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Alan Simpson

Professor Alan Simpson

Professor of Mental Health Nursing

Research interests

  • Mental Health
  • Nursing

Biography

Alan Simpson is Professor of Mental Health Nursing. He works across the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care, the Health Service and Population Research Department in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He is also:

Co-Director of the UCL-KCL Mental Health Policy Research Unit (MHPRU)

Co-Director of the King’s PhD Programme in Mental Health Research for Health Professionals

Deputy Director of the KCL Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre (QUAHRC)

Alan is leading a programme of high-quality research with the aim of improving the delivery and experience of mental healthcare and mental health nursing across a range of service settings. His research is collaboratively developed and conducted with service users, carers, clinicians, service managers and policy makers.

Alan is a Registered Nurse (Mental Health) and Teacher with the NMC and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has a rich and varied clinical background, a PhD, BA(Hons) in Social Psychiatry and a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling. Awards include the Mental Health Nurse Academics UK Lecture in 2018 and the Eileen Skellern Lecture in 2013. He is an active member and previous Chair of Mental Health Nurse Academics UK, with representatives from over 70 Higher Education Institutions in the UK. He is also an Editor of the Journal of Mental Health.

Alan has lived in London with his family for over 20 years.

Research interests

  • Surveillance and Body-Worn Cameras

  • Activities on inpatient wards

  • Safewards

  • Case management, care planning and coordination

  • Community and inpatient mental health services

  • Peer support and service user and carer involvement

  • Integration of mental and physical healthcare

Teaching

  • Surveillance and Body-Worn Cameras

  • Case management, care planning and coordination

  • Community and inpatient mental health services

  • Peer support, recovery and service user and carer involvement

  • Mixed methods research

  • Co-production and service user/carer involvement in research

  • Research informing mental health policy

Expertise and Public Engagement

Alan is developing working relationships with staff, and services users and carers across South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, aimed at improving the quality of services.

He is active on Twitter @cityalan, frequently presents at conferences, and has taken part in podcasts with NHS England/Improvement and the National Elf Service, a website that highlights evidence-based publications relevant to mental health practice.

PhD supervision

Alan offers PhD supervision for Mental Health research topics in the following areas:

  • Inpatient and community mental healthcare

  • Peer support

  • Mental health recovery

  • Case management

  • Integration of mental and physical healthcare

Enquiring about potential PhD supervision

If you’re thinking of applying for one of our PhD programmes and are looking for potential supervisors, please email: nmpc_pgr_enquiries@kcl.ac.uk listing the names of the supervisors you’ve identified as having expertise in your chosen area, along with your CV and a short research proposal. Our Postgraduate Research Team will contact supervisors on your behalf and get back to you.

If you have any queries in the meantime, please use the email address above, rather than contacting potential PhD supervisors directly, because they are unable to respond to initial enquiries.

 

Research profile

    Research

    dandelion-background-1800
    Mental Health Nursing

    The Mental Health Nursing research group is developing a programme of high-quality research with the aim of improving the delivery and experience of mental healthcare and mental health nursing across a range of service settings.

    Mental Health Nursing21
    Body Worn Cameras on Inpatient Mental Health Wards

    Body worn cameras are mobile audio and video devices that can be secured to various parts of the body allowing the wearer to record what they see and hear.

    Project status: Ongoing

    safewards_logo_1800x500
    Implementing Safewards on Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Wards

    Safewards is a model that synthesises what research tells us about rates of patient ‘conflict’ and staff ‘containment’ behaviours on mental health wards. From this model 10 interventions have been designed to reduce these behaviours, and make wards safer, more peaceful places

    News Story Images Template (16)
    NIHR Policy Research Unit in Mental Health

    The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Mental Health (MHPRU) at King's and UCL conducts rapid research to inform mental health policy.

    News

    Exploring the use of body worn cameras in mental healthcare settings

    Researchers aim to understand the practical and ethical issues of body worn cameras as part of a new UK-based study.

    Nurse holding a mobile device in blurry healthcare setting

    £25m NIHR funding to tackle health and social care issues

    The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) today awarded King’s £25m to tackle important long-standing and emerging health and social care...

