The Oxford Centre for Emerging Minds Research is focused on conducting world-class research with children and young people that promotes a world where their differences are understood and accepted, strengths are capitalised on, and mental health difficulties are prevented or addressed early.
The Centre was established thanks to a £27 million gift from The Paul Foundation.
The Director of the Centre is Cathy Creswell, FMedSci, Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology and an expert in anxiety disorders in children and young people. The Deputy Director of the Centre is Polly Waite, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology.
Our Senior Leadership Team is listed to the right-hand side of this page, and also includes Professor Mara Violato, Professor of Health Economics at the University of Oxford, and Professor Obi Ukoumunne, a medical statistician at the University of Exeter and Senior Statistician at the Oxford Centre for Emerging Minds Research.
Aims and objectives
The Oxford Centre for Emerging Minds Research builds on the considerable strengths already in place in the domains of child development and neurodiversity, child and adolescent mental health, psychological therapies, and health economics at Oxford, to conduct pioneering research to:
(i) understand how children and young people’s strengths, aptitudes, and interests can be identified and capitalised on to promote good mental health and development, and
(ii) identify the key mechanisms that underpin mental health in children and young people and how they can be targeted to promote good mental health and to prevent and treat emerging mental health problems.
Our approach recognises, at the centre, the reciprocal relationships between children and young people and their experiences in families, schools, and in wider society. We use this knowledge to develop highly effective, scalable psychological approaches that can be applied within families, in schools, or at a wider society level to promote good mental health and development and to prevent and intervene early to address mental health problems in children and young people.
values
The key values of The Oxford Centre for Emerging Minds Research are:
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To embed the voices and experiences of children, young people and families throughout our work to ensure it meets the needs of those who stand to benefit, including among families with characteristics that are typically under-represented in services and research;
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To recognise, affirm and capitalise on individual differences (e.g. neurodivergence) and strengths to promote good mental health and wellbeing;
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To engage policy makers, practitioners, education providers, and voluntary and community sector organisations to ensure that our work is informed by their needs and to ensure rapid implementation in practice;
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To inform the general public about our work to influence the wider narrative about mental health, well-being, and neurodiversity in children and young people in ways that promote understanding, acceptance, and valuing of differences, and ultimately bring benefits to society.
outputs
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We produce, evaluate and optimise tools to identify both (i) strengths and protective factors, and (ii) risks for and signals of emerging mental health problems in children and young people;
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We develop effective and accessible interventions that promote strengths and address emerging mental health difficulties in children and young people;
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We capitalise on the use of technology to increase access to and cost-effectiveness of these tools and interventions;
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We generate research papers to share novel insights and approaches with the international academic community;
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We produce policy insights to encourage and support implementation and maximise impact;
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We generate effective communications to inform the general public about our findings and their implications for children, young people, and families;
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We actively campaign for change where it will benefit children and young people on the basis of our research findings;
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We build ongoing research capacity through world-class training and support for DPhil students and postdoctoral researchers.
some of our current activity
Principal Investigator Research Groups
The Oxford Psychological Interventions for Children and adolescents Research Group (TOPIC) - Chloe Chessell and Cathy Creswell
Adolescent Mental Health - Lucy Foulkes
Reimagine Lab - Translational Clinical Psychology - Alex Lau-Zhu
Research Group information to be shared here soon - Jiedi Lei
Cognitive and Behavioural Approaches to Mental Health in Young People (CAMY) - Eleanor Leigh
Language and Cognitive Development - Kate Nation
Research Group information to be shared here soon - Tessa Reardon
Attention, Brain & Cognitive Development - Gaia Scerif
Psychological interventions for ANxiety and related Disorders in Adolescence (PANDA) - Polly Waite
Other activity
AnDY (Anxiety and Depression in Young people) Research Clinic – Oxford
iCATS i2i - Identifying Child Anxiety Through Schools, identification to intervention
Our Senior Leadership Team
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Cathy Creswell
Paul Foundation Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology
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Polly Waite
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology
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Emily Lloyd
Head of Operations and Engagement
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Chloe Chessell
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Lucy Foulkes
Prudence Trust Research Fellow
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Alex Lau-Zhu
MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow
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Jiedi Lei
Paul Foundation Clinical Research Fellow
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Eleanor Leigh
Associate Professor
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Kate Nation
Professor of Experimental Psychology
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Tessa Reardon
Research Fellow
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Gaia Scerif
Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
