Research into mental health across the lifespan

Teaser text

Studying cognitive and brain development underlying age-related changes in mental well-being and investigating the impact of social developments. Using novel media and experimental science can promote innovation in prevention and intervention development and inform policy making and mental health literacy and awareness.

Body Text

Competitive advantage

  • Leading expertise in developmental affective science
  • Innovation in intervention development
  • Novel app and online assessments to assess cognition and mental health across the lifespan
  • Taking a lifespan approach to mental health: from the womb to old age

Impact

  • Opening new avenues for the prevention and treatment of mental health
  • Taking the lab into the world by moving research online and onto apps allowing for more diverse and population-representative research participation

Successful outcomes

  • High impact engagement with policy makers and leaders in society (speaker at World Economic Forum)
  • Affective control training app: applied across age groups and clinical populations to improve mood and showing associated neural changes
  • Citizen science engagement through the development of the Emotional Brain Study app, national and international Science Festival talks, demonstrations, and workshops

Capabilities and facilities

  • Translational research programme from basic neuroscience to intervention development and evaluation
  • Laboratory, online and app-based testing platforms for cognition and mental health assessment
  • Online capabilities allow for rapid deployment in crisis to track the impact of external and social developments on mental health across the lifespan (CORAL study: investigating COVID-19 Risks Across the Lifespan)
  • Experimental design of novel paradigms to assess cognition and affective function across age
  • Theoretical expertise, statistical expertise including longitudinal and large-scale data analysis