University awarded £11m for mental health research

A university has been awarded almost £11m as part of an initiative that will see it become a regional centre for mental health research.

Keele University has been allocated the funding by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), to set up one of five new hubs being established across England.

The initiative was designed to ensure world-class research was conducted within communities that stand to benefit most, bosses said.

Rates of common mental health problems in Stoke-on-Trent were much higher than the national average, they added.

As a result, the hub will take studies out of clinical settings to focus instead on a more proactive and preventative style of care, the bosses explained.

They said people living in the most deprived areas of England were 64% more likely to experience a common mental disorder.

The hub at Keele will be run in partnership with the University of Birmingham and King's College London, and will look at ways to reduce mental health inequalities and reach under-served groups.

It will examine how community organisations, charities and healthcare providers can better support older people as well as people with both mental and physical health conditions and those with complex emotional needs.

By placing researchers locally, it aims to reach people who have previously been under-represented in health studies, those behind the programme said.

"Mental health challenges can be isolating, especially for people in some of our most under-served regions," said professor Lucy Chappell, NIHR chief executive.

"By moving our research focus out of traditional clinical settings and directly into the areas where people live and work, we are driving a fundamental shift toward a more preventative model of care in the community."

The NIHR first launched the hub programme in 2023, targeted at geographical areas with a combination of high mental health need, limited research capacity and low participation in mental health research.

The other universities hosting the new hubs are based in Huddersfield, Lancaster, Lincoln and Plymouth.

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