PhD students and opportunities
The School of Health Sciences offers a vibrant and stimulating environment for research students. In the latest Research Excellence Framework, we were commended for the quality of our lectures, mentoring and support.
The Mental Health Research Group welcomes PhD proposals in line with our specific research themes. These include youth mental health and wellbeing, health humanities, recovery and social inclusion, and psychosocial exploration of mental health and wellbeing.
Current opportunities
Below you will find a range of potential projects, along with contact details for the relevant Mental Health team members, who will be happy to discuss your proposals.
Mental health and wellbeing:
Staff contact: Dr Maria Michail
- Evaluation of psychological interventions for affective dysregulation in psychosis
- The development of a school suicide postvention programme
- The development of a youth suicide educational intervention for parents
Staff contact: Dr Joseph Manning
- CYP emotional health and wellbeing following critical illness
- Experiences, care and outcomes of CYP with mental health conditions in general paediatric wards -
- Interventions to assess and promote the emotional health and wellbeing of CYP with chronic health conditions in acute care
Staff contact: Professor Paul Crawford
- The application of the arts and humanities to advance mental healthcare and public mental health
- Creativity and mental healthcare
- The development of compassionate environments in mental health services
Psychosocial exploration of mental health and wellbeing:
Staff contact: Professor Patrick Callaghan
- Global dissemination of cognitive behavioural therapy
- Exploring cross-cultural conceptualisations of psychopathology and the alleviation of mental distress, examining how the principles of CBT could be adapted to allow for cultural differences
- Development and evaluation of a physical activity toolkit for general and mental health nurses
- Preferred versus prescribed exercise for depression in young people
- Design, development and evaluation of a mental health first aid app
- Exercise with behavioural activation for anxiety/mood disorders in CYP
Our current PhD students
At the Mental Health Research Group, we work with outstanding graduates on a range of PhD projects.
Youth mental health and wellbeing theme:
- Promoting emotional resilience in school-age children
- An electronic guided decision-making tool for the assessment and management of patients presenting with risk of suicide in primary care.
Psychosocial exploration of mental health and wellbeing theme:
Andrew Dainty
- A mixed methods feasibility study to evaluate the use of a low-intensity, nurse-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome
Health humanities theme:
Recovery and social inclusion theme:
Emma Watson
- An enquiry into the structural mechanisms of peer support in mental health services in the UK
Please visit www.researchintorecovery.com for information on PhD opportunities.