I am an interdisciplinary psychologist and my research focuses on understanding how developmental, social, and structural processes and conditions shape children and young people's mental health and wellbeing. My work sits at the intersection of psychology, education, and public health, and is driven by a core concern with how young people experience the systems around them - and how those systems can support and influence their everyday lives, emotional worlds, and mental health. A key strand of my work examines gendered mental health and wellbeing inequalities, particularly the experiences and needs of adolescent girls.

My approach is methodologically pluralistic, and I use quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches to build fuller understandings of mental health. As a Chartered Psychologist with an original background in childhood studies, I aim to generate evidence that is theoretically grounded, youth-informed, and useful for policy and practice.

Current and recent research projects include: 

• Mechanisms and outcomes in whole school approaches to tackling sexism
• Evaluation of a school-based sexual violence intervention
• Drivers of recent trends in young people's mental health
• Adolescent girls' perspectives on understanding and responding to rates of low mood and anxiety

I have led and collaborated on research projects funded by organisations including NIHR, UKRI, NICE, and the National Lottery Community Fund. My work frequently informs public and policy discussions, and I have contributed expert comment to outlets including The Guardian, Financial Times, the BBC, The Telegraph, and the Times Education Supplement. 

I am currently Senior Lecturer in Psychology of Education at the Manchester Institute of Education, where I have been based since 2016 after several years working with young children and their families. I now teach predominantly on the BSc Educational Psychology. Alongside this, I am also an Honorary Research Fellow at the Evidence Based Practice Unit (a collaboration between Anna Freud and the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences).

I have a strong record of leadership and service in research infrastructure and community. I co-convened Manchester's 'Education and Psychology' research group for five years, and am currently co-leading the establishment of a new Research Centre to be launched in 2026. I sit on the operational board for the new University of Manchester Healthier Futures platform, and co-lead the Children and Young People theme of this initiative. I have contributed to University research ethics governance for several years and currently serve as a Research Ethics Committee Chair.

My research interests are generally centred around: 

• Developmental, social, and structural processes shaping children and young people's mental health and wellbeing

• Gendered mental health and wellbeing, particularly adolescent girls' experiences and needs

• Children and adolescents’ experiences of education systems, including mental health and wellbeing provision, and how schools can support developmental and wellbeing needs

PhD Opportunities 

I welcome PhD applications exploring developmental, social, or systemic influences on children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, particularly projects that investigate gendered inequalities, school-based provision, or other structural and contextual determinants and systems in this space, and that contribute to knowledge while also having relevance for policy or practice.

Examples of current and recently completed research students: 

• Stephanie Ray: Examining the relationship between young people’s participation in arts, culture and entertainment activities and their wellbeing, funded through an ESRC 3+1 CASE studentship in partnership with Factory International (supervised with Neil Humphrey, John McAuliffe, and Sameed Rezayan)

• Megan Cutts: Special educational needs and wellbeing in the school context, funded through #BeeWell programme funders (supervised with Neil Humphrey and Margarita Panayiotou)

• Carla Mason: Teacher implementation of universal, school-based mental health interventions, funded by Department for Education (supervised with Neil Humphrey and Rosie Mansfield)

• Dr Lauren Burke: Loneliness and mental health in childhood and adolescence, funded by The Kavli Trust (supervised with Pamela Qualter and Lily Verity) 

• Dr Devi Khanna: Adolescent wellbeing and educational experiences, funded through #BeeWell programme funders (supervised with Neil Humphrey, Margarita Panayiotou, and Louise Black) 

• Dr Parise Carmichael-Murphy: Social determinants of adolescent boys' mental health and wellbeing, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund (supervised with Neil Humphrey)

I am an experienced mixed methods researcher, with advanced quantitative training and strong qualitative expertise alongside experience of blending approaches. My approach is rooted in a belief that understanding youth mental health requires methodological pluralism: integrating different forms of evidence to capture the developmental, social, and structural processes shaping young people’s lives. 

I work closely with children young people as partners in research, including through co-production and youth advisory structures across study design, analysis, and dissemination.

I have specialist expertise in the ethical complexities of conducting sensitive research with children and young people. I teach and research on this issue, and play an active role in institutional ethics governance.

