The Health Research Podcast – Ep 4: Assessing Ireland’s ability to produce & act on evidence rapidly Recorded at the HRB Conference 2025, the Health Research Podcast episode focuses on the HRB Rapid Evidence Support System Assessment (RESSA) for Ireland and its role in strengthening evidence-informed policymaking. The discussion features Dr Barbara Whelan, co-author of […]

Comparison of AI-assisted and human-generated plain language summaries for Cochrane reviews: a randomised non-inferiority trial (HIET-1) Evidence Synthesis Ireland contributed to the development of the registered report of Comparison of AI-assisted and human-generated plain language summaries for Cochrane reviews: a randomised non-inferiority trial (HIET-1). This report compares the comprehension, readability, quality, safety, and trustworthiness of artificial […]

Pratik Kumar Bal is an ESI PhD student based at the Health Economics and Policy Analysis Centre (HEPAC) at the University of Galway. His doctoral research focuses on Evidence Synthesis Methods for Health Economic Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment (HTA), under the supervision of Professor Paddy Gillespie (University of Galway) and Dr Kieran Walsh (Health Information and Quality Authority […]

Dr Jennifer Hanratty, a mentee of the Evidence Synthesis Ireland ‘Communication with the Public’ Mentorship Programme, recently published an article in the Irish Examiner. This programme helps build skills in communicating evidence synthesis results to the public through mentorship. Dr Hanratty collaborated with Dr Claire O’Connell, a science journalist, to publish findings from a scoping […]

Congratulations to Dr Saif-Ur-Rahman and Prof Declan Devane (ESI team) on the recent co-publication of ‘Efficacy and safety of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines‘. This Cochrane review demonstrates that vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are both safe and effective in protecting vulnerable groups that are most at risk of serious illness, including older adults and infants. Researchers from […]

Check out the Health Research Podcast with Dr Linda Biesty, Deputy Director of Evidence Synthesis Ireland, which spotlights on review of women’s health research, reflecting real-world impacts. This episode focuses on a new HRB report that has identified substantial gaps globally in research into conditions affecting women, including early pregnancy loss and mental health after […]