. British Journal of Health Psychology.
  • Buckley, C., Farrell, L., & Tyndall, I. (2021). Brief stories of successful female role models in science help counter gender stereotypes regarding intellectual ability among young girls: A pilot study. Early Education and Development, 33 (4). pp. 555-566. ISSN 1556-6935.
  • Farrell, L., Petzel, Z., McCormack, T., Turner, R., Rafferty, K., & Latu, I. (2021). When You Put it that Way: Framing Gender Equality Initiatives to Improve Engagement among STEM Academics. BioScience, 71(3), 292-304.
  • Stefanova, V., Farrell, L., & Latu, I. (2021). Gender and the pandemic: Associations between caregiving, working from home, personal and career outcomes for women and men. Current Psychology. pp. 1-17. ISSN 1936-4733 (Epub ahead of print).
  • Farrell, L., Nearchou, F., & McHugh, L. (2020). Examining the Effectiveness of Brief Interventions to Strengthen a Positive Implicit Relation between Women and STEM across Two Timepoints. Social Psychology of Education, 23(5), 1203-1231.
  • Farrell. L., & McHugh, L. (2020). Exploring the relationship between implicit and explicit gender-STEM bias and behavior among STEM students using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 15, 142-152.
  • Farrell, L., Corcoran, F., Sandoz, E., & McHugh, L. (2019). An Examination of Sex-specific Publication Trends within the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science between 2012 and 2017. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. 11, 27-33.
  • 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, 6(1), 80-90.
  • 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. *Farrell, L and O’ Connor, M are joint first authors.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Lyddy, F., Farina, F., Hanney, J., Farrell, L. & Kelly O'Neill, N. (2014). An analysis of language in university students' text messages. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19(3), 546-561.

Book Chapters

  • McHugh, L., & Farrell, L. (2023). The Experiences of Female Scientists in the Global Network. In R.A. Rehfeldt, T. Cihon, & E. Rasmussen (Eds.), Women in Behavior Science – Observations on Life Inside and Outside of the Academy. Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.

Other Publications

Manuscripts in Preparation

  • Petzel, Z., Farrell, L., McCormack, T., Turner, R., Rafferty, K., & Latu, I. Evidence and Empathy: Empirical Test of a Dual-Route Model of Building Effective Gender Equality Initiatives for Male STEM Academics. Under review at Journal of Educational Psychology.
  • Petzel, Z., Farrell, L., McCormack, T., Turner, R., Rafferty, K., & Latu, I. The STEM of All Fears: How Gender Equality Messages Threaten Male Academics. For submission to: British Educational Research Journal.