Recent research projects

Understanding drivers of recent trends in young people's mental health. Co-Investigator, 2024-2025, funded by the Youth Futures Foundation

This interdisciplinary project used an evidence-based approach to investigate recent trends in youth mental health and examined the reasons for the decline in mental health among young people in England. Previous efforts to understand the causes of young people's declining mental health have often focused on examining drivers in isolation, or offering only narrative summaries; our approach went further by evaluating multiple theories in parallel using a combination of data analysis and scoping of the most up-to-date evidence. In our report we describe specific theories for the trends and assess the strength of evidence supporting each one, highlighting where important gaps remain. Our report is available here. 

INSIGHT: Young women's perspectives on psychological distress in their population and priority actions for responding: A co-produced qualitative investigation, Principal Investigator, 2022, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research

This was a co-produced project funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, aiming to explore adolescent girls' perspectives of low mood and anxiety in their population. We engaged with diverse young women across England to explore their views, and engaged with stakeholders to discuss how this can be translated into future directions in research, policy, and practice. We are in the process of writing up and sharing key findings from the study; our first article can be found here. 

Development and validation of the Social Media Measure for adolescents. Co-Investigator, 2022-2025, funded by UKRI

The Social Media Measure project is an open-science groundbreaking effort aiming to improve our understanding and measurement of adolescent social media use, and consequently, improve our understanding of how social media influences adolescent mental health and wellbeing. Using a co-production model, we are developing and testing, with young people, a measure to assess adolescent experience of social media use. You can find out more about the study at so-me-study.org 

Evaluation of Passport to Success, Co-Investigator, 2022-2025, funded by the Kavli Trust 

The study is a major trial across Greater Manchester that investigates whether "Passport: Skills for Life", a mental health promotion programme used widely in primary schools, is successful at promoting children's ability to manage their emotions as a means to reduce distress, loneliness, and bullying during the transition between childhood to adolescence. Our study protocol can be found here and our qualitative Stage One Registered Report can be found here. 

Children and young people's perceptions and experiences of social, emotional, and mental wellbeing in school, Co-Principal Investigator, 2020-2021, funded by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

This research was commissioned by NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) to inform development of guidance for school-based wellbeing interventions and provision practices, with the aim of understanding what children and young people themselves consider good practice in this area. We engaged with children and young people in focus groups and asked them to tell us what they thought wellbeing provision ought to look like. Findings from our work with children and young people are available here and the linked NICE guidance can be found here. We have also shared academic pieces on our methodology, as well as on key findings and implications around school culture and educational transitions. 

HeadStart National Evaluation, Co-Investigator, 2016-2023, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and led by Prof. Jessica Deighton, Evidence Based Practice Unit (a collaboration between the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and University College London)

HeadStart was a six-year, £67.4 million National Lottery funded programme set up by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It aimed to explore and test new ways to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 10 to 16 and prevent serious mental health issues from developing. The evaluation used quantitative and qualitative strands to evaluate programme effectiveness as well as to longitudinally explore adolescent mental health and wellbeing trajectories and experiences. You can find out more about the project here. 

#BeeProud: Understanding and supporting LGBTQIA+ young people's wellbeing. Principal Investigator, 2022-2023, funded by The University of Manchester Research Institute 

This is a co-produced project that aims to advance understanding of the causes and consequences of wellbeing inequalities among LGBTQIA+ young people across Greater Manchester. Our report and recommendations can be found here and an accessible format is here.  

The TELL Study (Teenagers' Experiences of Life in Lockdown), Principal Investigator, 2020-2021, partially funded by The University of Manchester's Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration 

The TELL Study was a research project that aimed to understand 16- to 19-year-olds' experiences of the initial UK lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on wellbeing. We asked UK-based 16- to 19-year-olds to share their lockdown experiences, sharing what lockdown looked like for them, what it felt like, and how they managed it. You can find out more about the project here and read our paper here. 

Evidence on the relationship between socio-economic disadvantage and the attainment gap in the English education system, Co-Investigator, 2021-2022, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation

This study was a cross-disciplinary partnership exploring the causes of the socio-economic gap in attainment among 3-18 year-old children in England.