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Issue 1 – April 2026
Welcome to the first National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (MH-TRC) Newsletter, which is a summary of recent news, research progress and achievements.
MH-TRC Mission Key Achievements
The MH-TRC Mission is funded for 2023-2028 with work focused on five workstreams, including an Early Psychosis Cohort and Registries, networked Mood Disorder clinics, Children and Young People’s platform trials infrastructure, and focused investment in previously underserved areas in the UK such as Liverpool and Birmingham. In addition the MH-TRC Mission aims to tackle industry engagement, trial set ups and regulatory hurdles with a focus on mental health. A webpage timeline of MH-TRC Mission “Key Achievements” has been published to celebrate project successes in one place, including study recruitment milestones, researcher awards, introduction of new services and study results.
Funding awarded for children and young people’s involvement and engagement projects
The MH-TRC Mission’s Children and Young People’s (CYP) Mental Health workstream recently hosted an online event where applicants pitched ideas to create new Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) projects. The CYP PPIE Funding Scheme supports researchers and contributors with practical support and £400 funding to create their own creative, inclusive and engaging PPIE project aimed at helping children, young people or their parents/caregivers who have experienced either a mental health condition, a challenging life experience or neurodiversity.
Revolutionising the care of brain disorders with mobile technology
MH-TRC Mission researchers from our Data & Digital workstream are harnessing the digital power of wearable devices and smartphone technology to monitor major depressive disorder, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis. Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse – Central Nervous System (RADAR-CNS) was one of the largest remote disease-monitoring studies in Europe, and recruited 1,450 people with brain disorders, collecting over 62 TB of data. Data from mobile devices can give a full picture of a person’s condition at a level of detail which was previously impossible, offering the potential to detect changes in behaviour, sleep, or mood before the individual is aware of it. This could help them to predict – or even avoid – a relapse.
Early Intervention Mission recruits over 500 people
The Early Intervention Mission (EIM), part of the MH-TRC Mission’s Early Psychosis workstream is a UK-wide study aiming to improve early identification, monitoring, and personalised care for people with a first episode of psychosis. The EIM recently celebrated the milestone of recruiting 500 people to its cohort study. The study is a collaboration between multiple universities and NHS Trusts across the UK, led by Professor Graham Murray, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at University of Cambridge and Consultant Psychiatrist in the Cambridge early intervention in psychosis service, CAMEO, part of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Trust.
Mood Disorder workstream launches membership status
The MH-TRC Mission Mood Disorder workstream has launched a new Affiliate Membership status to their network of Higher Education Institutions and NHS Trusts, enabling formal research engagement opportunities between clinical and academic experts across the UK. This network aims to advance research into and improve care for people affected by mood disorders, including difficult-to-treat depression (DTD) and bipolar disorder (BD).
Patient and Public Involvement, Engagement and Participation (PPIEP) in the MH-TRC Mission
PPIEP is deeply embedded throughout the MH-TRC Mission workstreams and demonstrator sites across the UK. Our PPIEP web pages provide information on how to embed meaningful PPIEP into research. The web pages include PPIEP Exemplars from across the MH-TRC, Resources for Researchers, which provide practical information including NIHR briefing notes for researchers and a PPIEP project planning form, and information for the public on opportunities get involved in research projects and take part in research studies.
New study aims to design a trial exploring immune problems in people with schizophrenia
MH-TRC Mission demonstrator site Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre (M-RIC) and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust have launched a new feasibility study which aims to design a trial to explore immune problems in people with schizophrenia. The Neuroimmune Profiling for Psychosis feasibility study aims to examine the problem that current drug treatments for psychosis do not work in approximately 30% of patients. Whilst it is not yet well understood why this is the case, it appears that some patients’ non-responsiveness to medication may be associated with their levels of inflammation.
New tool to predict physical health risks in young people with psychosis
Researchers from our Birmingham MH-TRC Mission demonstrator site, Mental Health Mission Midlands Translational Centre, have led on the development of a web-based tool to forecast the risk of young people with psychosis developing cardiometabolic disorders such as obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes. The algorithms behind the PsyMetRiC tool have been tailored for young people with psychosis, and predict clinically significant weight gain within one year, metabolic syndrome within 6 years and type 2 diabetes within 10 years. They were developed and tested using routine anonymised health data from over 25,000 young people with psychosis from the UK, who were followed up for over 20 years.
Industry Intern presents at Research Careers Showcase
Earlier this year, over 100 professionals attended the online Research Careers Showcase event for Nurses, Midwives, Allied Health Professionals, Healthcare Scientists, Pharmacists and Psychologists (NMAHPs), hosted by the NIHR Biomedical Research Collaboration: Oxford Health, in partnership with the MH-TRC. Harry Chapman, who completed an Industry Internship from the MH-TRC Mission’s Capacity Development workstream delivered a speech on career opportunities. Reflecting on his session, Harry provided advice for NMAHPs: “Don’t leave your clinical heart at the door. It is the single most valuable asset you can bring to industry”.
