Our research
The Centre for Mental Health Research carries out collaborative research to improve mental health and wellbeing. The Centre has an international reputation for co-produced research with young people, adults and older adults experiencing mental health problems within the UK and internationally.
Our five core Research Themes are:
- Addressing marginalisation and inequalities in access, experiences and outcomes of mental health care
- Responding to the most difficult challenges that people face in relation to complex trauma and mental health crisis
- Developing and evaluating interventions and innovations
- Working at the intersections of mental health, physical health and neurodiversity
- Enhancing communication to improve mental health and wellbeing.
Projects
Addressing marginalisation & inequalities in access, experiences & outcomes of mental health care
- HARP Doctoral Fellowship 2025 - Brad Begley
- HARP Doctoral Fellowship 2025 - Umar Chaudhry
- Building recovery and resilience in severe mental illness: Leveraging the role of social determinants in illness trajectories and interventions
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: Wellcome Trust, £271,025.36
Duration: October 2025 to September 2028
City St George’s Lead: Dr Jacqueline Sin
Funder: Wellcome Trust, £450,638.10
Duration: October 2025 to September 2028
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: MRC Medical Research Council, £25,129.76
Duration: April 2024 to March 2029
- Evaluation of Culturally Appropriate Advocacy Pilots
City St George’s Lead: Anthony Salla
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £348,770.23
Duration: December 2023 to June 2025
- Inclusive and holistic health for all (in East London)
City St George’s Lead: Dr Jacqueline Sin
Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £5,986
Duration: August 2023 to July 2024
Participatory Research Fund bid 2023-2024
- Building a Well Communities Research Consortium to address health disparities through Integrated Care Systems
City St George’s Lead: Professor Angela Harden
Funder: AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council, £205,240.85
Duration: November 2022 to October 2023
- Health Inequalities Masterclass programme 2022 – 2024
City St George’s Lead: Professor Angela Harden
Funder: GLA Greater London Authority, £66,306.51
Duration: March 2022 to January 2024
- Taiwan-UK Sex, Gender and Sexuality Health Network: making connections, establishing commonality, forwarding research
City St George’s Lead: Professor Sally McManus
Team: Ford Colin Hickson (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, CI), Cheuk Yin Li (Co-I), Isaac Yen-Hao Chu (Co-I), Nai-Ying Ko (Co-I),
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council, £24,965
Duration: August 2021 to January 2023
Responding to challenges people face in relation to complex trauma and mental health crisis
- THIS Institute Fellowship: Investigating mental health practitioners’ referral decisions to mental health services for people attending the Emergency Department for self-harm: A mixed methods enquiry
- Evaluating and refining new mental health peer worker training modules for underserved populations
- Developing and evaluating a new care pathway to improve outcomes for people with complex trauma (PATHWAY): mixed method development work leading to a programme of applied research
- ENRICH into practice: informing the successful introduction of peer workers into mental health services (ENRICHMENT)
- Trauma-informed care in the emergency department for patients who self-harm
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: THIS The Health Care Improvement Studies Institute, £118,308
Duration: October 2023 to September 2026
Prospective student: Mimi Suzuki
City St George’s Lead: Professor Steve Gillard
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £9,720
Duration: February 2023 to September 2024
City St George’s Lead: Professor Steve Gillard
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £66,541.66
Duration: September 2022 to July 2024
City St George's Lead: Professor Steve Gillard
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £106,432.50
Duration: June 2021 to July 2025
City St George's Lead: Aneta Zarska (PhD student)
Team: Kirsten Barnicot, Mary Lavelle and Rose McCabe (supervisors)
