Dr Asha Ladwa

Asha is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Mood Disorders Centre, University of Exeter. Her research focuses on understanding how treatments work and how to improve treatment outcomes adults with complex depression. 

She completed her PhD in 2022 and an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2023-2024) which focussed on times where rapid depression symptom improvement or temporary depression symptom worsening occurred to understand how talking therapies lead to positive or sub-optimal treatment outcomes. She was also a part-time research assistant (2021-2022) and then trial manager (2022-2023) for the 'RESPOND' trial which investigated the cost and clinical effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for individuals who have not responded to previous psychological depression treatment. 

Asha currently has a 3-year fellowship funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration (MH-TRC) Mission, which is a national network of centres to increase capacity in mental health research across the UK funded by the Office of Life Sciences and the NIHR. Within this fellowship, Asha is establishing the 'South West Mental Health Gap Practice Research Network' (SW MH Gap PRN) to bring together lived experience members, practitioners (in the NHS and voluntary sector) and researchers to enhance psychological support for the 'missing middle' - the treatment 'gap' between NHS Talking Therapies, for anxiety and depression (NHS-TTad) and secondary care services. The SW MH Gap PRN will support (1) the upskilling of practitioners through CPD, (2) the development of practice-based evidence in services, and (3) recruitment into research and trials. 

Examples of the current projects Asha is supporting through the SW MH Gap PRN include:

• An evaluation of implementation in NHS-TTad services of MBCT for clients who have not responded to previous therapy (based on the results of the RESPOND trial)

• Principle Investigator for the Devon site of the 'UpLift-X' trial, a cluster factorial randomised controlled trial examining the clinical and cost effectiveness of a digitally supported group psychological therapy (Barlow's Unified Protocol) for emotional difficulties to support the personalisation of therapy. 

• Implementation and evaluation of patient reported outcome measures for Cognitive Analytical Therapy (CAT) trainees in the South West 

Additionally, Asha has a keen research interest in understanding the development of anxiety and/or depression in the perinatal period (during pregnancy and post-birth) and supporting access to and engagement in psychological treatments during this time for perinatal women/birthing people. 

Qualifications: 

2022 PhD Psychology, University of Exeter

2016 MSc Psychological Research Methods, University of Exeter

2015 BSc Psychology, University of Exeter