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Wellbeing

Affiliates of the Institute of Mental Health with expertise in Wellbeing.

Nicola Abbott

Lecturer in Social Psychology, Department of Psychology and Human Development, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

I am a Social and Developmental Psychologist with expertise in bystander intervention in the context of school bullying. I am particularly interested in bullying that is biased-based (e.g. based on gender, race and ethnicity, country of origin, sexuality and disability etc.) and anti-bullying interventions. For example, I am interested in what makes someone feel confident enough to intervene when they witness bullying, especially when the bullying is directed at someone who belongs to a different social group (e.g. they are from a different ethnic background). 

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Ethnic minorities

Agatha Alves Anet

PhD Student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

Cognition | Global Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Neuroscience

Humma Andleeb

PhD student, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

Other research interests include

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

Rebecca Appleton

Research Assistant, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Children and Young People's Mental Health


Phoebe Barnett    

Research Fellow

Other research interests include

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

Jo Billings

Associate Clinical Professor/Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Division of Psychiatry

I have particular clinical and research interests in PTSD, trauma, resilience and the mental health and wellbeing of high-risk occupational groups. I have also published research related to the acceptability and impact of psychological interventions as well as qualitative research on a variety of topics. 

Other research interests include

Psychosocial | Psychological Interventions | Trauma and PTSD

Christine Carter

Full time PhD student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Older Adult Mental Health | Physical HealthCognition | Global Mental Health | Psychosocial


Dorina Cadar     

Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Epidemiology & Health Cognition 

Other research interests include

Dementia | Epidemiology | Neuroscience | Psychosocial


Jennifer Cearns

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology

Other research interests include

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

Merve Cetinkaya

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Justin Chan

PhD student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Dementia | Cognition | Older Adult Mental Health

Lorna Collins

Research Fellow, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Other research interests include

Mood DisordersEpidemiology | Global Mental Health | Psychological Interventions


Dena Ettehad

Academic Clinical, Fellow in Primary Care and Population Health

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Health and Social Care | Trauma | Suicide and Self-harm | Serious Mental Illness | Digital Health | Mood Disorders | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychosocial


Emma Ruby Francis 

PhD Candidate, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences       

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Epidemiology | Serious Mental Illness | Older Adult Mental Health | Trauma 

Sabina Funk

Research Associate, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Cognition | Dementia | Global Mental Health Mood Disorders Neuroscience | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychological Interventions

Anne Gaule

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

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

Eriko Gavinio

PhD Student and Clinical Psychologist, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

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

James Gilleen

Senior Lecturer, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

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

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

Mood Disorders | Epidemiology

Ishtar Govia

Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies

Other research interests include

Dementia | Global Mental Health | Physical Health | Epidemiology |  Psychological Interventions | Pychosocial | Health and Social CareCognition | Integrated Approaches | Multimorbidity

Vivian Hill

Programme Director Doctorate in Educational, Child and Adolescent Psychology, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Other research interests include

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

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

Dementia | Mood Disorders | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychosocial | Physical Health | Cognition


Naomi Jiehua Li-Horder    

Project officer (UCL) & counsellor (BACP registered)

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental HealthPhysical Health 


Phil Jones

Professor of Children’s Rights and Wellbeing, Institute of Education    

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Arts therapies 

Aaron Kandola

PhD Candidate, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Mood DisordersNeuroscience | Physical Health | Epidemiology | Children and Young People's Mental Health


Garrett Kidd

Research Assistant, Division of Psychiatry    

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Health and Social Care | Mood Disorders | Older Adult Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Serious Mental Illness | Substance abuse | Suicide and Self-harm | Trauma

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

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

Danielle Lamb

Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Epidemiology & Health

Danielle is currently a senior research fellow in the NIHR ARC (North Thames). Her work focuses on using mixed methods to evaluate the implementation of complex health services and interventions.  Her previous work focussed on mental health services and interventions, particularly acute mental health services such as Crisis Resolution Teams and Acute Day Units. 

