Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Clinical Psychology: Unit of Assessment 9
The majority of research in the Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Clinical Psychology UoA is officially classified as world-leading, internationally excellent or recognised internationally in terms of originality, significance and rigour, having almost all of its evidence assessed as being in the three highest categories for quality in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.
| Quality Level | 4* | 3* | 2* | 1* | Unclassified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of research activity | 5 | 35 | 50 | 10 | 0 |
Since 2001 we have strongly invested in the area of neuroscience, psychiatry and clinical psychology. Our aim is to be the best in these areas of clinical and systems neuroscience and to have an international impact in medical practice.
Research activity takes place in two multidisciplinary institutes:
Research groupings:
- Mitochondrial Biology and Neurology
- Brain Ageing and Dementia
- Psychology and Clinical Psychology
- Neurobiology
As a measure of our growth in neuroscience the annual grant spend by researchers in UoA9 increased from £1.7m in 2001 to £5.3m in 2007. Total grant awards exceed £25m and include four programme grants, a DoH Specialist Biomedical Research Centre in Ageing and six senior fellowships.
Clinical research depends on close collaboration with NHS trusts which is facilitated through a Joint Research Executive Committee and a joint (Trust/University) research office to ensure that ethical and governance issues are closely tied to finance and administration. Many areas of our research have commercial potential and during this assessment period many leading pharmaceutical companies have funded research in this UoA.
Recent commercial research awards include:
- GE Healthcare - Multicentre DaTSCAN in DLB imaging study.
- Pfizer - Trial of sildenafil in PD.
- Organon - GR antagonists and serotonergic transmission.
- GlaxoSmithKline - Novel therapies for brain disorders involving disrupted cortical dynamics.
- Various companies - Evaluating novel compounds which disrupt the addictive process and may have therapeutic benefit as smoking cessation aids.
To ensure staff remain internationally competitive, considerable emphasis is placed on participation in key international scientific meetings and developing strategically important collaborations. The IoN funds exchanges with RIKEN Brain Sciences Institute (Japan) and Monash University Neurosciences (Australia) as part of formal bilateral partnerships. Collaborative partnerships are strongly encouraged and staff are leaders of a number of national networks and interest groups.
With a few exceptions, dictated by the nature of their work, staff in each grouping benefit from being based in close proximity to researchers with complementary expertise. All staff have access to excellent research facilities.
We have a strong track record in mentoring clinical and non-clinical scientists towards independent academic careers. This is reflected in the number of Category-A staff who held or hold fellowships, both at junior and senior levels, during the assessment period.