Month: September 2024

I have been working at the University since May 2005, with the main focus of my research being behavioural and psychiatric problems in adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). I have worked on four main projects, one a guideline development project for the use of medication to manage behavioural problems in adults with ID, another was to develop a series of accessible medication information for people with ID, which was an offshoot from the guideline project. I have recently completed a longitudinal explorative project investigating aggressive behaviour in adults with ID and am conducting a qualitative study of the views and experiences of services of adults with intellectual disabilities from Black and minority ethnic communities. I have also recently started an acceptability study of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing for trauma-related mental health problems in adults with intellectual disabilities.

Connor is a Research Fellow working under the ‘Psychosis’ theme within the Mental Health Mission. Connor completed his undergraduate degree within the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences – with a dissertation focusing on how changes in inflammation may bring about symptoms of psychosis.

Connor has since completed an interdisciplinary Priestley PhD Scholarship, hosted by the Schools of Sport and Exercise Sciences and Psychology at the University of Birmingham, and the Centre for Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne. This PhD project further explored how inflammation might affect the brain of people who experience psychosis, growing ‘brains in a dish’ to gain a better understanding of mental illness on a cellular level. Further, Connor conducted a regular exercise intervention at the University of Birmingham, to see how a clinical trial using structured physical activity may affect inflammation and symptom profiles in a population of young people experiencing psychosis.

Within the Mental Health Mission, Connor aspires to put lived experience at the forefront and co-design trials with people experiencing mental ill-health, for people experiencing mental ill-health. This will provide initial stepping stones towards improving transdiagnostic mental health outcomes and offering better support to those who need it most.

James is a clinical research fellow working in the psychosis stream of the mission, where he is working on clinical study delivery and capacity building. He is also a psychiatrist completing his consultant training in old age psychiatry. His interests are in psychosis and the biological aging process.

I work as a research fellow on the mental health mission, specifically working on difficult-to-treat depression (DTD) research. As part of my role, I am supporting the development of a DTD digital platform. The platform will house a wealth of patient level data to deeply phenotype this population.

I also work on a range of academic projects that explore early life predictors of chronic depression and building tools to better identify DTD patients and thus, better match them to treatments that benefit them. I started this role after completing a post-doctorate position at Public Health Wales where I explored the impact of adverse childhood experience on future health outcomes. I wanted to realign my focus on mental health and specifically mood disorders/depression.  I am interested in investigating the predictors of common mental health disorders and maintenance factors over the life course and how this may vary across groups (minoritised populations, younger populations).