Close
The UCL Wellcome 4-year PhD Programme in Mental Health Science is an exciting opportunity for students to train in a wide range of the latest methods and techniques in the field of mental health research. This programme, funded in 2019, is the first of its kind in the UK, representing an investment of over £5 million by the Wellcome Trust. It is based in the UCL Institute of Mental Health, and will recruit six students per year from 2020-2024.
A call for supervisors for the programme is issued on an annual basis, typically in March. The criteria for being approved as a supervisor are as follows:
- Have a either an open-ended position or proleptic appointment with UCL, or a substantive fixed-term contract that would outlast the length of a studentship (for example, for students starting in September 2021, the contract must end no earlier than September 2025).
- Be eligible to be primary supervisor according to UCL regulations, including completion of the required courses.
- Have experience of supervising (either as primary or as secondary supervisor) at least one PhD student to the point of thesis submission.
- Have a strong track record of research directly relevant to mental health, which is a good fit with the programme.
Additionally, once approved, all supervisors must undertake a mandatory half-day supervisor training course specifically designed for the programme, and submit at least two examples of possible rotation projects.
Consistent with the interdisciplinary ethos of the programme, the steering committee is drawn from a wide range of disciplines relevant to mental health research.
| Steering committee member | |
|---|---|
| Prof Jonathan Roiser (Director) | Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health in the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. He founded and directs the UCL-NIMH Joint Doctoral Training Program in Neuroscience, and previously directed the UCL MRC 4-year PhD Programme in Mental Health. |
| Prof Claudia Cooper (co-Director) | Professor of Psychiatry of Older Age in the UCL Division of Psychiatry, and Honorary NHS Consultant Psychiatrist. She is Postgraduate Tutor in the Division of Psychiatry. |
| Prof Pasco Fearon (co-Director) | Professor of Developmental Psychopathology and Director of UCL’s doctoral programme in Clinical Psychology. He is Director of the Developmental Neuroscience Unit at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, and is closely involved in national child mental health policy. |
| Dr Anna Remington (Patient and Public Involvement Champion) | Associate Professor and Director of the Centre Research in Autism and Education at the UCL Institute of Education. She holds a Wellcome Hub Award on wellbeing and productivity in people with autism and learning disability, and has received awards for her public engagement and participatory work. |
| Dr Alexandra Pitman (Wellbeing Champion) | Associate Professor in the UCL Division of Psychiatry and Honorary NHS Consultant Psychiatrist. She uses epidemiological approaches to identify risk factors for suicide and self-harm, and designs preventative interventions to address modifiable risk factors. |
| Prof Marcus Richards (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Champion) | Professor of Psychology in Epidemiology, and leader of the Mental Ageing Programme for the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing. He is heavily involved in UCL’s Inclusive Advocacy scheme for black and minority ethnic (BAME) students and staff. |
The supervisor list comprises ~60 leading researchers at UCL, including several early-career researchers, distributed across the three themes of the programme.
