I study how humans build mental models of the world for behavioural control, with a focus on social behaviour. Social interaction is remarkably complex: an action that is rewarded in one context may be punished in another, and what we think or feel may clash with the behaviour that is required of us. I seek to understand how humans solve such problems, using behavioural testing, computational modelling and neuroimaging. These techniques allow me to characterise the cognitive processes underlying behaviour and study their implementation in the brain. A biologically-informed account of human social behaviour is important for advancing our understanding of disorders of mental health. Many mental disorders are social in nature – they manifest in interactions between people – but we lack a mechanistic explanation of what has gone awry.

Other research interests include

Cognition | Neuroscience | Psychosocial | Neuromodulation

Jessica Bone

Research Fellow in Epidemiology and Statistics, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Jess has taught on various programmes in UCL Division of Psychiatry and Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, including the Clinical Mental Health Sciences MSc, Mental Health Sciences Research MSc and Dementia: Causes, Treatments and Research MSc. She has contributed to modules including Statistics for Mental Health Research, Core Principles of Mental Health Research, Current Research in Children's and Young People's Mental Health, and Current Research in Depression and Anxiety.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Psychosocial | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Christina Carlisi

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

I am a Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Wellcome research fellow in the Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit at University College London. Through my fellowship, I am also affiliated with the Laboratory of NeuroGenetics at Duke University. My current research uses computational methods (e.g. computational modelling, psychophysics) to examine affective processing. I am interested in how individual differences in diverse factors such as early life experiences and neurobiological mechanisms give rise to (or protect us from) the development of mental health problems and am particularly interested in developing more sensitive measures of individual differences to study how behavioural traits such as anxiety and conduct problems develop across childhood and adolescence.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Cognition | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Lorna Collins

Research Fellow, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Other research interests include

Wellbeing | Global Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Epidemiology

David Curtis

Honorary Professor, Division of Biosciences

Since 1990 I collaborated with Hugh Gurling at the UCL Molecular Psychiatry Lab in research aimed at identifying genes affecting risk of mental illness. Initially we carried out linkage studies of families multiply affected with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Subsequently I have been involved in association studies and latterly studies using next generation sequencing data. Throughout this time I have also developed new statistical approaches and have written computer software to carry out genetic analyses. I am currently working on methods for detecting genetic variants affecting risk of complex diseases using large exome-sequenced datasets.

Other research interests include

Dementia | Neuroscience | Serious Mental Illness

Zsofia Demjen

Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

I work at the intersections of language, mind and health(care), exploring (experiences of) mental/physical illness, healthcare, and medical research through linguistic analysis. My approach is data-driven and discourse analytic, focusing on any aspect of language that stands out in a given context. I've worked specifically on metaphor, im/politeness, personal pronouns, negation, narratives and humour.

Other research interests include

Physical Health | Serious Mental Illness | Language

Quentin Dercon

PhD student in mental health science (UCL-Wellcome programme), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Cognition | Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions

Jen Dykxhoorn

Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Other research interests include

Dena Ettehad

Academic Clinical, Fellow in Primary Care and Population Health

Other research interests include

Saoirse Finn

PhD Researcher, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Other research interests include

Physical Health | Older Adult Mental Health | Epidemiology | Genetics

Stephen Fleming

Sir Henry Dale Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Dementia | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Cognition

Abigail Freeman

Clinical Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Psychosocial | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Suicide and Self-harm | Serious Mental Illness | Psychological Interventions

Sabina Funk

Research Associate, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Dr Tania Gergel

Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Global Mental Health | Suicide and Self-harm | Serious Mental Illness | Ethics and law / Co-production

Dawid Gondek

Research Fellow, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Dawid’s main research interests lie in:
- Life course development of mental health and wellbeing
- Risk factors, mainly in early-life, for poor mental health and wellbeing
- Generational trends in health, with a focus on mental health, and their determinants

Other research interests include

Wellbeing | Epidemiology

Sergi Costafreda Gonzalez

Associate Professor, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Serious Mental Illness | Older Adult Mental Health | Cognition

Rebecca Gould

Associate Professor, Division of Psychiatry

My main research interests are in evaluating psychological interventions such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and mindfulness-based therapies for: i) older people with mental health conditions (including anxiety and depression); ii) people with neurodegenerative diseases (including dementia and motor neuron disease); iii) carers of people with neurodegenerative diseases; and iv) people with physical health conditions. Other research interests include examining the assessment of frailty in older people with mental health conditions, and evaluating psychological interventions for this population.

