NCMD Research Seminar Series 24th October 2025

Presenters: Dr Victoria Wing, Clinical Lecturer and Speciality Trainee in General Adult Psychiatry & Dr Tiago Costa, PhD Candidate and Speciality Trainee in General Adult Psychiatry, Newcastle University and CNTW NHS Foundation Trust.

"From bench to voice: Advancing neuropharmacology and neurotechnology research with patient and public involvement and engagement"

Dr Victoria Wing, Clinical Lecturer and Speciality Trainee in General Adult Psychiatry (Newcastle University). I am a Clinical Lecturer at the Northern Centre for Mood Disorders (NCMD), Newcastle University, funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR). Clinically I am undertaking speciality training in general adult psychiatry and currently work in the Regional Affective Disorders Service (RADS), a tertiary service for complex mood disorders, in the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust. My research focuses on optimising response to psychopharmacological treatments of mood disorders, in particular lithium, using pharmacokinetic modelling, response biomarkers and novel lithium-MRI methodology.

Dr Tiago Costa, PhD Candidate and Speciality Trainee in General Adult Psychiatry (Newcastle University and CNTW NHS Foundation Trust) I'm a Clinical PhD Fellow at the Northern Centre for Mood Disorders, Newcastle University, funded by the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre. I work clinically with the Regional Affective Disorders Service (RADS), a tertiary NHS service for complex mood disorders under the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust. My research focuses on difficult-to-treat depression (DTD), with a particular interest in the multimorbidity and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS).

Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) and research co-production are rapidly becoming a prerequisite across European funders and regulators. Whilst PPIE is well established in clinical research, adoption has been slower in neuropharmacology and neurotechnology. This may cause delayed clinical translation, reduced funding and erosion in public trust. This webinar, grounded in experiences from the UK Northern Centre for Mood Disorders, demonstrates timely action on PPIE is essential.

We provide a concise overview of the evidence base for PPIE and growing demand for its development, from Horizon Europe’s Responsible Research and Innovation principles to ECNP’s own working with people lived experience (PWLE) roadmap. Case studies and patient voices demonstrate its implementation and concrete impact:
- Case 1 (Embedding PPIE in Lithium Optimisation Research): A series of focus groups with PWLE as patients or prescribers led to co-designed research, production of a clinician-facing web-tool to guide lithium prescribing and unconstrained dialogue surrounding stakeholder research priorities.
- Case 2 (Neurotech PPIE guidelines): Multi‑stakeholder workshops delivered across the UK in 2023–24 produced the first published guidelines offering concrete PPIE implementation tools for neurotechnology development.
- Lived experience contributors reflect on their research involvement and participation in the UK’s first accredited course for the public to develop research skills to support co-production.

Together we illustrate how early, structured and meaningful PPIE accelerates methodological innovation and improves clinical utility, sharing easy to translate frameworks. ECNP members will be empowered to integrate PPIE before it’s non‑negotiable, fostering a research culture that listens and
co-creates as it innovates.