About Us

The ACER research project has been funded by the National Institute of Health Research Health Services Delivery Research funding stream. The fund holder and sponsor of the study is Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.

The study team is mainly based at University College London (UCL).

The Chief Investigator is Professor Helen Killaspy. The UCL co-investigators are Professor Rumana Omar (Senior Statistician), Dr Caroline Clarke (Senior Health Economist), Dr Artemis Igoumenou (Clinical Academic Psychiatrist), Mr Maurice Arbuthnott and Ms Katherine Barrett (Experts by Experience). Co-investigator Professor Gerard Leavey (Senior Social Scientist) is based at Ulster University, Belfast.

The ACER Project Manager is Christian Dalton-Locke and the Research Assistants are Nia Barber, Bella Branch, and Joel Amoa. Other researchers who have worked on the project are Irena Tetkovic, Sophie Thomas, and Megan Downey.

The project is being delivered in collaboration with the Priory Group, St Andrew’s Healthcare, and NHS mental health Trusts across England.

The project oversight committee is chaired by Professor Thomas Jamieson-Craig (King’s College London), and includes Senior Statistician Professor Stephen Bremner (University of Brighton), and Experts by Experience Janet Seale and Anonymous.

We also have PPI input from the North London Service User Research Forum and our Expert Reference Group that includes clinicians, service users and carers: Anonymous (Expert by Experience), Dr Shaz Alikhan (Consultant in Rehabilitation Psychiatry, St Andrew’s Healthcare), Ritah Bernadt (Expert by Experience), Dr Andreia Cigarro (Clinical Psycholoigst, Priory Group), Dr Sridevi Kalidindi (Clinical Director, NHS England, ‘Getting It Right First Time’ programme for mental health rehabilitation services), Dr Priya Khana (Consultant in Rehabilitation Psychiatry, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust), Dr Rajesh Mohan (Former Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Rehabilitation and Social Psychiatry), Dr David Shiers (Carer and retired GP), and Suzie Willis (Senior Occupational Therapist, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust).

Chief Investigator: Professor Helen Killaspy

Project Manager: Christian Dalton-Locke