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Older Adult Mental Health | Physical Health | Dementia

Talya Greene

Senior Lecturer and Honorary Associate Professor, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Trauma | Psychosocial | Epidemiology

Benedict Greenwood

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Psychological Interventions

Laura Grover

Research Assistant, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Older Adult Mental Health | Neuroscience | Dementia | Epidemiology

Joseph Hayes

Principal Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry

Research areas:
- Life course epidemiology of bipolar disorder, risk factors, prodrome, treatments and long-term outcomes, including physical health problems
- Using routine data from primary and secondary care electronic health records and population cohorts to further the understanding of the epidemiology of severe mental illness
- Pharmacoepidemiology and physical health effects in severe mental illness
- Physical activity and mental health
- Ecological Momentary Assessment of mood
- Personalized treatments for severe mental illness
- Social determinants of severe mental health problems
- Drug re-purposing in psychiatry

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Pharmacology | Physical Health | Epidemiology

Samuel Hewitt

PhD Student, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Cognition | Neuroscience

Elaine Hunter

Senior Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Trauma

Marjan Jahanshahi

Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Our current areas of research interest are:
1. Role of the basal ganglia in motor control, cognition and motivation and the modulatory influence of dopamine investigated through study of patients with disorders of the basal ganglia and the effect of subortical surgery.
2. Modulation of movement speed by attention and motivation in health and disease
3. Impact of movement disorders such as Parkinsons disease and dystonia on the psychosocial functioning and quality of life of the patients and their carers and more recently the effect of chronic neurological illness of a parent on their children.
We adopt a multi-technique approach and use neuropsychology, functional imaging, electrophysiological recording, and TMS in our research.

Other research interests include

Maryam Javed

Research Assistant, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Global Mental Health | Health and Social Care | Psychological Interventions | Trauma

Aaron Kandola

PhD Candidate, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Physical Health | Wellbeing | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology

Sunjeev Kamboj

Professor of Translational Clinical Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Trauma | Substance abuse | Cognition

Garrett Kidd

Research Assistant, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Karel Kieslich

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Substance Abuse | Pharmacology | Epidemiology

Emma Jayne Kilford

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Global Mental Health | Digital Health | Neuroscience | Cognition

Peter A. Kirk

PhD in the Leverhulme Doctoral Training Program for the Ecological Study of the Brain, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Cognition

Rebecca Lacey

Lecturer in Quantitative Methods and Lifecourse Epidemiology, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

I am a Lecturer in Quantitative Methods and Lifecourse Epidemiology. I am a social epidemiologist who applies a life course approach to understanding the importance of the early family social environment for health across the life course.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Psychosocial | Wellbeing | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Glyn Lewis

Professor of Epidemiological Psychiatry, Division of Psychiatry

I am interested in investigating the causes of psychiatric disorder, particularly depressive illness and psychosis. Causal factors that are potentially preventable could be especially useful but clues to aetiology also can improve our understanding of illness and help to devise treatments. I also carry out randomised controlled trials to evaluate treatments for depression in primary care. I aim to carry out research that has practical implications in improving clinical care of people with psychiatric disorder. I want to identify those advances in our neuroscientific understanding that could lead to practicable benefits for patients.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Pharmacology | Psychological Interventions | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Michele Lim

Trainee Clinical Psychologist, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Digital Health | Psychological Interventions | Eating Disorders

Stuart Linke

Clinical Psychologist, Institute of Digital Health

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Substance Abuse | Physical Health | Psychosocial