    NIHR policy unit

    The pros and cons of telemental health

    New research led by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) Mental Health Policy Research Unit (MHPRU) at King’s College London and...

    Person in red trousers sitting on sofa using laptop

    Double win for faculty PhD students in the King's Outstanding Thesis Prize

    Two Faculty PhD students awarded highly competitive prize for their excellent theses.

    Awards

    Review finds significant barriers in shift to remote mental health services during pandemic

    New findings from research exploring mental health care provided by phone and video call during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Feature Student on laptop taking notes

    King's launches new Mental Health Research PhD for Health Professionals

    £7.8m Wellcome Trust funded PhD Programme will deliver a new generation of health professional scientists to lead mental health research in the future.

    MH PhD 780x440

    New Centre for Qualitative Applied Health Research at King's launches

    New virtual centre will raise the visibility of high-quality qualitative research across all King’s faculties and schools.

    QUAHRC Logo

    Telemedicine may well outlast the pandemic, say mental health care staff

    The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about rapid innovation in mental health care, and the move to telemedicine is likely here to stay to at least some degree,...

    Telemedicine may well outlast the pandemic, say mental health care staff

    Events

    16JunNHS COVID rainbow

    Perseverance Trust Nightingale Fellowship Lecture 2021

    This annual lecture features talks from our staff, students and Nightingale Fellowship Award winners.

    Please note: this event has passed.

      Research

      dandelion-background-1800
      Mental Health Nursing

      The Mental Health Nursing research group is developing a programme of high-quality research with the aim of improving the delivery and experience of mental healthcare and mental health nursing across a range of service settings.

      Mental Health Nursing21
      Body Worn Cameras on Inpatient Mental Health Wards

      Body worn cameras are mobile audio and video devices that can be secured to various parts of the body allowing the wearer to record what they see and hear.

      Project status: Ongoing

      safewards_logo_1800x500
      Implementing Safewards on Children’s and Young People’s Mental Health Wards

      Safewards is a model that synthesises what research tells us about rates of patient ‘conflict’ and staff ‘containment’ behaviours on mental health wards. From this model 10 interventions have been designed to reduce these behaviours, and make wards safer, more peaceful places

      News Story Images Template (16)
      NIHR Policy Research Unit in Mental Health

      The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Mental Health (MHPRU) at King's and UCL conducts rapid research to inform mental health policy.

      News

      Exploring the use of body worn cameras in mental healthcare settings

      Researchers aim to understand the practical and ethical issues of body worn cameras as part of a new UK-based study.

      Nurse holding a mobile device in blurry healthcare setting

      £25m NIHR funding to tackle health and social care issues

      The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) today awarded King’s £25m to tackle important long-standing and emerging health and social care...

      NIHR policy unit

      The pros and cons of telemental health

      New research led by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) Mental Health Policy Research Unit (MHPRU) at King’s College London and...

      Person in red trousers sitting on sofa using laptop

      Double win for faculty PhD students in the King's Outstanding Thesis Prize

      Two Faculty PhD students awarded highly competitive prize for their excellent theses.

      Awards

      Review finds significant barriers in shift to remote mental health services during pandemic

      New findings from research exploring mental health care provided by phone and video call during the COVID-19 pandemic.

      Feature Student on laptop taking notes

      King's launches new Mental Health Research PhD for Health Professionals

      £7.8m Wellcome Trust funded PhD Programme will deliver a new generation of health professional scientists to lead mental health research in the future.

      MH PhD 780x440

      New Centre for Qualitative Applied Health Research at King's launches

      New virtual centre will raise the visibility of high-quality qualitative research across all King’s faculties and schools.

      QUAHRC Logo

      Telemedicine may well outlast the pandemic, say mental health care staff

      The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about rapid innovation in mental health care, and the move to telemedicine is likely here to stay to at least some degree,...

      Telemedicine may well outlast the pandemic, say mental health care staff

      Events

      16JunNHS COVID rainbow

      Perseverance Trust Nightingale Fellowship Lecture 2021

      This annual lecture features talks from our staff, students and Nightingale Fellowship Award winners.

      Please note: this event has passed.