National Institute for Health and Care Research

Our Work

Research for targeted action on child mental health.

We are working to develop targeted, effective, and accessible mental health interventions that meet the needs of diverse children and young people (aged 0-18 years) and their families.

To achieve our aims, we are facilitating a range of projects which are developing infrastructure, research capacity, and collaborations across institutions and sectors, whilst involving key patient and public stakeholders at all stages.

You can navigate to the projects you are interested in using the buttons below. Many of the projects have active involvement opportunities.

WISDOM Research Network

A research network bringing together primary and secondary schools in England with academic researchers to facilitate high quality mental health research that meets the diverse needs of school communities.

Find Out More & Join the Network

Supporting Early Minds Research Network

A research network bringing together researchers, services, and families to develop a research agenda focused on more effective interventions to support social, emotional, and cognitive development in under 5s. The team also run regular webinars to support knowledge mobilisation and networking for anyone working in this field.

Find Out More & Join the Network

Parent Carer Research Network

A research network to amplify the involvement of parents and carers with lived experience of a child having mental health difficulties in research. In partnership with the Charlie Waller Trust.

Find Out More and Sign Up

AnDY (Anxiety and Depression in Young people) Research Clinic Oxford

An NHS clinic embedded in CAMHS focused on assessing and treating young people for anxiety, OCD, and depression disorders, and undertaking research into the development, maintenance, and treatment of these disorders. Please note, all referrals to the Clinic must go through usual NHS pathways.

Find Out More

Adaptive Innovative Measurements (AIM)

Co-designing tools to investigate the causes of common mental health conditions among children and young people, and investigating how we measure and assess mental health. The team are also developing an online platform to host a repository of measures for researchers to investigate the underpinnings of mental health issues further.

Find Out More

INSiGHTS

INSiGHTS is about finding innovative and inclusive ways to conduct research with young people, their families, and communities. This project is a collaboration between the University of Oxford, University of Birmingham, and charity partners.

Find Out More

Small Grant Awards

In Spring 2024 we awarded ~£100,000 to 14 teams whose work spanned research studies to public involvement projects. The scheme had some fantastic results, as well as encouraging multidisciplinary collaborations and supporting the career development of researchers in the early stages of their careers.

Find Out More

Collaboration with Born in Bradford

Working in partnership with the University of York, which is leading this major birth cohort study in a region which experiences significant inequalities. We will identify target mechanisms for intervention using existing cohort data, translate these to develop interventions, and test them in diverse contexts through our MHID networks and Clinic.

Find Out More

Collaboration with the University of Liverpool

Working in partnership with the University of Liverpool, which is leading two major birth cohort study in a region which experiences significant inequalities (the Wirral Study, and C-GULL). We will identify target mechanisms for intervention using existing cohort data, translate these to develop interventions, and test them in diverse contexts through our MHID networks and Clinic.

Find Out More

Back to Top