Other research interests include

Physical Health | Psychological Interventions | Serious Mental Illness | Occupational Psychology

Maria Long

Trial Manager (NHS) and PhD student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Physical Health | Epidemiology | Cognition

Virginia Lumsden

Associate Clinical Tutor and Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health in Education Settings

Hei Wan (Karen) Mak

Research Fellow in Quantitative Social Science, Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Having a background in Sociology, Karen (Hei Wan)'s research interests centre on using nationally representative data/cohort studies to examine the social determinants of health-related behaviours, mental health and mental wellbeing, including early life experiences, family relationships, neighbourhood factors, and arts and cultural community engagement. Her current research focuses on two main themes: (i) exploring the wellbeing benefits of the arts & cultural community engagement at a population level, and (ii) drawing on various theories from sociology, psychology and geography to understand what encourages some people to participate but acts as a barrier for others. 

Other research interests include

Psychosocial | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Arts and Cultural Community Engagement 

Rosalind McAlpine

PhD Student, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Pharmacology | Mood Disorders | Serious Mental Illness | Psychosocial | Substance AbusePsychological Interventions

Jennifer McGowan

Lecturer, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

My research interests are focused primarily on health psychology. I am interested in projects into:

  • Public health (well-being, smoking, cancer, sexual well-being, lifespan ageing)
  • Positive psychology, resilience, and physical well-being 
  • Sexual well-being in regards to abnormal sexuality

To date my research has explored the biopsychosocial well-being of adults ageing with HIV in relation to both age and time with diagnosed HIV, and project relating to cancer and smoking, and adolescent health and well-being.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Psychosocial | Psychological Interventions

Daisy McInnerney

PhD Candidate, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Global Mental Health | Psychosocial | Psychological Interventions | Older Adult Mental Health


Asta Medisauskaite

Senior Research Fellow, Division of Medicine

Other research interests include

Health and Social Care | Psychological Interventions | Wellbeing | Occupational Health Psychology

Darío Moreno-Agostino 

Research Fellow in Population Mental Health, Centre for Longitudinal Studies    

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental HealthEpidemiology | Mood Disorders | Global Mental Health Older Adult Mental Health

Helen Nicholls

Doctoral student, Division of Psychiatry    

Other research interests include

Global Mental Health | Trauma | Digital Health

Bonamy Oliver

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

I am a developmental psychologist and behavioural geneticist, I have diverse research and applied experience, including in large cohort studies as well as working and collaborating with educational psychologists, child psychiatrists and practitioners. My research focuses on children’s socio-emotional development, psychological adjustment and mental health, with specific emphasis on the role of family, school and the connections between them. In particular, I consider genetic and environmental aetiology of individual differences in development and intervention response, as well as methods that facilitate detailed understanding of interpersonal relationships suitable for large-scale studies, to improve reach, scale and diversity in intervention research.

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Psychological Interventions | Behavioural genetics | Family processes

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

Psychological Interventions | Physical Health | Psychosocial | Older Adult Mental Health | Neuroscience | Psychological Interventions | Mood Disorders | Dementia | Cognition

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 | Mood Disorders

Elise Paul

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

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Psychosocial | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Self-harm

Georgia Pavlopoulou

Lecturer, Anna Freud Centre

I have developed academic, NHS and third sector collaborations both nationally and internationally.   I am passionate about working with marginalized groups, service users, scholar activists and Trusts to facilitate service transformation and advance mental health practice through better cross agency collaboration, translational research and better service user participation.

Other research interests include

Global Mental Health | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Older Adult Mental Health

George Ploubidis 

Professor of Population Health and Statistics, Centre for Longitudinal Studies

George is a multidisciplinary quantitative social scientist and a longitudinal population surveys methodologist. His main research interests relate to socioeconomic and demographic determinants of health over the life course and the mechanisms that underlie generational differences in health and mortality. His methodological work in longitudinal surveys focusses on applications for handling missing data, causal inference and measurement error.

