Omid V. Ebrahimi

Accepting DPhil applications from prospective students.

My research focuses on the development and maintenance of common mental health disorders (i.e. depression and anxiety) using multi-level and systems-based approaches.

In particular, I examine how critical incidents occurring at the national and global level (e.g., infectious disease outbreaks, climate change, and economic recession) impact the development of common mental disorders and can alter human behaviour.

As the Principal Investigator of the Oxford EDGE Lab and the Critical Incidents and Psychological Adaptation (CIPA) study, a prospective longitudinal investigation following over 20,000 individuals for the next 15 years (and 11.5 million individuals through population registries), I am committed to identify pathways through which adverse societal events increase the risk of mental disorders.

A large proportion of this research relies on understanding the specific mechanisms that lead to mental disorder onset. Therefore, I primarily design large-scale longitudinal and intensive longitudinal studies that enable the examination of sequential dynamical processes that predict disorder emergence and explain its maintenance. As a clinical psychologist, my hope and aim for this research is to obtain more precise insights and granular targets for how we can prevent and treat depression and anxiety.

Given the multifactorial nature of mental disorders, my research integrates variables across the biopsychosocial spectrum, leveraging a complex system and network analytic approach to study mental health.

Previously, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I led a large-scale longitudinal population study with more than 10,000 individuals to investigate the impact of social containment policies on mental health, with a particular focus on identifying subgroups of individuals that were most strongly affected by these policies. This work is continuing together with colleagues from Harvard University and elsewhere across the globe, where we aim to identify strategies that effectively mitigate infectious spread while simultaneously safeguarding against adverse mental health impacts.

Before joining Oxford, I studied at The University of Hong Kong, Bergen, and UC Berkeley. Later, I enrolled in the double-degree PhD program at the University of Oslo, which I partially undertook at the University of Amsterdam and Oxford.

I am deeply passionate about teaching, and supervising and mentoring students, and have been fortunate to have these efforts recognised through multiple awards, including the Teaching Excellence Award at University of Oxford and an international mentorship award. My mentoring philosophy is outlined here.

Beyond my day-to-day research, I view the communication of research as one of the most vital tasks of scientists, and have been fortunate to be featured in over 85 news reports including national television, radio, newspapers, and scientific documentaries. These research and communication efforts have been recognised through various awards, including the Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award, Early-Career Research Award, and Science Communication Award.