Dr Dominic McSherry

Overview

Dr Dominic McSherry is a developmental psychologist whose work for the last 20 years has been focused on understanding the impact of experiencing adversity and trauma in childhood across the lifecourse, and using that knowledge to inform theory, policy and practice.

His work has been focused primarily on children who enter care due to maltreatment, and either remain in care throughout their childhood, return home to birth parents, or are adopted. He has attracted over £3Million in external research funding as PI to support this work.

He has led several largescale research projects in the area of children in care and adopted, some notable examples of which are: the OFMDFM-funded 'Mind Your Health' study (2015), which developed the first national profile of the physical and mental health of children and young people in care in Northern Ireland; and the ongoing ERSC-funded 'Care Pathways and Outcomes' study, the only longitudinal study in the world that has followed a full population of children (n=374) who were under the age of five and in care in Northern Ireland in March 2000, through to early adulthood.

A strong feature of his work is the high level of co-design and co-production with external partner organisations involved.  Dominic has published extensively in this area through journal articles, research reports, books, book chapters, and conference papers.

He is a member of a number of UK research project scientific advisory committees, and a member of the ESRC and MRC peer review colleges.  He has been guest editor for two journal special issues: 'Understanding Outcomes for Care Experienced Children', Children Australia, 2018; and 'Adoption and Trauma', Child Abuse and Neglect, 2021.  He is currently Editor in Chief for the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma (JCAT).  He also represents the School of Psychology within the Faculty-level Institute of Mental Health Sciences.

View research outputs

Teaching and Supervision

• Research Project Coordinator (PSY 824) - MSc in Applied Psychology (Mental Health & Psychological Therapies)
• BSc Hons Psychology research project supervisor
• BSc Hons Social Psychology research project supervisor
• MSc Applied Psychology research project supervisor
• PhD supervisor

Other Roles

• Member of National Advisory Committee, Action for Children
• Trustee, National Children's Bureau
• Early Invention and Prevention in Mental Health Steering Group Member, Department of Health, Northern Ireland
• Student Mental Health Steering Group Member, Department of Health, Northern Ireland
• External Moderator, BSc Psychology, University of Sussex

International Activitiies

Visiting Professor

• Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy, 28th February - 30th March 2022