After a brief pause in September, it’s time for another round-up. If we haven’t crossed paths yet – nice to meet you, I’m Daisy. JJ has started his Masters and passed the network coordination communications baton to me. It’s been fascinating learning more about the work of the networks and the incredible projects that you have been working on.
It has been a busy couple of months, so there’s a suitably meaty round-up. Let’s get stuck in and share some autumn highlights, and showcase the exciting things that are coming soon.
Early-Career researcher resources
Calling all early-career researchers! The networks and the network coordination team have created an abundance of useful resources for early career researchers. Here’s a low down of them:
Have you seen the new ECR pages on the Mental Health Research Matters website? The #ECRseries is in full swing, and there’s a wealth of useful information on funding, ask the experts roundtable and an open science series to help inspire and inform early-career researchers.
Speaking of asking experts, eNurture’s Professor Gordon Harold held a Q&A session in September filled with funding tips for ECRs – go and check it for expert advice on how to secure funding for your next brilliant research idea.
TRIUMPH held an ECR event, working with Loneliness and Social Isolation Network, Emerging Minds network, e-Nurture, and the MARCH Network, and Mental Elf. This was a stellar example of cross-network collaboration, something that was key to the event’s success. The ECR event included keynote speeches from Rory O’Connor, Julie Cameron’s and Kay Tisdall, and a panel discussion, which you can see below.
TRIUMPH‘s event Understanding and Preventing Youth Suicide: a transdisciplinary perspective was a huge success. Over 100 people signed up, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Keep an eye on TRIUMPH’s YouTube channel, as the recording will be up soon.
The Violence and Abuse Mental Health Network team are continuing their ECR lunchtime seminar series. The next topic will be The Ins and outs of Grants Applications, which is on 17th November. You can also catch up on their ‘meet the publisher’ from the September seminar here.
This is also a great opportunity for a shout out to The Mental Health Incubator. The team have launched a new videos series talking about all-things Patient and Public Involvement (PPI). Think of it as a one-stop-shop filled with resources and information to build your confidence working alongside experts by experience in your studies. You can hear from experts by experience in their videos, or find numerous useful guides and documents all in one place.
Recent events
The network coordinators and network members have been busy creating a wealth of fascinating digital and in-person events in September and October. Here are a few highlights.
The time is nearly approaching to say goodbye to the MARCH network. Everyone within the network has achieved a phenomenal amount since launching in 2018. They celebrated this in their showcase on 13th October. Keep an eye out on the MARCH legacy website (coming soon) for footage from the event. #NetworkMarchShowcase
A huge congratulations to Daisy Fancourt, as she is leading the WHO Collaboration Centre on the Arts and Health. This is huge news and will help deepen our understanding of the role the arts and heritage play in mental health. Check out the new website, or see the announcement from UCL here.
eNurture celebrated World Mental Health Day with an Instagram takeover by Elsa, one of their youth panel members, who posted about creating safe online environments and communities for young people. The eNurture Leadership Team donned their best yellow outfits to support YoungMind’s #HelloYellow campaign.
Dates for your diary
SMaRTeN is launching an interactive digital graphic novel co-produced with young people. Join them at their launch event on 21st October. The bibliotherapeutic resource explores how student mental health relates to things, places and the world around us. This innovative digital graphic novel was co-created with students and is the first of its kind. Grab your ticket today for what’s bound to be a fascinating launch event.
Not content with running just one event in October, the SMaRTeN team are running a webinar on 28th October 3-4.30pm – ‘Supporting student mental health through the transition to university.’ Keep an eye on their events page for more details.
And although the Loneliness and Social Isolation Network’s symposium isn’t until summer 2022 – the sooner you know about it the better, as you won’t want to miss out. The Final Showcase Symposium will take place online 10 am-5 pm on Wednesday 15th June 2022, during Loneliness Awareness Week (13th-17th June)
A Loneliness and Social Isolation plus funded project is running an event about their research into loneliness in farming communities. Join them on the 18th of November to learn more about their findings. Book your place here.
