DID YOU KNOW: you don’t have to be a university researcher to apply to the GROW Programme! GROW 2022 alumnus Eva Schoenwald wasn’t sure what to expect when joining the programme as a senior quantitative researcher at the government-funded research centre What Works for Children’s Social Care. In this blog, Eva shares how she found…
Welcome to your weekly roundup of funding, events, and webinars we’ve shared with our followers over on the Mental Health Research Incubator Twitter. Here’s what’s coming up on the horizon for mental health research.
Are you a nurse or AHP researcher working on writing up a paper to submit to an academic journal? The 3-day Oxford Academic Paper Writing Retreat is currently open to researchers in the Oxford area. This Academic Paper Writing Retreat is sponsored by the Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre , Oxford cognitive health Clinical Research…
Webinars 28 February: The Council of Deans is holding free webinars being held throughout February for Allied Health Professionals interested/involved in research. The next webinar will be International Research Priorities, in conversation with Prof Karen Strickland at 10am on 28 February. 7 March: NIHR Research Professorships presentation webinar with Richard McManus, chair of the selection…
In this guest blog, Dr Suman Prinjha from the NIHR Research Design Service discusses the importance of cultural competence and inclusivity in the research process and offers tips on how researchers can design programmes with sensitivity, empathy, and reflexivity from conception to dissemination.
Why is there a growing appreciation and a need for interdisciplinary collaboration in mental health? Where do we begin? What can facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration? Can we get better at collaboration? GROW 2022 cohort member and researcher at Lab4Living, Dr Michael Tan, reflects on how you set up collaborative research projects in mental health – why…
Dr Ruth Naughton-Doe had been lacking in confidence and knowledge to turn her research ideas into funded projects. Now with her first postdoctoral fellowship funding to her name, a network of supportive peers and greater understanding of the mental health research funding landscape, she feels more confident in her next steps. She credits three great…
Have you had a sponsor who’s given you a helping hand? Academic sponsorship is different from mentorship and Dr Pete Lawrence thinks that this is important because a sponsor can help you in ways beyond mentorship.
Find out what members of our previous cohorts have to say about their experiences of the GROW Researcher Development Programme. Applications for the 2024 cohort are now open. Head to the GROW page to find out more and apply now!
Dr Eleanor Chatburn considers the challenges and opportunities of engaging with research as an early career practitioner psychologist. Filled with plenty of practical advice for taking those first steps. This piece was published in The Psychologist in January 2023.
Developing cultural competence is an ongoing process, says Dr Suman Prinjha, Senior Research Advisor in Qualitative Research Methods and Ethnical Health Research in her her recent NIHR Research Design Service blog. It’s an area that’s extremely relevant for mental health research so do take advantage of this free online webinar, run by Dr Suman Prinjha,…
Calling all researchers in the East of England – find out what kind of research you could do in your community with a Fellowship from the East of England Applied Research Collaboration (ARC). The ARC East of England Fellowship Programme is showcasing the projects of current fellows at the 2023 Fellows’ Showcase on Thursday 2nd…
We’re delighted to kick off the new year by announcing the relaunch of the Mental Health Research Community Map: an interactive map for mental health researchers to find collaborators and connect mental health research in the UK. The goal of the Mental Health Research Community Map is to build a collaborative, multidisciplinary directory of mental…
Dr Lin Lin Ginzberg, national communications manager across the 15 NIHR ARCs explains what the ARCs can offer mental health researchers and professionals who are interested in research. ARC stands for Applied Research Collaboration and there are 15 of them across England. They are part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)….
The Student Mental Health Research Network (SMaRteN), led by Kings College London, is collaborating with All Things Mental Health to produce a second series of their successful podcast Keeping Students in Mind: Understanding Student Mental Health Research. They are looking for students interested in mental health research to host podcast episodes, with training and support…
Not sure whether a research conference is for you? Master’s students and Emerging Minds Network interns Rowan and Felicity reflect on their experience of getting involved with the recent Emerging Minds Summit on children and young people’s mental health research, the range of different people they encountered there, and how other early career researchers can…
The careers sessions at the #MQscience festival demonstrated the extraordinarily diverse field of mental health research and different career options available to researchers. Missed it? Don’t worry you can catch the careers session on the MQ YouTube channel.
Professor Peter Fonagy is Director of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Chief Executive of the Anna Freud Centre for children and families, and senior clinical advisor to NHS England on children and young people’s mental health policy. Speaking to our GROW programme participants, Peter shared insights about his richly rewarding career in mental…
Occupational Therapist, Domna Salonen took over on #WorldMentalHealth day and #AHPsDay 2022 in her week @MHRincubator! Catch up on the great many insights she offers on what a joint clinical and academic career can be like.
The combination of clinical psychologists’ therapeutic expertise and research training means that they are in an ideal position to be conducting high-quality research projects. However, despite these skills and the documented benefits of research to services and service users, research activity in practice remains low. This article aims to give an overview of the advantages of, and difficulties in conducting research in clinical practice.
