Director lead: Professor Richard Morriss
The regional centre of the Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) provides support for large-scale, high-quality research into mental health and social care in the NHS. The East Midlands regional centre 'or Hub' is one of eight regional offices for the Network across the country.
The MHRN is part of England's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) with a mission to help make research about mental health happen within the NHS in England. The aim is to promote research so that we can improve treatments and services for people with mental health problems. The team's staff of experienced researchers, managers and mental health professionals work in local universities and NHS organisations around the region. The main East Midlands office is within the Institute of Mental Health in Nottingham, with a South Yorkshire base in Sheffield and further offices in Lincoln and Derby. The Hub works with everyone who needs to be involved in research projects – researchers, mental health professionals, people with experience of mental health problems, their families, and research and development staff based in NHS Trusts. They work on studies that are based within mental health services, within social care services and within primary care services. The MHRN supports both publicly-funded research studies and projects that are sponsored by industry. All the research projects aim to improve treatment and care or to find out more about different mental health problems. The East Midlands plus South Yorkshire Hub is a partnership between the universities of Lincoln and Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the South Yorkshire Comprehensive Local Research Network.
The Hub can:
- Assist with recruitment and assessments
- Work with service users and carers who wish to participate in the research process
- Help with local governance approvals
- Help access clinicians and services
- Assist in finding potential collaborators locally and in other regions.
If you would like to know more about the MHRN's services, please contact Hub Lead This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Hub Manager This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Corporate Review 2011 [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 1.86 MB]
New FAST-R service for research teams [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 50.92 KB]
What does the MHRN offer to researchers?
Administration and bureaucracy-busting
The Co-ordinating Centre team and the Hub teams can help researchers with administrative set-up and organisation throughout each study’s life.
Clinical Studies Officers (CSOs) based at each Hub help researchers identify and recruit eligible participants, and give those who have consented to take part in studies information and support.
Visit the MHRN website www.mhrn.info to find out more about the support CSOs can offer.
Named ‘Leads’ for Social Care and Primary Care at each Hub are specialists in their field and can help facilitate recruitment in social care and primary care services through their network of contacts.
The MHRN can:
- Organise contractual and financial arrangements if the project involves money being distributed to more than one organisation
- Assist with research governance applications
- Arrange honorary contracts
- Publicise the study in NHS Trusts and universities that are part of the Network to aid recruitment and collaboration opportunities
- Monitor the progress of each project
- Arrange and coordinate project meetings
- Set up local site implementation groups to aid early detection of problems;
- Help disseminate information about the study while it is ongoing and when it is complete.
MRC/MHRN Cohort Dataset Directory
The MHRN, in collaboration with the Medical Research Council (MRC), has developed a comprehensive, up-to-date, searchable, web-based database of population studies relevant to mental health research as a resource for mental health researchers.
To find out more, visit the MHRN website
Training
The Network organises a training programme to support mental health research. The training is free of charge to people working or associated with studies in the MHRN portfolio, including members of study teams, carers and service user representatives, and MHRN staff. In addition, there are courses about methodological infrastructure run by the Network’s Methodology Research Group, an interdisciplinary team of methodologists experienced in statistics, economics and psychometry, as well as the design and analysis of randomised controlled trials and studies involving complex interventions.
Working with commercial companies
The MHRN can facilitate commercially-funded studies, or trials sponsored by pharmaceutical, biotech and device companies, and tailor its support to meet their needs. Professor Tony David is the Network’s Associate Director for Industry and chairs an Industry Adoption Committee that reviews commercial studies to see if it is feasible to carry out the research within the NHS, and whether the Network has the resources to offer the support the study needs. A Commercial Research Manager is based in the MHRN’s Coordinating Centre and is available to advise commercial companies who want to find out more about the feasibility of working within the NHS through the MHRN.
Service Users in Research
Service Users in Research helps service users to take part in MHRN research, and also helps the MHRN Hubs involve service users in their work. Service Users in Research develops good practice guidelines and policies about the best way to involve service users in research, and promotes awareness throughout the MHRN of the value of including service users in all stages of a research study.
FACTOR (Families/Friends and Carers Together in Research)
FACTOR involves carers in research and makes information about research available to carers. Through FACTOR and its network, carers can contribute to the MHRN Clinical Research Groups (see below) and join teams of researchers working on studies that are already running. FACTOR also organises events so that carers can hear about and discuss current research.
Clinical Research Groups and Scoping Groups
These two sets of topic-specific groups are charged with developing new research within the MHRN. The Clinical Research Groups bring together carers, academics, clinicians, researchers and service users to identify suitable topics for research and produce specific proposals that can be turned into funded studies to run on the MHRN. There are currently 32 Clinical Research Groups working in priority areas identified by the Department of Health. Each Group is convened and chaired by an internationally recognised researcher in the field. Clinical Research Groups are the creative drive of the MHRN and are each developing a programme of research around key scientific issues in mental health to inform evidence-based practice.
The Scoping Groups are responsible for investigating gaps and opportunities in research in Department of Health named priority areas. These Groups have already produced reports about Children’s Mental Health; Families and Carers of People with Mental Illness; Older Age; and Social Care. The reports are available on the MHRN website www.mhrn.info
