Dr Jidong is a clinical academic researcher with expertise in the cultural adaptation of psychological interventions for mental health disorders across the DSM/ICD axes among the British African and Caribbean population in the UK/USA/Canada and in the African and Caribbean countries, such as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados. 

Dr Jidong employs numerous evidence-based approaches, including randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which have contributed to completed/ongoing global mental health research projects valued at over £13 million as principal and co-investigator. As the Principal Investigator (PI), Dr Jidong is leading the NIHR RfPB-funded project (Award-ID: NIHR209260) valued at over £300k on an RCT comparing culturally adapted psychoeducation with the NHS treatment as usual for treating bipolar disorders in British African and Caribbean patients. Dr Jidong is also co-PI in the £5 million Wellcome Trust grant [Award-ID: 303135/Z/23/Z]—Prescribing the Right Agent for Depression in Adults (PRADA): an adaptive randomised trial using a web-based multi-modal clinical decision support system to personalise antidepressant treatment in routine healthcare globally. 

As a co-investigator, Dr Jidong is also leading numerous work packages in large global mental health research projects, including a £5 million (GBP) NIHR RIGHT grant [Award-ID: NIHR205561] for an Integrated Psychosocial Care Plan for Comorbid Depression in Breast Cancer Patients in Low-Resource Settings and; a £2.3 million NIHR HSDR (Award ID: NIHR167329) project for Improving Postpartum Outcomes of Severe Mental Illnesses in Ethnically Diverse Mothers (POSIE) in the UK.

Dr Jidong is a seasoned researcher and has published extensively in the cross-cultural and global mental health field, including lead authorship in RCTs. His research also received numerous accolades, such as the 2022 University of East London Diversity Award for his excellent research impact (https://youtu.be/wjKlJxy5sE0), the 2017 and 2018 Delegates’ Choice Poster Winner at the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) Annual Conferences in Brighton and Nottingham, UK. Dr Jidong has achieved the full Chartered member status of the British Psychological Society, Division for Teachers and Researchers in Psychology (CPsychol), and he is a certified Fellow of the UK Advance HE (FHEA).