Michal Molcho

Dr. Michal Molcho is a Sociologist and Lecturer in Health Promotion at the National University of Ireland, Galway, where she also serves as Deputy Director of the Health Promotion Research Centre (HPRC). Her academic and research work focuses on child and adolescent health, injury prevention, and health-related behaviors from a sociological and public health perspective.

Dr. Molcho holds a B.A. in Criminology, an M.A. in the Sociology of Health, and a Ph.D. in Sociology (2003). She has been a principal or co-principal investigator on multiple national and international research projects related to children’s health, including longitudinal and population-based studies addressing school environments, mental health, risk behavior, and social determinants of health.

She is Co-Principal Investigator for the Irish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a World Health Organization-affiliated international research collaboration. In this role, she contributes to the monitoring and evaluation of health and well-being indicators among young people in Ireland. Dr. Molcho currently serves as the elected Chair of the Policy Development Group within the International HBSC network, helping translate research findings into evidence-informed health policy.

In 2011, she served as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe in the Programme on Violence and Injury Prevention, contributing her expertise in adolescent health data and intervention strategies.

Dr. Molcho continues to publish widely and is actively involved in mentoring students and supporting evidence-based approaches to youth health promotion.