Published 31 October 2024

UKRI Mental Health Platform launches

Launch event edinburgh
Author name: Sophie Quick Institution name: Mental Health Platform

In September 2024, The Mental Health Platform officially launched, along with one of the six hubs.

The Mental Health Platform (MHP) is a new network of over 100 researchers, dedicated to accelerating research into severe mental illness (SMI). On Friday 20th September, the MHP launched, along with the first new research hub, the Metabolic Psychiatry hub.

Karen Brakspear, Head of Programme for Mental Health research, Medical Research Council, UKRI said:

Mental health research is receiving much needed boosts to funding, which offers real opportunity to make progress in this important area. This is just the beginning of the platform which will reach out to connect and collaborate, fostering talented individuals working in this much needed area.

UK-wide research collaboration

Thanks to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), over £20 million has been invested to create the MHP. The platform will accelerate research by drawing on expertise from a wide range of disciplines, supporting collaboration and developing the next generation of researchers. 

The research is based at six hubs, includes partnerships with many different institutions across the UK, and is supported by a coordinating centre at the University of Edinburgh led by Professor Andrew McIntosh.

Read about the hubs

To improve the lives of people with severe mental illness, we need to be more united in the way we study these conditions. In research, there’s still too much competition and not enough collaboration. The UKRI Mental Health Platform will help researchers share ideas and data, to accelerate our understanding. We’ll also further develop our links with industry to help translate research discoveries into new treatments.

  • Professor Andrew McIntosh, Director of the Mental Health Platform
Andrew McIntosh image

Why do we need this investment now? 

There’s an urgent need to have more effective diagnosis, interventions and prevention approaches for people with SMI. More than 800,000 people are living with an SMI in the UK, such as schizophrenia, severe depression and bipolar. These conditions can severely impair a person’s ability to carry out daily tasks, and impact employment and relationships. People with an SMI also have a life expectancy on average 10-20 years shorter than the general population, in part because poor mental health may lead to poor physical health. 

The Metabolic Psychiatry Hub

The first hub to launch is Metabolic Psychiatry, led by Professor Daniel Smith. Metabolic psychiatry is a critical but under-researched area. There’s growing evidence for a connection between SMI and metabolic conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Some research suggests this could inform new ways to approach and treat SMI.

The Metabolic Psychiatry Hub will investigate mental illness from a ‘whole-body’ perspective, rather than focusing solely on the brain or psychological symptoms. Importantly, it will work closely with people with lived experience to identify, prioritise, develop and test acceptable metabolism-based treatments for SMI.

Metabolic Psychiatry arose from the lived experience of patients who have noted a significant connection between their metabolic health and mental health symptoms. As a researcher who lives with bipolar disorder, and who has lost both family and friends to mental illness, it is important to me to see an acceleration in the development of new and more effective treatments which address this interface of physical and mental health.

  • Dr Iain Campbell - a researcher at the Metabolic Psychiatry Hub, co-leading a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) as part of the Hub’s research.
Go the the Metabolic Psychiatry website

What is Metabolic Psychiatry?

Dr Iain Campbell explains more about metabolic psychiatry.

Championing the voices of people with lived experience

We’re committed to involving people with lived experience in every stage of our research, from the generation of ideas to helping people understand what the findings mean for them. The UKRI have involved patient and public contributors from the start of the MHP design, such as choosing which hubs should be funded. People with lived experience of SMI will continue to help guide the platform’s strategy.

Conference image

I’m excited we’re bringing together so many centres of excellence across the UK. I think by identifying common themes we will widen impact and propel research, leading to better diagnosis and more effective interventions for people with severe mental illnesses in the future.

 

It’s crucial our research is led by meaningful involvement of people with lived experience. This will make sure we’re answering the most important questions and maintaining the trust of the people affected.

  • Director Professor Andrew McIntosh