Podcasts

Welcome to the home of all things audio from the Mental Health Research Matters team.

How can AI help with mental health conditions? – with Dr Aisling Ann O’Kane and Dr Amid Ayobi
Mathematics and mental health – What’s the connection? with Professor Terry Lyons
Why do the EPSRC want to fund more mental health research? With Philippa Hemmings

How can AI help with mental health conditions? – with Dr Aisling Ann O’Kane and Dr Amid Ayobi from SPHERE

SPHERE, an interdisciplinary research collaboration funded by the EPSRC, explores how using wearable or at-home sensors can help researchers better understand physical and mental health conditions, providing valuable real-life information outside of a lab or hospital setting.

JJ talks to Amid and Aisling, two researchers on the project, to discuss the role of engineering and physical sciences in mental health research, multidisciplinary research, and share their advice for early-career engineers or physical scientists interested in mental health research. This is a fascinating project, and a great listen for anyone interested in AI and health research.

Find out more about SPHERE IRC

Find out more about EPSRC here

Read the transcript of this podcast episode.


Mathematics and mental health – what’s the connection? With Professor Terry Lyons

Professor Terry Lyons tells us how mathematics can help us better understand mental health, such as by building a picture of someone’s mental health by monitoring their emotions when they open their phone.

Terry’s area of expertise takes complex, evolving real-world data and extracts meaningful information using mathematics – which has proved useful in mental health research. Terry is the principal investigator on DataSig, which uses ‘rough path theory’ to find meaningful information from evolving, complex data, which has multiple applications, including mental health. DataSig is funded by the EPSRC.

Find out more about DataSig.

Find out more about EPSRC here

Read the transcript


Why do the EPSRC want to fund more mental health research? – with Philippa Hemmings

What role can engineering and physical sciences play in mental health research? We spoke to Philippa Hemmings, Head of Healthcare Technologies at EPSRC to discuss just that.

Philippa tells us why mental health research is a growing priority in the EPS community, the role engineering and physical science can play in mental health research, her top tips for early-career EPS researchers hoping to research mental health and gives tips around funding.

Find out more about the EPSRC


The Funders Perspective: BBSRC

The Funders Perspective: BBSRC

How can understanding and technologies from the basic biosciences contribute to the wider field of mental health research? What cross-disciplinary interface areas involving biosciences open up areas for innovative translational research? And what are some of the barriers and enablers to working across disciplines involving the basic biosciences?

In this #MentalHealthResearchMatters podcast, Dr Sadhana Sharma (Head of Strategy – Bioscience for Integrated Understanding of Health) and Dr Iain Templeman (Senior Portfolio Manager) at the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) discuss these questions and outline how the BBSRC’s portfolio and strategy fits in with the wider landscape of mental health research.
bbsrc.ukri.org/research/science-remit/