Author name:
Rosemary Bamford
Institution name: University of Exeter
Published 20 August 2026
ECR Connect 2026: Reflections
In August 2026, the MHP hosted an in-person event at St Hilda’s College in Oxford for Early Career Researchers in mental health. Rosie is one of our MHP ECR Fellows, and is based at the University of Exeter. She attended the day and tells us about her experience.
I am working across the Brain & Genomics, ImmunoMIND and DATAMIND hubs. My project centres around researching the underlying genetics of severe mental illness (SMI). I have been an ECR for several years now and this MHP fellowship is helping me to start my independent research career.
On the day
In an “academic world of gatekeeping”, early career researchers (ECRs) “held open a gate” for our opening speaker Dr Bijaya Biswal (UCL) at the MHP Connect event held in Oxford on the 6th August. Bijaya spoke honestly about her experience of being a dual expertise researcher, and about the support that ECRs can offer one another.
Professor Andrew McIntosh (MHP Director) and Professor Cathryn Lewis (Kings College London) led a grant writing workshop with a particular focus on fellowship applications. There was plenty of advice for everyone in the room, which was great because there was a range of career stages.
We were also put to work in groups by reviewing mock grants and giving feedback to improve them. Cathryn had a question to keep in your mind when writing grants, “Why is this the right thing for you to do now?”. Andrew reminded us to keep in mind the person reading your application - make it easy for them to say yes with a simple writing style and more white space on the page.
These were some of the great tips that I will take forward into my next application!
Connecting
The most valuable part of the day was being able to chat both informally and formally with other ECRs. It was great to meet those from the same hub as myself in person but also meet new people from other hubs. There was plenty of coffee breaks (with delicious cookies!) to allow for this, but we were also given a facilitated networking task.
Right: the five MHP ECR Fellows
In-person ECR events which are across institutions are infrequent, and so to have the opportunity to get together was really beneficial. Having the time away from your desk/lab to network with other ECRs and to focus energy on your career development is probably something we should all make more time for!
I am now looking forward to the MHP Summit on the 8th October where we can all meet again!
Published 20 August 2026
ECR Connect 2026: Reflections
In August 2026, the MHP hosted an in-person event at St Hilda’s College in Oxford for Early Career Researchers in mental health. Rosie attended the day and tells us about her experience.
Published 17 July 2026
Setting priorities for SMI research
The Metabolic Psychiatry Hub published a paper in July 2026 about their “Priority Setting Partnership” project, which identifies research questions in a collaborative way.
Published 16 July 2026
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