Mekeda X Logan

Research Assistant, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Global Mental Health | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Alexis An Yee Low

PhD Student, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience

Millie Lowther

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Neuroscience | Cognition

Eliazar Luna

Research Fellow

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Psychosocial

Andrew MacAskill

Sir Henry Dale Fellow, Division of Biosciences

We are working to understand how neurons in the brain communicate with each other to allow them to encode emotional behaviours and make decisions. Problems with this communication underlie the vast majority of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, and so our aim is to find novel ways to combat these diseases by gaining a greater understanding of the processes that they destroy.

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Neuroscience | Pharmacology | Substance Abuse

Rosalind McAlpine

PhD Student, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Eamon McCrory

Professor of Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Trauma | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions

Tayla McCloud

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Nigel McKenzie

Research Associate, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Mood Disorders | Suicide and Self-harm | Epidemiology | Substance abuse

Carlos Mena

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Cognition | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Anxiety

Nick Midgley

Professor of Psychological Therapies with Children and Young People, Anna Freud Centre

Nick Midgley's primary research interest is in psychological therapies with children and young people, with a particular focus on the use of qualitative methods. He has a strong commitment to examining the child's perspective on mental health and psychotherapy. Prof Midgley has been involved in the adaptation of contemporary psychodynamic treatments, including mentalization-based treatments, for use with children and families

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial

Darío Moreno-Agostino

Research Fellow in Population Mental Health, Centre for Longitudinal Studies

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | G lobal Mental Health | Older Adult Mental Health | Wellbeing

Agnes Norbury

Research Fellow, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Digital Health | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions

Ciarán O'Driscoll

Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Digital Health | Psychological Interventions | Serious Mental Illness | Trauma

Sami Omar Amawi

Core trainee in psychiatry, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Serious Mental Illness | Substance Abuse | Trauma

Vasiliki Orgeta

Associate Professor, Division of Psychiatry

Dr Vasiliki Orgeta is a research psychologist interested in emotional well-being in people with dementia and their family carers. Her research focuses on the development and evaluation of psychological and psychosocial interventions in dementia and mild cognitive impairment. She is also interested in how stress could be influencing risk of dementia and the effect of caregiving on caregivers physical and mental health.

Other research interests include

David Osborn

Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology, Division of Psychiatry

David's main research interests are the interface between physical and mental health, psychiatric epidemiology and the provision of effective and safe interventions for people with severe mental illnesses including psychosis. He has published related work over the last 20 years in journals such as The British Medical Journal, British Journal of Psychiatry and Archives of General Psychiatry/JAMA Psychiatry.

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Pharmacology | Physical Health | Epidemiology

Steven Papachristou

Lecturer in Psychology, Department of Psychology and Human Development

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Pharmacology | Cognition | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Praveetha Patalay

Associate Professor, Social Research Institute & Population Science and Experimental Medicine

My research interests primarily fall in the area of child development and epidemiology with a focus on mental health through the life course including prevalence, risk factors, consequences, developmental pathways and interventions to promote better mental health. In terms of interventions, my research focuses on community based interventions that are not just about treatment but also focus on prevention of problems, reduction of stigma around mental ill-health and promoting greater wellbeing.

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Wellbeing

Panayiota Petrochilos

Consultant Neuropsychiatrist and Department lead for Neuropsychiatry, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Dementia | Psychological Interventions | Cognition

Giulia Piazza

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Pharmacology | Neuroscience | Psychosocial | Cognition

Alexandra Pike

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Cognition

Alexandra Pitman

Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Psychiatry

I am interested in understanding risk factors for suicide attempt and in developing interventions to address them. I am currently working on the following areas:

Social and built environment influences on self-harm
Suicide attempt risk in vulnerable groups (people bereaved by suicide; people with cancer; LGBT youth; migrants; specific occupational groups; people who identify as lonely)
Suicide means restriction