| Name | Position | Research Area |
|---|---|---|
| Prof Jonathan Roiser | Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Programme Director | Neural and cognitive mechanisms driving mental illness, especially depression (Mechanism) |
| Prof Claudia Cooper | Professor of Psychiatry of Older Age, Programme Co-Director | Psychological interventions to prevent and improve life quality in dementia (Intervention) |
| Prof Pasco Fearon | Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Programme Co-Director | Early childhood determinants of mental health and adjustment (Population) |
| Dr Anna Remington | Associate Professor, Programme Committee | Cognitive skills and abilities in autism and their practical application (Mechanism) |
| Prof Marcus Richards | Professor of Psychology in Epidemiology, Programme Committee | Life course approaches to mental ageing: depression and cognitive function (Population) |
| Dr Alexandra Pitman | Clinical Associate Professor, Programme Committee | Risk factors for suicidality; links between loneliness and mental illness (Intervention) |
| Dr Rick Adams | Clinical Research Fellow | Computational modelling of the brain and behaviour in schizophrenia (Mechanism) |
| Dr Dominik Bach | Principal Clinical Research Fellow | Threat avoidance and aversive learning in health and disease; behavioural research methods (Mechanism) |
| Dr Vaughan Bell | Associate Professor | Social cognition in psychosis and neuropsychiatric disorders (Mechanism) |
| Prof Elvira Bramon | Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health | Biological markers for psychosis and their genetic influences (Mechanism) |
| Dr Marc Busche | Programme Leader | Cellular and circuit mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders (Mechanism) |
| Dr Laura Crane | Associate Professor | Mental health conditions in autistic children, adolescents and adults (Mechanism) |
| Prof Ray Dolan FRS | Mary Kinross Professor of Neuropsychiatry | Computational and neural basis of motivation in health and disease (Mechanism) |
| Dr Aikaterini Fotopoulou | Reader in Psychodynamic Neuroscience | Body representation and interoception in eating disorders (Mechanism) |
| Prof Alasdair Gibb | Professor of Pharmacology | Dopaminergic neuron NMDA receptor function and pharmacology (Mechanism) |
| Dr Tobias Hauser | Senior Research Fellow | Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (Mechanism) |
| Dr Quentin Huys | Clinical Senior Lecturer | Developing computational and cognitive methods to address clinical problems in psychiatry (Mechanism) |
| Prof Josef Kittler | Professor of Molecular Neurobiology | The genetic mechanisms driving synaptic dysfunction in neuropsychiatric conditions (Mechanism) |
| Dr Andrew MacAskill | Senior Research Fellow | Synaptic and circuit process in rodent analogues of mental illness (Mechanism) |
| Dr Liam Mason | Lecturer in Clinical Psychology | Mechanisms of mood instability and decision-making in bipolar disorder (Mechanism) |
| Prof Eamon McCrory | Professor of Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology | Neurocognitive mechanisms implicated in mental health vulnerability following childhood maltreatment (Mechanism) |
| Dr Andrew McQuillin | Associate Professor | Genetic underpinnings of a range of mental illnesses and substance misuse disorders using large scale molecular genetics (Mechanism) |
| Dr Oliver Robinson | Principal Research Fellow | The neurocognitive and computational basis of mental illness, focusing on anxiety (Mechanism) |
| Prof Trevor Smart | Schild Professor of Pharmacology | The molecular, cellular and circuit basis of mental health disorders from the perspective of dysfunctional brain inhibition (Mechanism) |
| Dr Nikolaus Steinbeis | Principal Research Fellow | The development of emotion regulation in children and its role in psychological wellbeing (Mechanism) |
| Prof Essi Viding | Professor of Developmental Psychopathology | Genetic, environmental and neurocognitive mechanisms contributing to the development of antisocial behaviour (Mechanism) |
| Dr Sarah White | Senior Research Fellow | Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying autism (Mechanism) |
| Prof David Batty | Professor of Epidemiology | Social, psychological, biological, behavioural and genetic risks for mental illness (Population) |
| Dr Daisy Fancourt | Associate Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology | Links between social, cultural and community engagement and psychological, biological, social and behavioural factors (Population) |
| Prof Eirini Flouri | Professor of Developmental Psychology | Social and biological influences on children’s emotional and behavioural problems (Population) |
| Dr James Kirkbride | Associate Professor | Social epidemiology of psychotic disorders, including migration, ethnicity and urbanization (Population) |
| Dr Karoline Kuchenbaecker | Associate Professor | The genetics of depression in diverse populations (Population) |
| Prof Glyn Lewis | Professor of Epidemiological Psychiatry | Epidemiology of psychiatric disorders and randomised clinical trials of depression (Population) |
| Dr Clare Llewellyn | Associate Professor | How genes and the environment impact habits, obesity and mental health (Population) |