Funding for the 2023 GROW programme is now confirmed. The application window opens in February 2023.
Mental Health Research Matters is a national campaign on why mental health research matters, what good mental health research looks like and how we can all play our part in making a difference. The four key campaign themes – centering lived experience, inclusive research that tackles inequalities, multidisciplinary research and partnership working – are central…
Two early career mental health researchers, Domna Salonen and Dr Emma Černis, offer their perspectives on how to set up the mentoring relationships that support and challenge you to pursue what’s fulfilling in your career. There is no prescriptive answer to ‘How to find a mentor?’. The key ingredients in finding mentors for us have…
How can local authority staff be supported to implement evidence-based practices for mental health? – by supporting the existing staff to become research-active themselves! Rachel Murphy joined one of the first cohorts of practitioner researchers on the Pre-Doctoral Local Authority Fellowship last year. Here she explains the amazing professional development she has gained from the…
The inequalities we see in the mental health of different communities also play out in the experiences of researchers trying to investigate these. In the latest conversation in the Talking About series, Dr Dawn Edge and Dr Elizabeth Camacho share experiences of the challenges of pursuing their research interests which have been historically underfunded. They…
The NIHR is looking to appoint a registered Allied Health Professional (AHP) to support the delivery of an Allied Health Professions Research Summit commissioned by Health Education England (HEE). NIHR would aim to hold the summit in November 2022 and will pay the pro-rated amount of the individual’s salary to their employer for the duration…
We are delighted to announce the first cohort of the GROW Researcher Development Programme. Our 18 early career researchers are deliberately a very diverse group – with interests varying from perinatal to older adults; from individuals, to families and carers, to public health and service development. Addressing intrenched inequalities in mental health has emerged as…
Save the date – it’s the SMaRteN final showcase! The week commencing Monday 31 October 2022, the Student Mental Health Research Network – SMaRteN will have a week long schedule of activity as a final project showcase. SMaRteN focuses on Student Mental Health in Higher Education. Working with researchers with a range of expertise and…
NIHR Doctoral Training Camp virtual sessions will be held via Zoom on Tuesday 5 July 2022, 12.30 – 17.30 and this virtual element of the camp is open to all.
Listen to two peer researchers in mental health talk about their experience working on studies through the UCL loneliness and social isolation network. We’re delighted to share in celebrating the successes of the UKRI UCL loneliness network. Their great work and achievements over the last few years owes a great deal to meaningful collaborations with lived experience experts.
The many achievements, resources and connections created by the fantastic MARCH network are available for mental health researchers who have interests in the role of social, cultural and community assets. The MARCH network set out to transform our understanding of how social, cultural and community assets support mental health. Their legacy website is a go-to…
Are you a health or social care professional or a researcher planning a quality improvement or implementation science project? Would you like advice on how to evaluate your project or on how implementation science methods can improve the chance of your project being successful? Do consider checking out the advice clinic service offered by quality…
The patient and public members of our judging panels were so impressed by the standard of entries for the MHR Incubator Awards. Here we’re delighted to share some of their comments on our award winners.
Judges awarded the top MHR Awards to seven researchers whose projects represent some of the most exciting new developments in mental health research today. Eight other researchers were runners up. Awards went to early career researchers whose work is already influencing clinical practice, projects that reflect outstanding collaboration with patients and public, and to innovative…
Judges awarded top prizes to Dr Dean Connolly and the ‘Rethinking Education: lessons from lockdown’ Special Interest Research Group for the Collaborative Involvement of patients and public prize. In a competitive field, judges made five other runner up awards to projects which also had outstanding PPI. The winning projects – all demonstrating exemplary PPI in…
The award-winning work focuses attention on the experiences of people whose particular circumstances and needs are less well captured in the mainstream of mental health research. The neglected yet important areas our winners are addressing includes mental health in adoptive families, people with severe intellectual impairments, experiences in racialised groups.
Judges awarded the Innovation prize to two researchers who are tackling two very different areas of mental health research in new and original ways. Dr Lucy Livingston researches the understudied phenomenon of ‘compensation’ in autism, and Dr Ben Perry’s work focuses on physical health risks in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. There was a clear consensus…
Congratulations go to Dr Kimberley Kendall for her work in understanding depression and schizophrenia, and the ‘Bold’ project team, whose work is positively impacting the wellbeing of people who are living with dementia.
The application window for the summer 2022 cohort of the GROW programme has now closed. Applicants will be contacted about the outcome of their application in the coming weeks. GROW is the professional development programme designed for early career researchers in mental health. Through the programme, participants will build a cross-disciplinary professional network to inspire…
The NIHR SPHR Public Mental Health Network aims to bring together researchers, public health professionals and members of the public to share research findings and provide opportunities to work together on mental health initiatives. It’s based in the NIHR School of Public Health Research (SPHR) but it is open to anyone interested to join, including:…
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