The NIHR Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (MH-TRC) , is a UK-wide network currently comprising eighteen centres of excellence. It has recently shown the strength of its collaborative approach by securing over £42 million for Phase 1 of the NIHR and Office for Life Science (OLS) Mental Health Mission (MHM).
Delivery of Phase 1 of the MHM is a major component of the strategic remit of the MH-TRC, which brings together the UK’s leading expertise in key mental health research areas such as mood disorders and early psychosis to deliver against the goals of the mission.
Additionally, the MH-TRC will encompass broader research priorities enabled by its wide range of expert members, such as a focus on addiction research with leading expertise and capability in the field to enable research to be developed in response to the OLS Addiction Mission.
The vision of the MH-TRC is to engage in world class translational research partnership with the NIHR infrastructure, the life sciences industry, and charities; and to develop the foundations for improved mental health nationally.
The MH-TRC will achieve this by:
- Working together to drive a national research agenda that accelerates the clinical development of mental health treatments and preventive strategies through experimental medicine.
- Delivering high-quality and efficient multi-centre experimental medicine studies to inform early go/no-go decision, and to make the UK the place of choice for industry collaborative translational research.
- Partnering with industry to accelerate the development of new interventions to diagnose, monitor and treat mental ill-health whilst addressing the key barriers and issues which currently disincentivise inward investment in the UK.
- Working collaboratively to deliver activities which build national capability and capacity for experimental medicine research in mental health. The MH -TRC will continue to build on existing centres of research excellence to extend research capacity across the whole UK, particularly in areas with high prevalence of mental illness to support and deliver against the goals of the MHM.
The aims of the MH-TRC are to
- form a national network of centres involved in experimental medicine and clinical trials in mental health.
- use this network as a means to accelerate translation of discovery science into clinical practice.
- establish the UK as the place to conduct innovative mental health research by bringing together the UK research base to provide a coherent national presence for industry engagement and collaboration, thereby partnering with the NHS, industry and regulators to increase industry investments and patient participation in mental health research across the UK.
- To increase the number of people with mental disorders recruited into experimental medicine studies and trials, unlocking potential for the UK to drive both improvements in population, mental health and economic growth.
In 2017 the 2 mental health Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs) NIHR Maudsley BRC and NIHR Oxford Health BRC agreed to lead collaboration to make the case for establishing an MH-TRC.
Non-MHM Workstreams
- ‘Omics, biobanking and the NIHR Bioresource
- Substance use and addictions
MHM Demonstrator Sites
- Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre of Excellence
- Midlands Translational Research Centre of Excellence
MHM Workstreams
- Capacity Development
- Children and young people’s mental health
- Data and Digital
- Early Psychosis
- Industry and Regulation
- Mood Disorders