BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The aim of LENS was to bring together a community of academic mental health and addictions researchers with lived experience so they can grapple with the complex nuances of lived experience and research.

Many early career mental health and/or addiction researchers have lived experience and would like more support and training around this, whether or not they wish to disclose more widely. The network is especially relevant to early career researchers, but hoped to benefit academics at all stages of their research careers to build their resilience and capacity as lived-experience researchers. The aims of the network were to encourage academic researchers to feel better supported and connected and thus more likely to remain in working in the field.

LENS included training and support from the McPin Foundation, who provided sessions including one on navigating disclosure. Subsequent meetings were planned to be guided by feedback to deliver tailored career development opportunities. The network aimed to build a supportive community and write a paper together, in order to encourage collaborations between academic mental health and addictions researchers.

The LENS network will have a paper drafted by the end of 2026. A webpage and logo were created, and the network was advertised through social media, email lists, and personal networks.

Set up a mailing list - of over 150 interested members and rising.

Delivered talks to promote LENS and also carried out five meetings:

• March - Tanya McKay from McPin led a talk about managing disclosure; this was followed by a group meeting in break out rooms 
• May - Veenu Gupta led a talk about her work on lived-experience research 
• September - in person meeting attended by nine academics to discuss a paper; we convened at the University of York 
• October - meeting about our proposed joint paper
• December - Alejandro Arguelles Bullon led a talk about the right conditions for supporting lived-experience work

The impact on our community has been huge. Due to privacy and sensitivity in this area, we cannot use direct quotes from our feedback form, but here are some paraphrased benefits that participants shared: 

• A safe space to share with others in the break-out rooms at meetings 
• Connecting with others and feeling less alone 
• The importance of community for lived-experience researchers 
• Learning about different definitions about lived experience research 
• Having some tips about disclosure 
• Realising they were neurodivergent  
• Making connections and networking 
• Feeling less alone 
• Peer support 
• Learning about GROW and other opportunities 
• Learning about research going on in this area 
• The importance of providing a safe space for academic lived experiences to share their challenges is highlighted at every event we run. 

Further, due to feedback, we have expanded our network to also include lived-experience researchers who want to engage in academic research but face barriers (mental health/not having a PhD).  

Ruth and I would not have met without the support of the incubator. Further, we have been introduced to other Grow members, such as Laura Chapman, who are helping us grow the network.  

Without the support of the Incubator, we would not have had the funding to establish a logo, pay speakers or fund travel costs for those in need. Further the grant has given us a good track-record to refer to when applying for future grants. 

The Incubator has promoted our network and gave us the ‘official’ backing which is sometimes needed to feel safe for people in these spaces.