Clinical research group
The Clinical Psychology research group delivers world-class research into the advancement of theoretical knowledge and clinical practice in clinical psychology.
The group gained acknowledgement as a world-leading research centre for mood disorders, interested in psychological processes implicated in unipolar and bipolar depressive disorder and evidence-based approaches to treatment.
A core structure within the group is the Mood Disorders Centre (MDC), a partnership between the University of Exeter and the National Health Service (NHS) that has directly led to treatment innovations that address key priorities in treating mood disorders and improving the health and quality-of-life of patients.
Emerged from this is the Study of Maladaptive to Adaptive Repetitive Thought (SMART) Lab that conducts innovative world-leading research to translate basic science into improved interventions for worry and rumination, and to further disseminate and train transdiagnostic treatment and prevention.
In addition, the clinical research group also holds the Psychopharmacology and Addiction Research Centre (PARC), which contains colleagues from across the University and builds on Psychology’s strengths in addiction and obesity research.
Another focus for the group’s activities is the Centre for Research into Inhibition Training, Impulse Control and Associative Learning (CRITICAL), which brings together colleagues from all four research groups across the department (clinical, social, cognitive, and animal behaviour).
Finally, the Centre for Research in Ageing and Cognitive Health (REACH) focuses on improving the well-being of older people and people with dementia.
Group members
| Faculty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Dr Thorsten Barnhofer | Associate Professor | MDC |
| Dr Barney Dunn | Associate Professor | MDC |
| Prof. Linda Clare | Professor of Clinical Psychology of Ageing and Dementia | REACH |
| Dr Anke Karl | Senior Lecturer, Strategic Group Lead for the Clinical Psychology Research Group | MDC |
| Dr Natalia Lawrence | Senior Lecturer in Translational Medicine | MDC, CRITICAL, PARC |
| Dr Nick Moberly | Senior Lecturer | MDC |
| Prof. Celia Morgan | Professor of Psychopharmacology | PARC |
| Dr Heather O\'Mahen | Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology | MDC |
| Dr Lamprini Psychogiou | Lecturer in Translational Medicine | MDC |
| Prof. Ed Watkins | Professor of Experimental and Applied Clinical Psychology | MDC, SMART Lab |
| Dr Kim Wright | Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology | MDC, CRITICAL |
| Senior Research Fellows | ||
| Dr Sharon Nelis | Senior Research Fellow | REACH |
| Dr Catherine Quinn | Senior Research Fellow | REACH |
| Research Fellows | ||
| Jenny Cadman | Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner | MDC |
| Dr Mahmood Javaid | Experimental Officer | Wellcome Trust ISSF Biomedical Informatics Hub |
| Dr Narcie Kelly | Research Fellow | MDC |
| Dr Ola Kudlicka | Research Fellow | REACH |
| Dr Anthony Martyr | Research Fellow | REACH |
| Dr Amy McAndrew | Research Fellow | PARC |
| Mohammod Mostazir | Research Fellow in Medical Statistics | Wellcome Trust ISSF Biomedical Informatics Hub |
| Dr Alexandra Newbold | Research Fellow for IMPROVE | MDC, SMART Lab |
| Dr Michelle Tester-Jones | Research Fellow for IMPROVE | MDC, SMART Lab |
| Dr Matthew Owens-Solari | Research Fellow for MooDFOOD | MDC, SMART Lab |
| Dr Amy Romijn | Research Fellow for MooDFOOD | MDC, SMART Lab |
| Dr Tobias Stevens | Research Fellow | PARC |
| Dr Julia Teale | Research Fellow | REACH |
| Dr Yu-Tzu Wu | Research Fellow | REACH |
| Associate Research Fellows | ||
| Tess Bloomfield | Associate Research Fellow/PWP | SMART Lab, CEDAR |
| Marie Claire-Reville | Associate Research Fellow | MDC |
| Ashlea Jeffs | Associate Research Fellow | MDC |
| Loes Koorenhof | Associate Research Fellow | MDC |
| Ruth Lamont | Associate Research Fellow | REACH |
| Lorna O\'Connor | Associate Research Fellow | MDC |
| Emily Widnall | Associate Research Fellow | MDC |
| Research and Clinic Therapists | ||
| Jo Mackenzie | Individual & Group CBT Therapist | |
| Peter Mason | Research Therapist working in the AccEPT Clinic | |
| Carly Thornton | Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner | IMPROVE, SMART Lab |
| Owain Winfield | Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner | SMART Lab |
| Administration Team | ||
| Charlie Dibble | Operational Manager | MDC, CEDAR |
