Celebrating our launch

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Prof. Nick Jennings, Vice-Provost for Research

What is the purpose of the network?

  • To link Imperial College academics working in potentially synergistic areas, providing opportunities of discourse and collaboration to identify funding opportunities, successfully bid for research funding, drive policy and guideline change, and further develop the mental health agenda.
  • To share knowledge and support new ideas and development opportunities for Imperial early career researchers and students through an established platform
  • To leverage connections with external mental health experts to enhance the learning environment and profile of mental health research at Imperial both internally and externally.

Why mental health?


Mental health has become a strategic priority for Imperial College as substantial new research funding begins to redress years of relative underfunding. Mental Health problems represent the leading cause of disability worldwide.

One in four people worldwide will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives, meaning around 450 million people currently suffering worldwide. As such mental health has become a major priority for policy and research over the past decade or so.

COVID-19 has brought this need into focus, having a detrimental impact on people's mental health and predicted a problem for years to come. Specific groups such as front line key workers and people of colour are at higher mental as well as physical risk. It is now opportune and timely to exploit the potential that Imperial College can bring to mental health research.

Who is the network for?


The network is for anyone with an interest, experience or ongoing research in mental health. It is a place to connect, collaborate, network and find out about Imperial wide work in mental health.

We hope that this website helps you to identify people, research interests and research groups, job and studentship opportunities, ongoing events and focused news items related to mental health within Imperial. - cross-faculty collaborations

Imperial departments involved in the network:

Our team members

Professor Paul Aylin

Professor Paul Aylin
Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health

Mauricio Barahona

Mauricio Barahona
Director of Research, Chair in Biomathematics

Thomas Barnes

Thomas Barnes
Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

Doctor Weston Baxter

Doctor Weston Baxter
Senior Lecturer

Doctor Raghav Bhargava

Doctor Raghav Bhargava

Martyn Boutelle

Martyn Boutelle
Associate Provost (Estates Planning)

Doctor Victoria Burmester

Doctor Victoria Burmester
Research Associate

Doctor Jonathan Clarke

Doctor Jonathan Clarke
Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow

Professor Rafael Calvo

Professor Rafael Calvo
Chair in Engineering Design

Professor Victoria Cornelius

Professor Victoria Cornelius
Professor in Medical Statistics and Trials Methodology

Professor Mike Crawford

Professor Mike Crawford
Professor of Mental Health Research

Doctor Lindsay Dewa

Doctor Lindsay Dewa
Advanced Research Fellow

Doctor Laure de Preux

Doctor Laure de Preux
Assistant Professor

Professor Abbas Edalat

Professor Abbas Edalat
Professor in Computer Science & Maths

Doctor Martina Di Simplicio

Doctor Martina Di Simplicio
Clinical Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry

Doctor David Erritzoe

Doctor David Erritzoe
Clinical Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry

Jack Elkes

Jack Elkes
NIHR Doctoral Fellow

Professor Aldo Faisal

Professor Aldo Faisal
Professor of AI & Neuroscience

Gianluca Fontana

Gianluca Fontana
Director of Operations and a Senior Policy Fellow at the Centre for Health Policy

Giorgio Gilestro

Giorgio Gilestro
Senior Lecturer

Professor Elena Garralda Hualde

Professor Elena Garralda Hualde
Emeritus Professor

Doctor Tony Goldstone

Doctor Tony Goldstone
Reader in Psycho Neuro Endocrinology

Doctor Julia Gledhill

Doctor Julia Gledhill

Doctor Nir Grossman

Doctor Nir Grossman
Senior Lecturer

Our team members

Doctor Anita Hall

Doctor Anita Hall
Senior Teaching Fellow

Doctor Dougal Hargreaves

Doctor Dougal Hargreaves
Reader in Paediatrics and Population Health

Doctor Christopher James Harvey

Doctor Christopher James Harvey
Senior Strategic Teaching Fellow - Psychology

Doctor Matthew Hodes

Doctor Matthew Hodes
Honorary Senior Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Professor Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin

Professor Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin
Chair in Lifecourse Epidemiology

Doctor Balasundaram Kadirvelu

Doctor Balasundaram Kadirvelu

Professor Roger Kneebone

Professor Roger Kneebone
Professor of Surgical Education and Engagement Science

Doctor Anthony Laverty

Doctor Anthony Laverty
Senior Lecturer

Doctor Emma Lawrence

Doctor Emma Lawrence
Lead Policy Fellow for Mental Health

Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes

Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes
Chair in Addiction Biology

Pofessor Danilo Mandic

Pofessor Danilo Mandic
Professor of Machine Intelligence

Doctor Anthea Monod

Doctor Anthea Monod
Lecturer in Biomathematics

Doctor Shevanthi Nayagam

Doctor Shevanthi Nayagam
Clinical Fellow

Professor Dasha Nicholls

Professor Dasha Nicholls
Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatristry

Professor David Nutt

Professor David Nutt
Director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit in the Division of Brain Sciences

Doctor Louise Paterson

Doctor Louise Paterson
Advanced Research Fellow

Professor Carol Propper

Professor Carol Propper
Chair of Economics

Professor Sonia Saxena

Professor Sonia Saxena
Professor of Primary Care

Professor Bjoern Schuller

Professor Bjoern Schuller
Professor of Artificial Intelligence

Professor Simon Shultz

Professor Simon Shultz
Professor of Neurotechnology

Professor Ovidiu Serban

Professor Ovidiu Serban
Research Fellow in Intelligent Data Processing and Curation

Professor Mark Thursz

Professor Mark Thursz
Head of Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction

Christopher Timmermann-Slater

Christopher Timmermann-Slater
Research Fellow

Professor Mireille Toledano

Professor Mireille Toledano
Director of the Mohn Centre

Mental Health Research Network Members

Professor Peter Tyrer

Professor Peter Tyrer
Emeritus Professor in Community Psychiatry

Professor Tommaso Valletti

Professor Tommaso Valletti
Professor of Economics

Professor Helen Ward

Professor Helen Ward
Professor of Public Health

Professor Bill Wisden

Professor Bill Wisden
Chair in Molecular Neuroscience

Doctor Cornelius Ani

Doctor Cornelius Ani
Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Child Adolescent Psychiarty

Professor Hamed Haddadi

Professor Hamed Haddadi
Professor of Human-Centred Systems

General enquiries

For any queries related to the Network, please email: iclmhrnetwork@imperial.ac.uk