Funder: City St George's, University of London
Developing and evaluating interventions and innovations
Perinatal
- Determining how Health Visitors can be agents of change alongside parents in reducing the prevalence/mitigating the risk of alcohol related developmental disorders in England: exploratory mixed methods study (NIHR RfPB Competition 52)
City St George’s Lead: Lolita Alfred
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £7,078.21
Duration: November 2023 to August 2024
Children and Young People
- A new methodology linking interactional and experiential approaches, and involving young people as co-analysts of mental health encounters
- A Psychological Intervention to Reduce Suicidal Behaviour in Adolescence
- Adolescent Mental Health and Development in the Digital World
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: MRC Medical Research Council, £26,669.55
Duration: November 2022 to October 2024
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: Kavli Trust, £748,605.87
Duration: May 2022 to February 2026
City St George's Lead: Dr Mat Lucassen
Funder: MRC Medical Research Council, £5,579.27
Duration: September 2021 to August 2027
Adults
- OSMOSIS (Co-producing Social and coMmunity SuppOrt resources for family carers of people with psychosis)
- Co-development of a primary care nurse-led intervention to enhance support for women with severe, debilitating premenstrual symptoms due to PreMenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD)
- MAP Trial (Metformin and psychosis weight prevention trial)
- An exploration of the acceptability and usability of a health promotion theoretically underpinned checklist to enhance the development, implementation or evaluation of alcohol workplace policies (AWPs) and practices
- Remote psychosocial interventions to prevent avoidable psychiatric hospital admissions in people with serious mental health problems (RAPID)
- The Clinical and Cost Effectiveness of Structured Psychological Support for People Diagnosed with a Personality Disorder: A Randomised Controlled Trial
- Experience based investigation and co-design of approaches to prevent and reduce Mental Health Act use (CO-PACT)
- One-to-one peer support for family members and friends of patients treated under the Mental Health Act (OPAL)
City St George's Lead: Dr Jacqueline Sin
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £521,179.18
Duration: September 2025 to February 2028
City St George’s Lead: Dr Sally Barlow
Co-Investigators: Sofia Llahana, Marie Hill, Asma Ashraf, Deborah Duncan
Funder: The Burdett Trust for Nursing, £67,843
Duration: September 2025 to August 2026
City St George's Lead: Dr Jacqueline Sin
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £2,999,707.81
Duration: June 2025 to May 2029
City St George’s Lead: Lolita Alfred
Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £9,395.43
Duration: January 2023 to October 2024
City St George’s Lead: Professor Steve Gillard
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care
Duration: April 2022 to May 2025
City St George’s Lead: Dr Kirsten Barnicot
Team: Mike Crawford (Imperial College London), Verity C Leeson (Imperial College London), Rachel Evans (Bangor University),Nia Goulden (Bangor University), Tim Weaver (University of Middlesex), Aile Trumm ( (University of Middlesex) Barbara M Barrett (King College London), Fiona Khun-Thompson (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust), Snehal P Pandya (Imperial College London), Kate E Saunders (University of Oxford), Gary Lamph (Keele University), David Woods (Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust), Harriet Smith (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust), Toby Greenall (Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust), Victoria Nicklin (Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust).
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £181,598.81
Duration: April 2022 to November 2024
City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (Co-I)
Team: Roisin Mooney (Queen Mary University of London, CI) and Kam Bhui (University of Oxford, CI)
Funder: National institute for Health Research £703,887
Duration: February 2021 to January 2023
City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (Co-I)
Team: Domenico Giacco (University of Warwick, CI).