| Helen Davey | PA to Prof Linda Clare and Project Administrator | REACH |
| Matthew Lomas | Project and Administrative assistants | MDC, CEDAR |
| Rachael Milne | Associate Research Fellow (AccEPT Clinic Coordinator) | MDC |
| Kathleen Russell | Project and Administrative assistants (AccEPT Clinic Coordinator) | MDC, CEDAR |
| PhD students | ||
| Modi Alsubaie | MDC | |
| Michael Begley | MDC | |
| Natasha Bloodworth | MDC | |
| Miriam Cohen | MDC | |
| Lorna Cook | MDC, SMART Lab | |
| Isobel Evans | MDC | |
| Grace Fisher | MDC | |
| Emily Hammond | MDC | |
| Claire Harries | MDC | |
| Sarah Harris | MDC | |
| Jacqueline Hill | MDC | |
| Hans Kirschner | MDC | |
| Merve Yilmaz | MDC | |
| Affiliates | ||
| Prof. Chris Dickens | University of Exeter Medical School | |
| Prof. Tamsin Ford | University of Exeter Medical School | |
| Prof. David Richards | University of Exeter Medical School | |
| Prof. Adele Hayes | University of Delaware, USA, Honorary Professor | MDC |
Facilities
The Sir Henry Wellcome Building for Mood Disorders Research (MDC)
The Sir Henry Wellcome Building for Mood Disorders Research, managed by Professor Ed Watkins, is dedicated to the improvement of the understanding and treatment of mood disorders. This state-of-the art, fit-for-purpose built clinical research facility houses individual and group treatment rooms, with built-in audiovisual recording, plus office and meeting space for clinical research.
The AccEPT clinic at the MDC
The AccEPT Clinic, led by Drs. Barney Dunn and Kim Wright, provides evidence-based psychological therapies to people in the community who experience severe or recurrent mood disorders, as well as aiding the development of new treatments by offering innovations in psychological therapies to these client groups. It is funded by the NHS via the NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group.
The MDC biobehavioural lab
The MDC biobehavioural lab, led by Dr Anke Karl, supports research into the understanding of neural and peripheral physiological correlates of those mechanisms hypothesised to cause or maintain mood and related disorders. It comprises testing rooms equipped with psychophysiology and EEG equipment, eye tracker and virtual reality suites.
The PARC psychopharmalogical lab
The PARC psychopharmalogical lab, led by Professor Celia Morgan, supports research into the acute effects of pharmacological challenges on human volunteers. Three dedicated Home Office approved labs contain facilitites for administering pharmacological challenge, phlebotomy and preparation and storage of blood samples and psychological data.
The Research, Learning, Innovation and Development Building
The clinical group collaborate closely with individuals in the RILD building, at the R,D & E hospital site. The Wellcome Wolfson Medical Research Centre (opened December 2013), a new £28 million facility that brings together key clinical and biomedical scientists working in genomics, neuroscience, cell biology and human physiology. This building also houses the NIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility (www.exeter.crf.nihr.ac.uk); a purpose built testing facility for early stage clinical trials.
MR Scanner
Exeter's MR scanner is a 1.5T Phillips Gyroscan Magnetic with SENSE technology capable of high speed whole-volume acquisitions for event and epoch fMRI designs. Button-box, joystick and trackball response manipulanda with optic-fibre connections are available. The scanner is equipped with an Applied Science Labs MRI-compatible eye tracking system. It is a research-dedicated machine, housed in the Peninsula Medical School's research building, and operated by the medical physicists in the Department of Physics; the School of Psychology is part of a consortium of users in several departments of the university and beyond. Concurrent ERP and fMRI recording is available.
Centre for Biomedical Modelling and Analysis
The centre is a university-wide Wellcome Trust funded resource supporting researchers with advanced and complex data analyses of biomedical data and implementation of new technologies into existing research.
Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (PENCLAHRC)
PenCLAHRC is the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) of the South West Peninsula. It offers excellent research infrastructure including specialist groups in medical statistics, health economics, evidence synthesis and modelling, and PPI, and the clinical trials unit. MDC and REACH have close links with PENCLAHRC.