Research and development

Our research areas

The Trust conducts research in five themed areas:

• addictions
• development and disability
• eating disorders
• forensic psychiatry
• serious mental illness.

Our partners

Our research programme is operated jointly with St George's University of London, which recently merged with Royal Holloway to form a single higher education institution.

Current research programmes

Staff at the Trust are involved in a wide range of research studies. Examples are:

• The METB: A new cognitive screening instrument for early vascular dementia
• ENhancing DElivery And outcomes of VOcational Rehabilitation (ENDEAVOR): Improving outcomes for young people with a first episode psychosis.

Involving our service users in our research

A key challenge for the Trust's Research and Development (R&D) Office is to make sure that service users are involved in all our key areas of research.

To help achieve this we use a panel of service users reviewers, called Research Advisors by Experience (RABEs), to review and advise on all key areas of research. This includes protocol development, peer review, dissemination, training and development.

Our achievements so far

Our last annual R&D report to the Department of Health showed the achievements we have been making in our research. For example, we have:

• significantly improved overall understanding of the effectiveness of treatments and the impact of treatment interventions in the NHS
• established new innovative models of care
• developed a toolkit to assess internationally agreed domains of care relevant to commissioners, providers and service users
• provided a framework for workforce development
• developed a programme of higher training
• informed professional practice at consultant level.

We belong to the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN)  a national research network run by the Department of Health  and are members of our 'local hub', the Comprehensive Local Research Network (CLRN). This helps us to make sure our research is relevant to the needs of our local population. 

Contact us

If you would like to find out more about our research activites, please contact the Trust's R&D Office at MHresearch@sgul.ac.uk.

We are happy to provide advice on issues such as:

• applying for R&D approval
• methodological advice qualitative research, quantitative research, statistical analysis
• service user involvement
• applying for a Research Passport or Letter of Access.