From Academia to Action - mental health research & policy. A Mental Health Research Matters webinar

In order to be effective, mental health research must influence change. But how does mental health research inform and change policy?

To round up the #MentalHealthResearchMatters campaign, we gathered a panel of mental health researchers who have influenced policy and policymakers who are passionate about mental health. They discussed the importance of influential mental health research that informs change, and how your research can be better equipped to do this.

Speakers

Professor Dame Til Wykes - Vice Dean for Mental Health & Psychological Sciences at the IoPPN and Professor of Clinical Psychology and Rehabilitation at King’s College London hosted the discussion. She was joined by:

Andy Bell – Centre for Mental Health, Interim CEO. Andy spoke about his work influencing mental health policy for over 20 years – the challenges, successes, lessons learned and what's next for mental health research and policy?

Prof Alan Simpson – Professor MH Nursing, KCL and NIHR PRU Co-Director. Alan spoke about policy research units - what they are and why we need them. He'll touch on achievements, lessons learned and his top tips for researchers.

Prof Siobhán O'Neill – Professor of Mental Health Sciences at Ulster University spoke about her Government Role as Mental Health Champion Northern Ireland and how research has shaped policy, highlight evidence gaps, big policy issues on the horizon and her tips for researchers.

Dr Chris Eaton – Health and Social Services Research Welsh Government and Wolfston Centre Cardiff University. Chis spoke aabout the activities the Wolfson Centre has undertaken to inform and evaluate youth mental health policy in Wales, the key things he's learned on building research-policy links as part of his joint role, as well as the challenges associated with this.

Dr Esther Mukuka – Head of Equality Diversity and Inclusion for NIHR was scheduled to speak but unfortunately had technical difficulties.

Mental Health Research Matters

This webinar is part of the Mental Health Research Matters campaign. From 10th October to 1st December 2022, the Mental Health Research Matters team ran a digital conversation about why mental health research matters, what good mental health research looks like and how we can all get involved to make a difference.

The campaign, which you can find on the hashtag #MentalHealthResearchMatters, discussed better mental health research all while celebrating the achievements of the eight UKRI-funded mental health research networks.

#MentalHealthResearchMatters is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It is a collaboration of The McPin Foundation, Mental Elf and the University of Oxford. The campaign sparked a conversation about better mental health research while celebrating the work of the UKRI-funded mental health research networks.

Useful Links

Find out more: www.mentalhealthresearchmatters.org.uk

Learn more about the UKRI-funded mental health research networks: www.mentalheatlhresearchmatters.org.uk/networks

The McPin Foundation: https://mcpin.org/

Mental Elf: https://www.nationalelfservice.net/

The University of Oxford, Psychology department: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/

The campaign might have ended, but the conversation doesn’t stop here. Use the hashtag #MentalHealthResearchMatters to continue the journey to better mental health research.