Conference Presentations & Posters

  • Petzel, Z. W., Farrell, L., Latu, I. M. (2023). Running on autopilot or taking the wheel? The role of automaticity and self-control on attitudes towards organisational diversity initiatives. 19th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Krakow, Poland.
  • Latu, I. M., Petzel, Z. W., Farrell, L. (2023). Empirical Evidence and Perspective Taking Improve Implicit and Explicit Diversity Attitudes Among Male STEM Academics. 19th General Meeting of the European Association of Social Psychology, Krakow, Poland.
  • Petzel, Z., Farrell, L., McCormack, T., Turner, R., Rafferty, K., & Latu, I. (2022). STEM the tide of inequality: Improving the effectiveness of gender equality initiatives among male STEM academics. 6th Network Gender & STEM Conference, Munich, Germany.
  • Farrell, L. (2022). What’s in a Frame? Contextual influences on gender bias and support for equality initiatives. Invited keynote plenary at 5th UK & Republic of Ireland Association for Contextual Behavioural Science conference, Liverpool, UK.
  • Farrell, L. (2022). Gender Bias and Relational Frame Theory: What's the Relation? Invited keynote address at 20th Annual ACBS World Conference, San Francisco, USA.
  • Vaidya, J., Mizael, T. M., Farrell, L., & Lieberman, E. (2022). From Experience to Identity: Conceptualizing Gender from a CBS Lens. Invited Panel Speaker at the 20th Annual Association for Contextual Behavioural Science World Conference, San Francisco, USA.
  • Latu, I., Farrell, L., Petzel, Z., McCormack, T., Turner, R., & Rafferty, K. (July 2021). Framing Gender Equality Initiatives to Increase Support among STEM academics. International Congress of Psychology, Prague, Czech Republic.
  • Stefanova, V., Farrell, L., & Latu, I. (July 2021). The impact of the gender imbalance in caregiving duties during lockdown on career outcomes. International Congress of Psychology, Prague, Czech Republic.
  • Stefanova, V., Farrell, L., & Latu, I. (2021). Does the coronavirus pandemic have a gendered impact? Assessing the predictive role of the (im)balance between caregiving responsibilities and working from home for women vs. men. Northern Ireland branch of the British Psychological Society annual conference, Virtual event. [Highly commended].
  • Farrell, L. (2020). Inclusion Really Does Matter: Improving attitudes towards Gender Equality Initiatives among STEM academics. Pop-Up Inclusion Matters Seminar Series, University of Edinburgh. [Invited].
  • Farrell, L., Brandon, A., Farahani, Z., Dolphin, L., Nic Fhlannchadha, S., O’ Connor, C., Kenny, R., O’ Brien, N., Tunney, C. (2020). Life after PhD: A panel with previous postgraduates. Panel speaker for UCD’s Virtual Graduate Impact Festival of Science. [Invited].
  • Farrell, L. (2020). Inclusion Really Does Matter: Improving attitudes towards Gender Equality Initiatives among STEM faculty. Speaker at ‘A better place? Fostering inclusion in academia and industry’ event, Lancaster University, UK. [Invited].
  • Farrell, L., Latu, I., & Petzel, Z. (2020). Inclusion Really Does Matter: Improving attitudes towards Gender Equality Initiatives among STEM faculty. EPSRC Inclusion Matters Workshop, Birmingham, UK. [Invited].
  • Petzel, Z., Farrell. L., McCormack, T., Turner, R., Rafferty. K., & Latu, I. (2020). STEM the Tide of Inequality: Improving the Effectiveness of Gender Equality Initiatives Among STEM Academics. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Annual Convention, New Orleans, USA.
  • Petzel, Z., Farrell, L., McCormack, T., Turner, R., Rafferty, K., & Latu, I. (2020). Sympathetic Activation After Female Perspective Taking Increases Support for Diversity Initiatives Among Male STEM Academics. Society for Psychophysiological Research Annual Meeting.
  • Farrell., L., Latu, I., Petzel, Z., Taylor, S., Turner, R., McCormack, T., Rafferty, K. (2019). Inclusion Really Does Matter: Improving Attitudes towards Gender Equality Initiatives in EPS Academic Departments. Vitae Researcher Development International Conference, Birmingham, UK. [Invited].
  • Farrell, L., Nearchou, N., & McHugh, L. (2019). Examining the malleability of implicit gender-STEM bias among adults using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure. 17th Annual ACBS World Conference, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Farrell, L. & McHugh, L. (2018). Examining the malleability of implicit gender-STEM bias among adults. 3rd Poznan ACT & CBS conference, Poznan, Poland.
  • Farrell, L. (2017). Implicit gender bias in Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) fields. Speaker at Making an Impact: An afternoon of short talks to celebrate International Women’s Day, NUI Galway, Ireland. [Invited].
  • Farrell, L., & McHugh, L. (2017). Examining gender-STEM bias among STEM and non-STEM students using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). 11th Annual Division of Behaviour Analysis Conference, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
  • Farrell, L. & McHugh, L. (2017). Examining implicit gender bias in Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM). UCD Annual Graduate Research Symposium, University College Dublin.
  • Farrell, L. & McHugh, L. (2017) Examining differences in gender-STEM bias between STEM and non-STEM students. 15th Annual ACBS World Conference, Seville, Spain.
  • Farrell, L., & McHugh, L. (2017). Examining the malleability of gender-STEM bias among adults. 15th Annual ACBS World Conference, Seville, Spain.
  • O’ Connor, M., Farrell, L., Munnelly, A. & McHugh, L. (2017). Citation Analysis of Relational Frame Theory: 2009–2016. 15th Annual ACBS World Conference, Seville, Spain.
  • Flynn, D., Farrell, L., Birhane, A., & Byrne, S. (2017). Diversity in STEM. Panel Discussion at University College Dublin, Ireland. [Invited].
  • Farrell, L. & McHugh, L. (2016). Examining differences in gender-STEM bias between STEM and non-STEM students. 3rd Annual UK & Ireland ACT/CBS Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland. 
  • Munnelly, A., Farrell, L., O’Connor, M. & McHugh, L. (November 2016). Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to explore adolescents’ attitudes toward Cyberbullying. 3rd Annual UK & Ireland ACT/CBS Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
  • Farrell, L., Cochrane, A., & McHugh, L. (2015). Exploring attitudes towards gender and science: The advantages of an IRAP approach versus the IAT. 45th Annual Psychological Society of Ireland Conference, Galway, Ireland.
  • Farrell, L., Cochrane, A., & McHugh, L. (2015). Exploring attitudes towards gender and science using the IRAP and the IAT. 13th Annual ACBS World Conference, Berlin, Germany.
  • Farrell, L. & Cochrane, A. (2014). Examining Biases Regarding Women in Science using the IRAP & the IAT. 2nd UK & Ireland ACT/Contextual Behavioural Science conference, Dublin.
  • Hennessy, E., Gibney, A., Farrell, L. (2013). Bridging the gap between theory and practice in creativity education. 35th Annual EAIR forum, The Netherlands.
  • Farrell, L. & Cochrane, A. (2012). Comparing the IAT and the IRAP: Examining biases towards females in science. 34th Annual Congress of Psychology Students, Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Academic Workshops

