The latest cohort of Mental Health Science PhD students would love you to get involved with their research

This has been our second year (and we are booked in for a third) supporting students on the UCL Wellcome 4-year PhD in Mental Health Science. The PhD is an exciting opportunity for students to train in a wide range of the latest methods and techniques in the field of mental health research. This programme, is based in the UCL Institute of Mental Health, and recruits six students per year between 2020-2024 to take part in its programme. It is the first of its kind in the UK, representing an investment of over £5 million by the Wellcome Trust.

Co-Production Collective have been working with each cohort of students since October 2020 delivering a series of workshops throughout their first year aimed at helping them to understand the benefits of involving people with lived experience in their research, what co-production involves, and how to go about it. We cover themes including the values underpinning co-production, the importance of sharing power and responsibility, accessibility and how to put co-production principles into action.

We are now working with the second cohort of students who have started to work on their main PhD projects and they are currently looking for people with living or lived experience of mental health difficulties to be part of their thesis committees. Each thesis committee is made up of researchers, a mental health practitioner and people with lived experience and aims to support one of the programme’s students and their supervisor throughout their PhD project. The thesis committee is there to support each student and will usually meet six to ten times throughout the duration of the project which is three years. Being part of a thesis committee involves reading your student’s written reports, listening to them deliver oral presentations and providing feedback and support. It also involves approving meeting reports that will be entered into the student’s online Research Log.

There is payment available for each role, which is £25 per hour, and this will typically include up to one hour of preparation time for each of the meetings. In addition, there is £5 per meeting for internet costs and/or the course can supply dongles to help those without internet access. You do not have to claim these payments should you wish not to. The deadline for expressing interest in any of these roles is 17:00 on Tuesday 3 January 2023.

Read on to meet the students and find out more about the projects that they are looking to recruit people with lived experience to support.

Exploring how the amount of control we feel we have over our environment changes how we respond to stressful events, especially in childhood.

Jenny is researching developmental psychology and mental health and is interested in understanding how we can build resilience to developing mental health conditions, and more specifically how the amount of control we feel we have over our environment changes how we respond to stressful events, especially in childhood. During her project she will explore the role of subjective sense of control and stress-inoculation during childhood.

Jenny is looking to recruit up to two young people aged 16 to25 with lived experience of mental health conditions (in particular with depression and/or anxiety).

‍Read more about this opportunity‍‍

Understanding the role of breathing in anxiety

Chatrin is studying Cognitive Neuroscience and is interested in links between the brain and the body, and how these might offer ways to better understand and treat mental health conditions. During his project he will explore the role of breathing in anxiety.

Chatrin is looking to recruit two people with lived experience of anxiety to join his Thesis Committee meetings and be part of designing this research.

Read more about this opportunity
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Understanding the impact of different types of psychological therapy on cognitive processes in anxiety disorders.

Ella is studying Cognitive Neuroscience and is interested in psychological and pharmacological (i.e. medication-based) interventions to treat mental health problems. During her project she will look at the impact of different types of psychological therapy on cognitive processes (e.g. memory, decision-making, attention) in anxiety disorders.  

Ella is looking for up to two mental health lived experience advisors who have experience of an anxiety disorder (current or past, e.g. generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder) and has received or is currently receiving psychological therapy for this condition.

Read more about this opportunity
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‍Understanding Anhedonia (the loss of interest or pleasure in activities that someone used to enjoy) in people with depression.

Anna has a background in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience and has worked in clinical and research settings and is aiming to better understand depression. During her project she explore Anhedonia which is the loss of interest or pleasure in activities that someone used to enjoy. She will look how the worries people have about an activity might stop them from fully enjoying it and explore whether these sorts of worries are involved in anhedonia.

Anna is looking for adults (aged 18 years and above) with experience of depression and anhedonia (not being able to enjoy things you used to enjoy) either currently or in the past.

Read more about this opportunity
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Providing evidence to inform safer prescribing of psychiatric medications

Alvin interested in how mental health conditions and their treatments, can impact physical health. His project aims to provide evidence to inform safer prescribing of psychiatric medications whose side effects often include weight gain, raised cholesterol levels and insulin resistance - which increase the risks of cardiovascular disease which affects people’s heart and blood vessels.   

Alvin is looking for up to two advisors with experience of taking antipsychotics and/or antidepressants for mental health problems to help ensure that studies are informed by lived experience and relevant to people taking these medications.

Read more about this opportunity
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Investigating how different anxiety disorders affect cognitive functions, such as attention, memory and decision-making

Agatha has a background is in Biomedical Sciences and Neurosciences and is interested in how mental illnesses affects cognition and the brain. During her project she will investigate how different anxiety disorders affect cognitive functions, such as attention, memory and decision-making.

Agatha is looking for adults (over 18 years old) with lived experience of either: generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety, or panic disorder, and who are interested in contributing to a project that explores anxiety and cognition.

Read more about this opportunity

 If you would like to know more about Co-Production Collective feel free to Get in touch.

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