Led by Professor Cathy Creswell and Professor Polly Waite, we are a multidisciplinary team of internationally renowned researchers mainly based at the University of Oxford, with partner colleagues based at the Universities of Birmingham, Reading, Liverpool, Oxford Brookes, and York. We also work closely with three NHS Foundation Trusts: Oxford Health, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s, and Berkshire. Our Parent Carer Research Network is being developed in partnership with the Charlie Waller Trust.
Our brilliant partners are listed on our website, and a full list of our team can be found on the Oxford Health BRC website.
You can also get in touch with us on: mhdevelopment@psych.ox.ac.uk.
Core Support Team
Mental Health in Development is supported by a Core Support Team based across the Universities of Oxford and Birmingham and includes communications and administration support, and public involvement facilitation.
Cathy Creswell
Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology
Cathy’s research mainly focuses on the development, maintenance, and treatment of anxiety disorders in children and young people. She is committed to increasing research capacity in clinical psychology and child and adolescent mental health. She is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Emerging Minds Research and in the past, she led a UKRI Research Network Plus initiative called Emerging Minds: Action for Child Mental Health which aimed to transform the promotion of good mental health, and prevention and treatment of mental health problems in children and young people by developing an interdisciplinary and cross-sector research network.
Image credit: UODO/John Cairns
Polly Waite
Associate Professor Clinical Psychology
Polly Waite is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Deputy Director of the Oxford Centre for Emerging Minds Research at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on understanding and improving psychological treatments for anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and related conditions in adolescents. Polly co-leads the research programme within the Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY) Research Clinic – Oxford. She is also an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Heather Dyer
Theme Manager
Heather is passionate about using communications and administration to make mental health research accessible for the wide-range of stakeholders it needs to involve to be truly transformational – from young people and families with lived experience, to policy makers or clinicians. Heather’s background includes coordinating an international placement programme, event management, fundraising and communications for charities spanning international development and healthcare, and supporting the final years of the Emerging Minds Research Network. She has also worked as Research Administrator for the TOPIC Research Group at Oxford University.
Susannah Dodds
Communications & Administration
Susannah provides administrative support across the project and monitors the MHID inbox. Through previous work as a primary school teacher and in healthcare market research, Susannah has a range of experience working in youth mental health and is passionate about patient-centred care and in ensuring the patient’s voice is heard throughout their treatment journey regardless of age or background. She was previously involved in the Emerging Minds Research Network in its first years.
Shanta Raj
PPIE Facilitator
Shanta is the Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) Facilitator for MHID. She is focused on ensuring the public, including young people, parents and healthcare professionals, informs and shapes mental health research. She is working closely with the team to establish a network for parents and carers who can contribute to mental health research. Shanta is particularly passionate about bringing lived experience from underrepresented groups into research. She is currently working with a team at the University of Birmingham to engage communities on eating disorders research. Shanta has previously led public involvement within the NHS in North West London, she is experienced in change management within the public sector and is currently training as an integrative psychotherapist.