| Prof Janaina Mourão-Miranda | Professorial Research Fellow | Development and application of machine learning models to neuroimaging (Population) |
| Prof Irwin Nazareth | Professor of Primary Care and Population Science | Mental health in lower & middle income countries (Population) |
| Prof Courtenay Norbury | Professor of Developmental Disorders of Language and Communication | Developmental relationships between language disorder and social, emotional, and mental health outcomes (Population) |
| Prof David Osborn | Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology | Mental health epidemiology including outcomes in psychosis and physical comorbidity (Population) |
| Dr Praveetha Patalay | Associate Professor | Mental health across the lifecourse; developmental trajectories, antecedents and consequences (Population) |
| Prof Irene Petersen | Professor of Epidemiology and Health Informatics | Links between physical and mental health in primary care (Population) |
| Dr Jean-Baptiste Pingault | Associate Professor | Genetic and environmental pathways to childhood and adolescent mental health (Population) |
| Prof George Ploubidis | Professor of Population Health and Statistics | Antecedents and consequences of common mental disorders over the lifecourse (Population) |
| Prof Andrew Steptoe | Professor of Psychology and Epidemiology | Determinants and consequences of mental ill-health in population cohorts of middle-aged and older participants (Population) |
| Prof Kate Walters | Professor of Primary Care & Epidemiology | Predicting and improving mental health outcomes in people with complex needs (Population) |
| Prof Ian Wong | Professor of Pharmacy Practice / Medicines Use | Population-based studies of medication use in child mental illness (Population) |
| Dr Georgina Charlesworth | Senior Lecturer | Caring and coping in later life (Intervention) |
| Prof Anthony David | Professor of Mental Health | Insight and awareness, depersonalisation disorder and functional neurological disorders (Intervention) |
| Dr Jessica Deighton | Reader in Child Mental Health and Wellbeing | Evaluation of interventions to support mental health and well-being in children (Intervention) |
| Prof Peter Fonagy | Professor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science | Psychosocial treatments for youths and individuals with persistent mental disorders (Intervention) |
| Prof Gill Livingston | Professor of Psychiatry of Older People | Life course interventions to prevent and delay dementia, treat neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia and improve mental health of family carers (interventions) |
| Dr Rebecca Gould | Senior Research Associate | Psychological interventions in mental and physical health disorders (Intervention) |
| Prof Angela Hassiotis | Professor of Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability | Interventions and epidemiology of neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disability (Intervention) |
| Dr Amy Harrison | Lecturer in Psychology | Developing treatments for eating disorders through understanding their cognitive, social and emotional mechanisms (Intervention) |
| Prof Robert Howard | Professor of Old Age Psychiatry | Improving treatment for psychosis, anxiety, depression and symptoms of dementia (Intervention) |
| Prof Sonia Johnson | Professor of Social and Community Psychiatry | Development, evaluation of psychosocial interventions; social influences on mental health (Intervention) |
| Prof Eileen Joyce | Professor of Neuropsychiatry | Novel treatments in neuropsychiatric disorders: schizophrenia (cognitive remediation), OCD (deep brain stimulation) (Intervention) |
| Prof Sunjeev Kamboj | Professor of Translational Clinical Psychology | Memory modification as a therapeutic strategy for psychological disorders (Intervention) |
| Prof Helen Killaspy | Professor of Rehabilitation Psychiatry | Evaluation of effectiveness of specialist services for people with complex mental health needs (Intervention) |
| Dr John King | Associate Professor | Virtual reality embodiment as a tool for modifying self-compassion in mental illness (Intervention) |
| Dr Bryn Lloyd-Evans | Senior Lecturer | Mental health services research, especially crisis care (Intervention) |
| Dr Will Mandy | Associate Professor | Improving recognition and clinical care of autistic people (Intervention) |
| Prof Aimee Spector | Professor of Old Age Clinical Psychology | Development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions and outcome measures for people with dementia (Intervention) |
| Prof Stephen Pilling | Professor of Clinical Psychology and Clinical Effectiveness | Effectiveness of psychological interventions, including prognosis and prediction of response (Intervention) |
| Prof Greta Rait | Professor of Primary Care and Health Services Research | Common mental disorders in primary care and complex interventions: epidemiology and trials (Intervention) |
| Prof Liz Sampson | Clinical Reader in Psychiatry | Palliative care, pain and symptom management for people with dementia (Intervention) |
| Prof Roz Shafran | Professor of Translational Psychology | Development and evaluation of psychological interventions (Intervention) |