Catalyst Seminar in Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Children and young people’s mental health is an area of considerable societal need and has been the focus of a number of recent research council and charity funding initiatives. It is also one of the UCL Mental Health Research Strategy priority areas. UCL has substantial research strengths, across multiple domains, that can and should be at the forefront of leading innovative, cross-disciplinary work in this area.

The UCL Catalyst seminar series is intended to spark fresh thinking and debate, featuring cutting-edge UCL research relevant for children and young people’s mental health and facilitating new connections between scientists working in different disciplines.

Wednesday 8 May 2024 | 1pm - 2:15pm

Chair: Professor Steve Fleming, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology, UCL

Speakers:

Professor Anna Cox, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, UCL Interaction Centre

Biography: Anna Cox is a Professor of Human-Computer Interaction in the UCL Interaction Centre (UCLIC), in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences and Vice Dean (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) in the Faculty of Brain Sciences. She was Deputy-Director of UCLIC 2009-2017, chair of the Athena SWAN self-assessment team in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, achieving renewal of a silver award on 2 occasions, and Faculty Athena SWAN lead 2017-2019. 

Professor Cox has a BSc in Cognitive Science (Hertfordshire), and an MSc in Human-Computer Interaction (Queen Mary, University of London). She was awarded her PhD from the University of Hertfordshire in 2002. She became a lecturer in the Computer Science department at the University of Hertfordshire before moving to UCL as a Lecturer in 2004. She was promoted to full professor in 2017.

Professor Cox was a Specialist Advisor to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee at the House of Commons for their 2019 inquiry into immersive and addictive technologies. She has served in senior roles on the programme and organising committees of a number of top-tier HCI conferences, including as technical programme chair for CHI2018 and CHI2019 and general chair of CHI PLAY 2015, 2016, and CHIWORK 2023. She is a member of the CHI steering committee. 

Talk title: TBC 

Professor Parashkev Nachev, Professor of Neurology, Brain Repair & Rehabilitation, UCL

Biography: Professor Nachev's research programme is guided by the widely resisted idea that the human brain is too complex to be rendered either intelligible or actionable by the parsimonious, low-dimensional models dominant in the field. If clinical translation is the ultimate objective, this position compels a two-pronged approach at either extremes of data-scale: single-subject studies employing individually adaptive models and interventions, and large-scale studies employing high-dimensional inference powered by machine learning. It also compels a methodological flexibility, targeting clinical, scientific, or operational objectives as the fastest route to impact dictates. 

Talk title: TBC