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UCL researchers part of mental health network awarded £1m in funding

6 September 2018

UCL researchers from UCL STEaPP and UCL Computer Science are part of a mental health network awarded over £1m in funding from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The network aims to reduce mental health problems by addressing a common, but often unspoken, cause of mental distress - domestic and sexual violence and abuse.

The network will be led by Louise Howard, Professor of Women's Mental Health and Dr Sian Oram, Lecturer in Women's Mental Health, both based at King's College London. Partners include UCL, Lancaster University, the University of Warwick, St George's University of London, the University of Oxford, the McPin Foundation, The Lancet Psychiatry, and Epidemiology & Psychiatric Sciences. 

The network will have a strong emphasis on cross-disciplinary and interactive events, such as policy labs to inform policy-making, workshops to develop ideas on interventions, and public lectures to enhance collaboration and learning.

In the last year, 7.5% of women and 4.3% of men reported domestic violence or abuse, with survivors of repeated or severe domestic violence and/or sexual violence more likely to be women. Adulthood and childhood experiences of witnessing or experiencing violence or abuse are associated with the development of mental health problems, yet evidence on how to reduce the risk of developing a mental health problem after experiencing violence or abuse is lacking. This network aims to prevent cycles of violence and abuse, as well as evaluate interventions, which will ultimately decrease the prevalence of mental health problems in children, adults, and the elderly.

Professor Louise Howard said:

"In developing this network we have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of so many different stakeholders for a network focused on domestic and sexual violence and mental health. Many survivors of violence and abuse have mental health problems but there has been relatively little research funded previously on the links between domestic and sexual violence, and mental health."

Dr Leonie Tanczer, Lecturer in Security and Emerging Technologies at UCL's Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, said:

"It's exciting to see our research emphasis on IoT-facilitated tech abuse (GIoT) featured in the network and hope we can study over the next years more carefully the effects technology has on both domestic and sexual abuse as well as mental health."

This was echoed by George Danezis, Professor of Security and Privacy Engineering at UCL's Department for Computer Science, who added:

"The interdisciplinarity of the mental health network is a unique opportunity and offers the possibility to deliver a multifaceted analysis."

The network will provide workshops for research grant writing skills with senior mentor support, and will offer more than £300,000 for competitive grant awards to fund small and pilot research studies, which will likely lead to larger grants from Research Councils. Bringing together the expertise and evidence gathered by the network, Professor Howard will lead an international commission on violence, abuse and mental health with The Lancet Psychiatry, to ensure the network's recommendations for future research, practice, and policy impact on the wider field of psychiatry.

This network demonstrates huge potential for changing the future research landscape by bringing together multi-disciplinary teams with an innovative approach. Most importantly, it will proactively address the causes and consequences of mental health problems for those with lived experience of them.

Further information about

  • Professor Howard's team and their research associated with the Domestic Violence and Abuse Research network please visit: KCL Women's Mental Health.
  • UCL STEaPP's research into the challenges and opportunities of emerging technologies please visit: Digital Policy Lab.
  • UCL Computer Science research and its work on information security and privacy please visit: Information Security Research Group