’I am delighted to receive this award, thanks to the support from the IoPPN and King’s, and I hope it opens the door for other methodologists to be nominated by their institutions in the future too. The dedicated time for myself and the new research team will allow us to create a new culture for clinical trials in the mental health community, in the way that other disciplines have successfully done. Ultimately I want this award to benefit patients by getting more funding for clinical trials using these approaches
Professor Richard Emsley
24 October 2019
Professor Richard Emsley Awarded NIHR Research Professorship
Professor Richard Emsley, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, has been awarded a prestigious National Institute for Health Research Research Professorship, becoming the first methodologist to receive this award.
The professorship, worth £2m over five years, aims to implement the use of more innovative clinical trial designs to test new treatments for mental health conditions. In partnership with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, the research programme will develop new adaptive and personalised trial designs that allow researchers to speed up the evaluation of new treatments and maximise the involvement of trial participants. A significant aspect of the programme will be collaborating with service-users, clinicians, funders and the public to work out how these trials can best be used in the future.
The NIHR Research Professorship is the flagship award for the NIHR. The scheme aims to fund research leaders of the future to promote effective translation of research. The fixed 5-year award funds leaders in the early part of their careers, supporting them to lead research, promote effective translation of research from 'campus to clinic' and strengthen research leadership at the highest academic levels. The awards are very competitive and given to those on course to becoming the UK's most outstanding research leaders.
Congratulations to Richard on this fantastic achievement, as NIHR Research Professorships fund some of the future’s most outstanding research leaders. This award recognises the important work he is doing in clinical trial methodology and facilitating collaboration with service users, clinicians and the public to speed up treatments to patient
Professor Ian Everall, Executive Dean of the IoPPN
Professor Emsley joined the IoPPN in January 2018 as Professor of Medical Statistics & Trials Methodology in the Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics. Prior to this, he was Professor of Medical Statistics at The University of Manchester and Deputy Director of the Manchester Clinical Trials Unit. His research involves the development of statistical methods for clinical trials, using causal inference approaches for efficacy and mechanisms evaluation and applying these methods in clinical trials of complex interventions in mental health. He is co-lead for psychological therapeutics in the NIHR Maudsley BRC Novel Therapeutics Cluster, and an investigator on the UK-wide MRC-NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership.
Professor Emsley will commence his Professorship in November 2019. The award and matched institutional support will fund four research positions and three PhD studentships.