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Physical Health | Older Adult Mental Health | Social Statistics

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 | Mood Disorders | Physical Health | Psychosocial


Claire Powell

Senior Research Fellow, GOS Institute of Child Health

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Health and Social Care | Trauma | Psychosocial


Priya Rajyaguru    

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

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health | Cognition | Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Psychosocial | Wellbeing

Jessica Rees

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

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

Philippa Renouf

Research Assistant, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Older Adult Mental Health | Dementia | Psychological Interventions | Cognition

Antonia Rich

Associate Professor in Medical Education, UCL Medical School    

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental HealthPsychological Interventions | Psychosocial | Health and Social Care

Anna Roach

PhD Student, GOS Institute of Child Health

Other research interests include

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

David Ruttenberg

PhD Student and UCL Staff (Content Creator and PGTA), Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience

I am a passionately devoted scientist & PhD candidate within the University College London's Institute of Education & Culture, Communication & Media Department's Knowledge Lab and at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience's Developmental Diversity Lab & Cognition Emotion and Education Lab (CEE) within the Centre for Attention Learning and Memory (CALM) at the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at University of Cambridge (CBU).

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Cognition | Older Adult Mental Health | Sensory, Anxiety and Attention

Jessica Satchell

Trial Manager / PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Epidemiology | Global Mental Health | Older Adult Mental Health | Trauma | Crime Victims

Juliet Singer

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

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

Matt Somerville

Lecturer in Psychology, IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society

Broadly, my research interests are concerned with educational contexts that support children’s social and emotional development. My primary research focus is on emotion regulation and how it relates to mental health and well-being. Other research interests include beliefs about emotion controllability, self-regulation/co-regulation, metacognition, teacher-pupil interactions, peer interactions, the social context of the classroom, and the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage on psychological and educational outcomes. 

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental Health

Sahra Tekin

PhD Student, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Serious Mental Illness | Global Mental HealthPsychological Interventions

Simon To

Policy, Governance and Insight Manager, Students' Union UCL

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental HealthPsychological Interventions | Students

Hara Trouli

Programme Lead Performing Arts Medicine, Division of Surgery & Interventional Science

Other research interests include

Epidemiology | Physical Health | Psychosocial | Substance Abuse


Muhammad Waqar Ashraf Bhatti 

Clinical Psychologist, Division of Psychiatry

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Psychosocial  | Neuroscience | Health and Social Care | Sexuality | Mood Disorders

Katey Warran

Research Fellow in Social Science (Assets for Resilient Communities in Mental Health [MARCH] Network), Institute of Epidemiology and Health

Katey is an interdisciplinary researcher who draws upon the fields of sociology, psychology, performance science, and philosophy to examine complex arts interventions and how they impact upon mental health and wellbeing. More specifically, she is interested in how group arts engagement can support social cohesion and improve social relationships, exploring this from multiple perspectives. For example, using theories from sociology to understand collective emotions and how they cement social bonds, drawing upon social psychology to explore the benefits of shared group identities, and applying theories from the philosophy of religion to unpack the more tacit, experiential aspects of creativity that unite people through shared ineffable experiences.

Other research interests include

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

Kaja Widuch

Data Manager, Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology

Other research interests include

Psychological Interventions | Global Mental Health | Psychosocial | Serious Mental Illness | Children and Young People's Mental Health | Psychiatric Research

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

Children and Young People's Mental Health |Global Mental Health | Mood Disorders | Older Adult Mental Health | Physical Health | Wellbeing

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

Mood Disorders | Epidemiology


Francesca Zanatta

Associate Lecturer (Mental Health), Institute of Epidemiology & Health

Other research interests include

 Health and Social Care | Psychosocial | Children and Young People's Mental Health


Zhongyao Zhang

PhD student, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences

Other research interests include

Children and Young People's Mental HealthHealth and Social Care | Psychosocial | Mood Disorders | Global Mental Health |  | Psychological Interventions