Funder: National Institute for Health Research, £734,346.00
Duration: January 2021 to December 2023
Older Adults
- Dementia-Patient Aligned Care Team (D-PACT)
- The 'Forget Me Not' approach: Co-producing accessible guidance videos for communicating and receiving a dementia diagnosis
City St George's Lead: Professor Rose McCabe (Co-I)
Duration: End date 2025
Team: Thomasina Oh (University of Plymouth, CI), Paul Clarkson (University of Manchester, CI), Richard Byng (University of Plymouth, CI), Academic and Clinical Collaborators
Funder: NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research, £2.4 million
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £7,527.17
Duration: January 2023 to May 2024
Working at the intersections of mental health, physical health and neurodiversity
- SENSS PhD Studentship - Valeria Khudiakova - Intersectionality and identity: Gender identity and ethnicity in autism and personality disorder
- Group body oriented psychological therapy for the treatment of complex PTSD: a feasibility study utilising a manualised treatment protocol
- Reducing risk of cardiovascular disease in people with severe mental illness: development, piloting and trial of a peer supported group clinic intervention (PEGASUS)
- A systematic review and narrative synthesis of body and movement-oriented therapies for the treatment of eating disorders
- Improving recognition, understanding and differentiation of autism and personality disorder: A mixed-methods lived experience study (I-RAP)
- Development and randomised feasibility trial of a theory-based digital behaviour change intervention to support self-management for people with Adrenal Insufficiency (Support-AI)
City St George’s Lead: Dr Jacqueline Sin and Dr Kirsten Barnicot
Funder: ESRC Economic and Social Research Council, £70,493.25
Duration: October 2024 to March 2028
City St George’s Lead: Professor Steve Gillard
Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £12,478.03
Duration: May 2024 to April 2025
City St George’s Lead: Professor Steve Gillard and Dr Jacqueline Sin
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £2,499,925.59
Duration: October 2023 to September 2028
City St George’s Lead: Dr Grace Lucas
Funder: City St George’s, University of London, £12,128.99
Duration: June 2022 to October 2023
City St George's Lead: Dr Kirsten Barnicot (CI) and Jennie Parker (CI)
Team: Elissa Doel, Eloise Stark, Rose McCabe, Will Mandy
Funder: The McPin Foundation (Words That Carry On) and City St George's, University of London, £110, 042
City St George's Lead: Dr Sofia Llahana (CI)
Team: Ashley Grossman, Christine Norton, Kathleen Mulligan, Shashi Hirani, Stanton Newman, Stephanie Baldeweg,
Funder: NIHR HEE/ICA Post-doctoral Clinical Lectureship, £543,913
Duration: September 2021 to August 2024
Enhancing communication to improve mental health and wellbeing
- Co-designing and piloting the first UK whole-school solution-focused programme to improve student and staff mental wellbeing
- EPIC: Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare
- The Role of Staff and Team Communication in Reducing Seclusion, Restraint and Forced Tranquilisation in Acute Inpatient Mental Health Settings
- Hospiscare Fellowship: Improving communication about hospices
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: Barts Charity, £70,985
Duration: October 2024 to January 2025
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: Wellcome Trust, £30,214
Duration: September 2023 to August 2029
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: NIHR / DHSC Department of Health and Social Care, £241,867.38
Duration: April 2022 to December 2024
City St George’s Lead: Professor Rose McCabe
Funder: Hospiscare, £47,940
Duration: January 2022 to March 2025
Additional research in the mental health arena
- Mapping Global Mental Health: participatory research into the discourses, people, institutions, and money that make mental health global
- Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey
City St George’s Lead: China Mills
Funder: Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness, £4,200
Duration: July 2022 to August 2023
Global Mental Health (GMH) is an influential and growing field, described as an ‘organizational project’ labouring to make mental health mobile (Bemme and Kirmayer, 2020:6). Yet little is known about the configurations of discourses, people, institutions, and money foundational to knowledge production in Global Mental Health.
A group of key players are well-known and widely cited; however, there is little insight into which stakeholders are excluded from decision-making and agenda setting in GMH and the opaque mechanisms and processes through which these exclusions occur. Evidence shows that people with lived experience, those who identify as people with psychosocial disabilities, and service users and psychiatric survivors (especially those from and in global South contexts), are under-represented in global knowledge production about mental health (Cosgrove et al. 2019a&b).
Linked to this, much research (even that which is co-produced) is funded from and designed in the global North and is not participatory from inception onwards. Despite this paucity of participatory knowledge generation and agenda setting, GMH significantly influences mental health policies, research, funding, and discourses in the global South. This research project will make important interventions within GMH, and the fields of global health and medical sociology more broadly, by disentangling the intricate networks and assemblages that make up Global Mental Health.
City St George's Lead: Professor Sally McManus
Team: National Centre for Social Research, University of Leicester, Violence and Society Centre (City St George's)
Funder: NHS Digital,
Duration: June 2021 to September 2024
Every seven years a major assessment of the nation’s mental health is carried out. The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (APMS) series provides England’s National Statistics for the monitoring of mental health trends and treatment access in the household population. Information about people’s characteristics and circumstances are collected, allowing for inequalities to be examined. It’s being conducted by the National Centre for Social Research and University of Leicester in collaboration with the Violence and Society Centre at City, University of London. The survey is funded by the Department for Health and Social Care and commissioned by NHS Digital.
Project description: National Study of Health and Wellbeing