Peer Coaching (PeCo) 2025 – Mental Health Research

About

Is it for me?

What's involved

Programme dates

Funding

PeCo and GROW

FAQ

Applications close Monday 7 April 2025 at 9am

PeCo is a peer coaching programme designed to support early career researchers who have completed a PhD to develop coaching skills and insights for their own career development. The programme is led by a professional coach with many years experience working with academic researchers.

Many researchers face similar sorts of challenges in their roles – for example, repeated fixed-term contracts, access to senior support, and time management. PeCo brings together a group of peers at a similar stage, enabling you to uncover insights relating to navigating issues which you often share with others. Previous participants have found that the programme has helped them build their skills in ways that have helped in management and supervisory elements of their roles.

PeCo is deliberately kept at a smaller size to aid discussions and connection, and to enable greater support from the programme facilitators.

PeCo is for early career mental health researchers who have supervisory or management responsibilities in their role or are soon about to take these on in a new role.

PeCo is for you if you relate to some (not necessarily all!) of the following:

Hold a PhD in applied mental health or addiction research (essential)

are currently employed in a research role (essential)

are willing to share your own career challenges and support colleague peer group with theirs (essential)
are interested to meet peers, form new collaborations and support each other (essential)
can commit to attending every session of the programme (essential)
have supervisory roles with staff/students

are leading a programme of your own research and/or projects with multiple collaborators for the first time since your PhD

leading a team of researchers for the first time

supervise doctoral or postdoctoral level projects

teach on clinical training courses in your discipline

collaborate on large cross-institution initiatives

For examples of some of the previous participants of the PeCo programme, view the 'previous participants' section below.

Led by a professional coach with many years’ experience working with academic researchers, participants will learn coaching skills they can apply immediately in their own contexts. In the monthly sessions, they will use and practise these skills to support each other– this is ‘peer coaching’. As the programme progresses, all participants will share issues and challenges they are facing in their roles with the group and will be coached by other participants on the programme. The peer coaching sessions will be guided by the facilitation team. Participants benefit from hearing each others’ experiences and approaches, and will build a sense of community that we expect to continue beyond the lifetime of the programme.

PeCo 2025 consists of 8 sessions from May 2025 to January 2026:

Thursday 22 May 2025, 9.30am-11am online
Thursday 19 June 2025, 10am-3pm in person coaching skills workshop (Birmingham)
Thursday 10 July 2025, 9.30am-11am online
Thursday 4 September 2025, 9.30am-11am online
Thursday 16 October 2025, 9.30am-11am online
Tuesday 4 November 2025, 10am-3pm in person MHR Incubator Gathering with alumni from GROW and PeCo (Manchester)
Thursday 11 December 2025, 9.30am-11am online
Thursday 8 January 2026, 9.30am-11am online

6 sessions will be hosted online, and 2 sessions will be face-to-face. Travel costs for in-person sessions will be reimbursed.
All participants must commit to attending each of the programme sessions. Please do not apply if you cannot commit to attending every session.

Like our GROW programme, PeCo is a professional development programme for postdoctoral mental health researchers. Through both programmes participants develop skills, career insights and gain a supportive professional network in mental health research. However, the focus of each programme is different.

Through PeCo, participants will learn coaching skills they can apply in their own settings; they will be able to coach each other by the end of the programme. GROW comprises workshops to build understanding and skills on different aspects of being an early career researcher in the mental health field – for example, finding funding, working with policy, and impact.

GROW participants receive 1:1 coaching from a professional coach, but participants do not learn coaching skills through GROW. PeCo participants learn coaching skills that are likely to be useful for management and supervision, but participants do not receive 1:1 coaching with a professional coach through PeCo.

Both programmes create the opportunity for participants to expand their network with other mental health researchers at various career stages. Both programmes offer participants the opportunity to be part of the MHR Incubator alumni community and annual Incubator Gathering.

To ensure we're able to support as many researchers as possible through our programmes, we don't permit participants to take part in PeCo and GROW in the same year!

Will I get one-to-one coaching with a professional coach?

No, this programme only involves peer-coaching between participants.

What is the difference between PeCo and the GROW Researcher Development programme?

GROW participants receive 1:1 coaching from a professional coach, but participants do not learn coaching skills through GROW. Through PeCo, participants will learn coaching skills they can apply in their own settings; they will be able to coach each other by the end of the programme.

GROW is a broader programme, encompassing workshops to build understanding and skills on different aspects of being an early career researcher – for example, finding funding, working with policy, impact. Both programmes create the opportunity for participants to expand their network with other mental health researchers and become a part of the MHR Incubator alumni community (including the annual Incubator Gathering).

Can I apply to both the 2025 PeCo programme and the GROW Researcher Development programme?

All applications to the various Mental Health Research (MHR) Incubator programmes are assessed independently of one another. You are free to apply to any programme that you think you may be eligible for.

However, due to the competitive nature of these programmes and limited spaces, successful applicants can only participate in PeCo 2025 or GROW 2025, not both. This allows the Incubator to carry out its mission of supporting as many mental health researchers as possible.

Applications for GROW 2025 will be opening later this year.

How much does it cost to attend the PeCo programme?

The PeCo programme is fully funded by the NIHR. Travel costs for the in-person sessions will be reimbursed.

When will I hear about the outcome of my application?

We will share the outcome of your application in early May 2025.

: Dr Peter Woodward
Peter was the programme lead in learning disabilities nursing when he was part of PeCo. Predominantly in a teaching role, and having gained a lot of experience of teaching, supervision, and professional experience in inpatient and community settings, Peter was looking to move roles, progress in mental health research and develop networks in this area. He has particular interests in the mental health of people with learning disabilities. Peter was part of the 2024 PeCo cohort.

: Dr Zoe Ryan
Zoe had just submitted her PhD thesis and was awaiting her viva (now passed!) when she started PeCo. At this pivotal point, when she had recently started in a postdoctoral role, Zoe felt the need to dedicate some time to re-establish direction and goals for moving forward from here. In her current role as postdoctoral researcher with the WISDOM Research Network, Zoe is working to bring together school communities and academic researchers to enable high quality mental health research. She is interested in building strong collaborative relationships and appreciates learning from others. Zoe was part of the 2024 PeCo cohort.

: Dr Justin Yang
Justin is a Research Fellow in psychiatric epidemiology, with particular interests in dual diagnosis: substance use disorders and severe mental illness. In addition to pursuing his own ambitions for research in this area (he recently won a postdoctoral fellowship), Justin has been keen to develop other skills by taking on leadership roles in his department, and participating in the editorial board of a substance use journal. Justin was part of the 2024 PeCo cohort.