  • Farrell, L., Latu, I., Petzel, Z., Turner, R., McCormack, T., & Rafferty, K. (2021). Inclusion Really Does Matter: Improving attitudes towards Gender Equality Initiatives among STEM faculty. Virtual workshop delivered for STEM faculty involved and interested in QUB Inclusion Matters project.
  • Sandoz, E.K., Bolderston, H., & Farrell, L. (2019). Using our In-Print Voices: Confronting Gender-Based Barriers to Academic Writing. Workshop for Faculty and Students at Murray State University. Murray, KY. [Invited].
  • Bolderston, H., Sandoz, E. K., & Farrell, L. (2019). Women and academic writing: How to deal with barriers and be productive. Workshop delivered at 17th Annual ACBS World Conference, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Flynn, D., Palmer, M. & Farrell, L. (2017). Diversity in STEM. Workshop delivered at Sibéal Annual Conference, University College Dublin. [Invited].
  • McHugh, L., Stewart, I., Farrell, L., Nalbant, A., Ferroni Bast, D., Stewart, C., & Hooper, N. (2017). How to do Relational Frame Theory Research. Workshop delivered at 15th Annual World ACBS Conference, Seville, Spain.
  • McHugh, L., Dack, C., Hooper, N., Vahey, N., Farrell, L., & Nalbant, A. (2016). How to do Relational Frame Theory Research. Workshop delivery at 3rd Annual UK & Ireland ACT/CBS Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Research Outreach

  • Can Virtual Reality Improve Gender Equality in Science? (February 2020). Co-organiser of public information event and virtual reality demonstration for Northern Ireland Science Festival 2020.
  • #InclusionMattersResearch Twitter poster series (June 2020). Lead organiser of online event disseminating findings from our Inclusion Matters research via Twitter with promotional support from UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Conference Organisation

  • Inclusion Really Does Matter: Improving attitudes towards Gender Equality Initiatives among STEM faculty (2021). Co-organiser of one-day workshop delivered for STEM faculty involved and interested in Queen’s University Belfast Inclusion Matters project.
  • Chair for the Relational Frame Theory (RFT) track of the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS) World Conference (2019)

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