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Suicide and Self-harm | Psychological Interventions | Children and Young People's Mental Health

Lydia Poole

Research Fellow in Mixed Methods, Institute of Health Informatics

Lydia 's research focuses on the psychobiology of chronic disease. She is particularly interested in how depression is linked to physical illness and the biobehavioural pathways through which depression can explain disease onset and progression. Her ESRC funded fellowship comprised a body of work exploring the similarities and differences in depression across different physical illnesses. Lydia has a growing number of first-authored publications in peer-reviewed journals and has co-authored five book chapters. She has participated in several international conferences hand has received travel awards to present her work.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Physical Health | Psychosocial | Wellbeing

Priya Rajyaguru

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Fellow, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Lucy Ring

Honorary Research Fellow, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Trauma | Psychological Interventions

Oliver Robinson

ICN Group Leader, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

We try to better understand anxiety disorders and 'normal' adaptive anxiety and how they relate. We use threat of shock, functional magnetic resonance imaging, computational psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychopharmacology techniques. We ultimately want to improve outcomes for sufferers of anxiety. For more details visit my lab website: www.oliverjrobinson.com

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Pharmacology | Psychological Interventions | Cognition

Jonathan Roiser

Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Our aim is to understand the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying symptoms of mental illness, especially those relating to motivation. We utilise experimental techniques drawn from cognitive psychology, functional neuroimaging, psychopharmacology, and computational modelling, both in patient populations and healthy volunteers.

Other research interests include

Gabrielle Sheehan

Clinical Research Assistant, Queen Square Institute of Neurology

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Older Adult Mental Health | Anxiety and depression in older adults and Parkinson's disease

Argyris Stringaris

Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Division of Psychiatry

Professor Stringaris is the Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry with the Division of Psychiatry and the Psychology and Language Sciences Department at UCL. He was until recently Senior Investigator and Chief of the Section of Clinical and Computational Psychiatry at NIMH/NIH in the USA and before that a Senior Lecturer and Wellcome Trust Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London. He trained at the Maudsley Hospital.

He is a Clinician Scientist working to understand mood and the mechanisms that lead to depression and severe irritability (emotion dysregulation). He is studying how negative mood states arise and are maintained in the brain. He and his team use a broad range of methodologies stretching from computational modelling to clinical observation and randomised controlled trials in pursuit of understanding about mood. His latest work is about mood changes in the absence of events (Passage of Time Dysphoria) and about why humans may seek negative emotional states (i.e. choose not to be happiness maximisers at least for discrete time periods). He is collaborating broadly across the natural sciences (with engineers, physicists and mathematicians) and the humanities (historians and philosophers of emotions). Clinically, he is treating young people with mental illness, particularly those with severe anxiety and depression.

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Pharmacology

Anahita Talwar

Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Computational Modelling | Psychological Interventions | Cognition

Muhammad Umar

Phd Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Cognition | Epidemiology | Neuroscience | psychiatric genetics

Vincent Valton

NIHR UCLH BRC Fellow - Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Pharmacology | Neuroscience | Cognition

Muhammad Waqar Ashraf Bhatti

Clinical Psychologist, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dr Megan Watkins

Senior Researcher at National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (Collaboration between Royal College of Psychiatrists and UCL), Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Suicide and Self-harm | Trauma | Psychological Interventions

Marco Wittmann

Independent Senior Research Fellow, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Neuroscience | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Cognition | Psychosocial

Keri Wong

Assistant Professor of Psychology, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

My research interests are in the early assessments of childhood mental wellbeing, childhood paranoia/suspiciousness, antisocial and aggressive behaviours, and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (schizotypal personality disorder) across cultures.

Other research interests include

Liam Wright

Research Fellow in Epidemiology/Statistics, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

I am a Research Fellow in the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL. My work uses genetically informed designs to explore social inequalities in health and change in inequalities across time. My PhD research was on the association between youth unemployment and mental health later in life (so called scarring effects).

Other research interests include

Wellbeing | Epidemiology