Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre

About the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre

The Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre is an interdisciplinary research centre that focuses on how genetics (‘nature’) and the environment (‘nurture’) interact to affect psychiatric disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, and individual differences across development. Scientists at the SGDP lead some of the UK’s foremost longitudinal cohort and twin studies including TEDS, eRISK, Dunedin, and GLAD.

Collaborative interdisciplinary research and training are the hallmarks of the SGDP, with research encompassing behavioural genetics, molecular genetics, experimental psychology and psychiatry, and neuroimaging. We also have strong analytical themes in statistical genetics, twin modelling and epidemiology, applying innovative methodological tools to unpack the environmental and genetic contributors to risk and resilience in mental health and cognitive development. Our links with clinicians and clinical medicine enable us to maximise the impact of our research for clinical practice and public health policy.

The Centre’s focus is on common psychiatric disorders and neurodevelopmental conditions that emerge in childhood and adolescence, such as mood disorders (anxiety and depression), ‘externalising’ disorders (disruptive behaviour including hyperactivity and addictions), and neurocognitive conditions (learning disabilities and the autistic spectrum). The academics within the Centre are extraordinarily diverse, with multi-disciplinary expertise across psychiatry, developmental and social psychology, psychopathology, personality and cognitive traits, statistical genetics, epigenetics, molecular genetics, behavioural genetics and neuroimaging. To support these diverse research programmes, the Centre is equipped with cutting-edge research facilities, including laboratories with state-of-the-art genomics, epigenomics and biomarker assay equipment.

The SGDP hosts more than 50 PhD students, and our alumni have gone on to be outstanding scientists and clinicians at leading institutions internationally. We have strong cohorts of postdoctoral researchers – both clinical and non-clinical – many of whom hold prestigious fellowships to begin building their own research programmes within the Centre. The SGDP’s research programmes attract clinical and nonclinical researchers through the critical mass of interdisciplinary expertise gathered under one roof, with our cutting-edge research furthering the understanding of the root causes of common conditions such as anxiety, depression, autism, disruptive behaviour or cognitive impairment.

We offer an MSc course in Developmental Psychology & Psychopathology.

SGDP Centre group photo

Our courses

Social Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry MD(Res)/MPhil/PhD

Duration For a traditional PhD, expected to be three years FT, five to six years PT; for MSc and PhD, expected to be one and three years. Email ioppn.pgr@kcl.ac.uk for further information.

MPhil/PhD from the MRC Centre for Social Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry at King's College London.

View course

Useful links:

See if you're eligible for a Master's Scholarship.
SGDP Alumni Privacy Notice

Professor Jonna Kuntsi

Professor of Developmental Disorders and Neuropsychiatry

Click here for a full list of people associated with this department

Postgraduate Research

Further details about our traditional PhD programme can be viewed at the KCL Online Prospectus.

If you wish to apply for the SGDP Centre's traditional PhD programme, you should:

Identify and approach a potential supervisor. Information about potential supervisors at the Centre can be viewed in the People and Research Groups tabs.

Start to consider/identify funding opportunities*. For further information on funding opportunities available visit our Postgraduate research funding page.

*Studentships for our traditional PhD programme will be advertised on this page. Studentships for the following academic year are normally advertised around January-February. Applicants not applying for an advertised studentship must attach the following to their application:

Confirmation of sponsorship funding** for the full duration of the programme.
Confirmation of support from their proposed supervisor.

**Visit our Fees and funding page for more information on costs

Further information about how to apply for a traditional PhD can be found here.

For any other questions about the SGDP PhD programme, please contact the SGDP Centre:

Telephone: 020 7848 0873
Email: sgdp@kcl.ac.uk

SGDP Centre Anti-Racism Working Group

Our core focus is to promote an anti-racist agenda within the SGDP Centre and to promote diversity within our community and equality of opportunity for all, extending to all intersections within racialised groups.

Racism is systemic across all structures of society. We recognise that our majority white department has collectively sustained an inherently racist system. Dismantling racism will require all of us to actively call out every instance of racism, both structural and individual, and actively fight against white supremacy.

This group aims to hold our community accountable, to fight against complacency. Equality, diversity and inclusion are described as the cornerstones of the King’s Strategic Vision 2029, and we seek to uphold these values, in line with the wider work of the IoPPN Race Equality Network.

Our commitment

We will support staff and students to listen sensitively, empathise, discuss, and learn about race and racism.
We will hold the SGDP Centre executive committee accountable on prioritising an anti-racist agenda.
We will plan, propose, and instigate tangible initiatives to promote diversity and equality of opportunity among students and staff at all levels of seniority.
We will provide feedback on our work to the SGDP Centre community at all centre meetings (held termly).
We will hold fortnightly group meetings to discuss progress and plans. These meetings remain open and inclusive, for any members of the SGDP Centre community to join.

Please join our group

Please join us to ensure that our work benefits from the knowledge, opinions, and perspectives of individuals across the SGDP Centre. Anyone working or studying at the SGDP Centre can join the MS Team to stay in the loop, without committing to attend all meetings.

We recognise that the topics we discuss can be triggering and upsetting, impacting different group members in different ways. These are not passive intellectual topics, and it can be exhausting to do this type of work as a person of colour. It takes time to install the correct support and find solutions. We commit to being mindful of the need to avoid burdening people from racially minoritised groups, and of the potential for triggering racial trauma.

This is a learning process, requiring constant reflection and challenging of assumptions that are so deeply ingrained in our practice and institutions.

To join or hear more, contact any team member or email antiracism-SGDP@kcl.ac.uk

Current subgroups and ongoing projects (last updated July 2021)

(1) SGDP Centre protocol

This subgroup aims to develop and embed procedures and practices for the SGDP Centre that are consistent with an anti-racism agenda. The subgroup aspires to identify and act on racist research and recruitment practices, facilitate opportunities for research teams to improve, and develop and maintain support systems for those from racialised communities.

Ongoing projects include:

Development of a preferred language glossary for all staff and students
Surveying SGDP Centre executive committee and staff and student groups, to capture current perceptions, opinions and knowledge about race and racism at the Centre
Developing support structures for lab groups and early career researchers, helping them commit to anti-racist practices in their work and group culture
Developing a new application form, procedure, and advertising method for placement students

(2) SGDP Centre internal events and communication

This subgroup aims to organise events on anti-racism, including talks, training opportunities, and social events, for members of the SGDP Centre and the wider King’s community. This subgroup is responsible for communicating our progress and planned events to the SGDP Community, through our fortnightly newsletter.

KCL talks organised and/or promoted by our group include:

The Abolitionist Curriculum and Antiracist Work: A Roundtable Discussion
Applied: Lecture “Defining Bias and Its Impact on Recruitment”
Black and Minority Ethnics in Psychiatry & Psychology Network (BiPP): Lecture Series “Race in Psychiatry & Psychology: From Research to Transformative Action”
Project Myopia: Staff and student workshops “Decolonising the curriculum and classroom”

(3) SGDP Centre external events and wider opportunities

This subgroup aims to provide mentoring, allyship, training, and communication for people and organisations outside of King’s. This subgroup aims to demystify academia and research careers, inspiring and improving accessibility for a more diverse group of students.

Ongoing projects include:

Developing work experience, training, and mentoring opportunities for prospective students, building meaningful relationships with aspiring scientists from diverse backgrounds
Visiting local schools and youth clubs to deliver talks about our work and career paths.
Co-ordinating the IoPPN Youth Awards, a faculty-wide outreach programme for London-based teenagers.

Current group members (last updated July 2021)