New projects
The E-nurture network has announced seven new plus-funded projects this month. Each project takes an innovative and exciting approach to the relationship between young people’s mental health and technology:
- Delphi study with young people, families and professionals to prioritise focus, content and digital tools in the co-development of digital tools to support young people with long-term health conditions
- Hacking the system: Young people’s views on the potential and risk of Internet of Things in their school
- Supporting children’s mental health through familial online relationships
- The negotiation of pleasure, risk and harm in young people’s digital lives: A scoping project on the mental health and wellbeing implications of online ‘transgressive’ behaviours
- Empowering pre-teens online through a digital ethics of care framework
- A digital ‘Talking Tool’ for Young People
- Third Culture Kids’ Digital Environments and Mental Health
Read in more detail about the new studies here. This is e-Nurture’s second funding round. Their third and final is coming soon. Keep an eye on their website or social media for more information.
Funding calls
Closing The GAP has launched the Impact Accelerator Fund at the end of September. For its final Network + funding call, they’re looking to fund knowledge mobilisation activities that address the challenge of reducing the health gap for people living with severe mental illness. Through this funding, the network is looking to increase the impact of existing research, rather than fund new findings. Find out more here, and help spread the word by retweeting about the fund.
Violence and Abuse Mental Health Network has launched the fourth round of their Early Career Researcher Funding Scheme The bursary aims to support junior researchers to attend training courses, research placements at institutions other than their own, and conferences. Bursaries can be used towards training courses and/or conference fees, or for travel and accommodation to support attendance. The deadline is the 1st of November, so act quickly if you’re interested.
Emerging Minds has launched the third and final funding call with the theme of the Big Question Research Challenge. The team held an information webinar to launch our third funding call, which you can view here. They heard from a variety of speakers who had undertaken research related to the Big Question Research Challenge – the focus of this final round of funding.
Study recruitment
Calling all willing volunteers, or people who know people! Recruitment for research can be a challenge so any help raising the profile of these studies will go a long way.
- Loneliness and Social Isolation Mental Health Network plus funded project: The Dance/connect project is looking for young people aged 16-24 living with feelings of anxiety and loneliness to take part in eight weeks of free, online dance lessons. Please help spread the word.
- COVID19 social study. A study for service providers staff or volunteers in the third sector. If you know someone who works in this area, encourage them to get involved.
- Loneliness and Social Isolation Mental Health Network plus funded project: UCL researchers are collaborating with the Mental Health Collective to explore the impact of the Kindness By Post project. A project where people send each other letters and cards with kind messages. The team are looking for representatives of community organisations to participate in a stakeholder discussion about potential barriers and enablers to participation in the initiative. They are especially keen to speak with people who work with groups from different ethnic minorities. Interested in partcipating? Contact Luke Sheridan Rains.
For your reading lists
There are so many excellent blogs and articles produced across the networks. So, grab a cuppa and take a few minutes to enjoy some of them now.
Did you catch our blog with MARCH Co-investigator Professor Kamaldeep Bhui where we talked about all things all-things interdisciplinary research? Kamaldeep told us about why interdisciplinary research was so important, the challenges with working across disciplines and why it’s the only way to overcome the multifaceted challenges of mental ill-health.
From the eNurture network: a parent shares her experiences of how she and her family coped with coming out of lockdown. Parenting in a pandemic: the good the bad and the pinging
Aiman el Asam received funding from eNurture for his project ‘Vulnerability, Online Lives and Mental Health: Towards a New Practice Model’. He wrote a blog about how his funding from eNurture helped develop his research, which you can read here.
With COP 26 fast approaching, climate change is a huge topic right now. So this research from King’s is timely: Childhood exposure to air pollution linked to anxiety and depression. We recently caught up with Joanne Newbury, who worked on the study. Keep an eye out on our blog for more content around this coming soon.
Loneliness and Social Isolation Network member Jacqueline Kent-Marvick wrote a blog for Mental Elf: Isolation and loneliness in women living with perinatal depression: how can we heal our dislocated self and relationships? This was referencing a paper from the Mums Alone Plus Project funded by the network.
TRIUMPH has released the October update; a summary of research fitting the key themes of the network’s work. Take a look here.
Video content
And if watching videos is more your thing, Closing the Gap is relaunching the Research Sofa series very soon. The team will launch a new video on Thursdays so keep an eye out on their YouTube channel.
And there you have it. I tried to keep things brief, but there have been so many exciting things happening. Catch you next month!