PhD Fellow - Cohort 1

Lewys is Consultant Nurse in Restrictive Practices at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He has a clinical background in adult acute mental healthcare, psychiatric intensive care and crisis services. He has previously completed a Masters in Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and has undertaken the Darzi Fellowship in Clinical Leadership. Lewys’ research interests centre on coercive practices in mental healthcare including the prevention and reduction of their use, nursing practice in this area and the relationship with equality and diversity issues. His PhD project will investigate the feasibility of a structured post-coercive practice incident review for patients that have been subject to coercive practice on inpatient wards. Lewys will collaborate with people with lived experience of coercive practice in mental healthcare as well as their families/carers and mental health professionals to develop and test the intervention.

PhD Fellow - Cohort 1

Matt is a registrar in psychiatry and a clinical academic. He graduated with undergraduate medical and postgraduate research degrees from the University of Manchester before moving to work at South London and Maudsley mental health trust. He is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is currently based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London researching neuropsychiatric disorders and psychopharmacology. His PhD will be centred around a neuroimaging project probing the brain network response to psilocybin in patients with functional neurological disorder.

PhD Fellow - Cohort 1

Zarah is a pharmacist and completed the MPharm at the University of Bath before undertaking a cross-sector pre-registration training programme with GlaxoSmithKline and Princess Alexandra Hospital. Continuing in R&D, she managed the supply and distribution of investigational medicinal products to early phase, oncology clinical trials globally. She went on to pursue an MSc in Dementia: Research, Treatments and Causes at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology whilst working as a Clinical Pharmacist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Zarah is interested in the pathophysiology underlying mental health conditions in dementia and drugs that may modulate these mechanisms. Her PhD project will look at the impact of psilocybin on mood and cognitive function mediated by hippocampal neurogenesis and microglial activity in patients with major depressive disorder.

Preparatory Fellow - Cohort 1

PhD Fellow - Cohort 2

Jessica is a mental health nurse and clinical academic. Her research interests include trauma-informed approaches, parenting, intergenerational trauma, compassionate leadership and social and nature-based interventions for mental health. She has published as lead author and co-author on topics including trauma-informed approaches, adolescent drug and alcohol use, recovery focussed care and safety planning and screening for adverse childhood experiences. Jess completed her pre-clinical studies studying Psychology at the University of Sheffield. She then completed a MSc in Mental Health Nursing at Kings College London which she passed with distinction. Jess is an experienced clinician and leader and has worked in a variety of NHS settings including inpatient, drug and alcohol services, early intervention psychosis, community mental health and primary care in a range of clinical and leadership roles such as care co-ordinator, clinical expert practitioner, clinical service lead and programme manager. Her professional experience has made her deeply committed to undertaking meaningful and impactful research which engages stakeholders and ultimately improves outcomes for service users and staff. Her PhD is aiming to co-produce an intervention to support front-line mental health practitioners to safely have conversations about adverse childhood experiences with service users in a way that promotes healing and prevents further harm.

PhD Fellow - Cohort 2

Anna is a Clinical Psychologist and Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist. She has an academic background in Experimental Psychology, completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Oxford. She is interested in the interactions between physical and mental health and since completing her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at University College London, has worked in NHS posts across a range of physical healthcare settings (burn injury, spinal injury, and cancer care) alongside lecturing and research roles. Anna is interested in using technology to increase access to and engagement with psychological interventions and improve outcomes. Her PhD will focus on refining and optimising an online interpretation training intervention for fear of cancer recurrence in people who are living beyond breast cancer. The project will involve working closely with people with lived experience of breast cancer and fear of cancer recurrence, to develop and test the impact of a novel intervention component.

PhD Fellow - Cohort 2

Abbie is a psychiatry registrar who has recently completed her core psychiatry training as an Academic Clinical Fellow in Cambridge. She studied Medicine at the University of Manchester and completed an intercalated MSc in Neuroimaging for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience. She then did her Foundation training in York and obtained a PGCert in Health Research and Statistics. She is interested in research to better understand psychotic disorders using multiple methods, including different modalities of neuroimaging. Her PhD focuses on a neuroimaging study which investigates if a single dose of levetiracetam can help reduce hippocampal hyperactivity and improve cognition in people who are at risk of developing psychosis. This aims to provide important evidence about whether interventions that regulate the balance of excitation and inhibition in the brain could be a new way for understanding and treating psychosis early.

PhD Fellow - Cohort 2

Laurence is a registrar in child and adolescent psychiatry working in South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He recently completed his Academic Clinical Fellowship in King’s College London, studying a variety of topics, including the role of stigma within child and adolescent psychiatry. His research focus has moved towards sleep in child psychiatry and optimising the use of digital technology for both research and clinical practice.

During his PhD Laurence will be based in the CAMHS Digital Lab, where he will use electronic health records to study the use of sleep medications in children with ADHD. He also aims to develop and implement an automated sleep assessment tool using the innovative myHealthE system. The goal is to support clinicians to detect sleep disturbances at an early stage and improve young people’s access to treatments.

PhD Fellow - Cohort 2

Shuo is a trainee Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and a clinical academic. Her research interests focus on the social and environmental determinants of poor mental health and how they might be ameliorated through better design and delivery of healthcare services.

Shuo completed her pre-clinical studies at the University of Cambridge with a year in Politics, (social) Psychology, Sociology and International Studies (PPSIS), before moving to King’s College London to complete her medical degree. Prior to starting core psychiatry training, Shuo completed a Masters in Global Mental Health that was taught jointly by the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Shuo’s PhD will use routine health care data to better understand inequities in access and outcomes for racially minoritised young people whilst they are waiting for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.