Research

UCL Psychology is ranked top 5 in the world and first in Europe for psychology  (Shanghai Global Ranking of Academic Subjects). 

Its mental health ecosystem is genuinely interdisciplinary, integrating neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry with education, social sciences, cultural studies, the built environment, engineering, machine learning and the arts.

UCL has a renewed commitment to Mental Health and Well-being, announcing this topic as one of the central themes of the UCL Grand Challenges.

UCL is a mental health research powerhouse, with an average annual grant income of >£20M for mental health-related research. Its research strength is consistently recognised in the Research Excellence Framework, with UCL ranked top for Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience research, and ranked equal first in the UK for Research Environment.

Find out more about clinical psychology research at UCL in this video 

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University Clinic

In 2019, the UCL University Clinic was launched, bringing together academic and clinical leaders within the field of mental health and psychological therapies. The University Clinic offers clinical placements to trainees across a range of clinic services and clinical research domains.

Examples of DClinPsy thesis projects:

Trainees have a wide range of research areas to choose from for their thesis project, spanning health, dementia, neurological disorders, and traditional mental health….. Each year over 50 supervisors offer projects. You can find an example of previous projects here.

Trainees also regularly publish work and present findings from their research projects,. A list of examples of publications and posters? that have arisen from trainee research projects can be found here.

Clinical academic careers post-qualification:

Biographies from Clinical Research Fellows:

Dr Elizabeth Hogg, UCL Clinical Research Fellow

I joined UCL as a Clinical Research Fellow in October 2023. Within my role I feel privileged to be able to conduct my own research, engage in specialist clinical practice, and work on the UCL Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

My psychology career started when I studied BSc Psychology at Durham University. Upon completion of my undergraduate degree, completed an MSc at Newcastle University. I then moved to London and worked as an Assistant Research Psychologist on a NIHR programme grant in the NHS for one year, and as an Assistant Psychologist in CAMHS for two years. I completed the DClinPsy at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London (KCL), prior to beginning my Clinical Research Fellow role at UCL.

I have always been interested in the concept of body image, and my passion for researching body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) to improve detection, early intervention and treatment of the condition, was ignited as I conducted my DClinPsy research into maternal accommodation of adolescent BDD. Currently, I am undertaking a PhD within the Anxiety, self-Image, and Mood (AIM) Lab at UCL, supervised by Dr Georgina Krebs and Professor Argyris Stringaris, which focuses on the detection, diagnosis and treatment of BDD and underlying mechanisms maintaining symptoms. I am using quantitative and qualitative approaches to answer my research questions, and I value the ongoing involvement of an advisory group of individuals with lived experience of BDD to support the development of my research. My ultimate hope is to continue my clinical academic career at UCL by applying for clinical Fellowship opportunities.

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Hestia Moningka, UCL Clinical Research Fellow 

I am a Clinical Research Fellow working on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) course at University College London (UCL). Alongside supporting teaching on the DClinPsy Course, my role involves both clinical practice with young people and their families in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and conducting independent research as part of a PhD supervised by Dr Liam Mason and Professor Argyris Stringaris. 

My current research focuses on using neurocomputational techniques to better understand the nuances of reward, learning and decision-making processes in relation to mental health conditions such as depression. Using task-based functional MRI and computational modelling, I aim to develop a mechanistic understanding of how momentary shifts in mood influence the way people learn about rewards in their environment and make decisions.

I completed a BSc in Psychology at the University of Nottingham and an MRes in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology at UCL. Prior to my role as a Clinical Research Fellow, I completed my DClinPsy training at UCL.

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Biographies from fellows who have received NIHR, Wellcome Trust and MRC fellowship funding: 

Dr Liam Mason, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology & MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow

Liam leads the ICARUS lab, which focuses on understanding the mechanisms of mood disturbances and the neurobiological changes following cognitive-behavioural therapy. His research group uses neuroimaging, smartphone-based assessments and computational modelling. Liam completed his PhD in 2012 and DClinPsy in 2015. He took up his current role in the department in 2019 and currently has a visiting professor appointment at University of California, Berkeley. In addition to his MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship, he holds grant funding from NIHR and Wellcome Trust.

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Dr Christina Carlisi, Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow

Christina completed her PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, investigating the shared and disorder specific neurobiological mechanisms underlying attention and decision-making in adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Autism. Prior to this, she worked as a research assistant in the Section of Development and Affective Neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health, NIH in Bethesda, MD, USA.

She then completed her postdoctoral work as a Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellow in the Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit at UCL with Professor Essi Viding, collaborating with Profs Ahmad Hariri and Terrie Moffitt at Duke University. Christina now leads the Cognitive and Affective Neurodevelopment Lab (CANDL) at UCL as a Prudence Trust Senior Research Fellow, working on the DClinPsy course and co-leading the Clinical Academic pathway. 

 

Trainees carry out their major research project over the three years of the course. They also do a small piece of service-related research in their first year. 

This part of the website provides access to research-related resources, for both trainees and their supervisors. Trainees should refer to Moodle for the Research Project Handbook.

Members of the public, and also UCL students and staff, are invited to participate in projects currently recruiting participants.