‘Trauma is transmitted across generations — as Irish people, we have our own historical trauma caused by colonialism and the famine’

Dr Jane Mulcahy from Co Cork is a researcher and activist whose latest work focuses on the idea that trauma can be transmitted across generations through parenting behaviours, harmful coping strategies and even gene expression

Dr Jane Mulcahy has researched intergenerational trauma. Photo: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Dr Jane Mulcahy

‘I’ve always instinctively felt that our experiences shape us — maybe even the ones that are inherited from our families.

Back in 2015, I started my PhD on long-sentence male prisoners. It was co-funded by the Probation Service and the Irish Research Council and I had amazing access within Irish prisons.