Dr Nicola Byrom studies mental health and wellbeing in emerging adulthood. Her focus is on public health, exploring the institutional, social, and cultural factors that shape individual mental health. Dr Byrom is passionate about the role of research and evidence in shaping principles, policies, and practice across the higher education sector. She supported the initial development of the University Mental Health Charter and her research has informed policy and practice guidance including Advance HE’s Education for Mental Health Toolkit.

Dr Byrom’s research is motivated by her own personal experiences of mental health problems. Prior to developing her research career, Dr Byrom founded Student Minds, the UK’s student mental health charity. At Student Minds, she pioneered peer support for university students, with a focus on supporting students with eating disorders and depression.

At King’s Dr Byrom founded and developed SMaRteN, the UKRI funded Student Mental Health Research Network. SMaRteN prioritized lived experience involvement in research and supported career development for Early Career Researchers. SMaRteN funded and supported 19 innovative research projects across the UK, supporting over 50 researchers. SMaRteN continues to support Early Career Researchers through regular discussion groups and newsletters, please get in contact if you would like to join the network.

Dr Byrom is a mixed methods researcher, working with both quantitative and qualitative methods. She is passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration and always keen to connect with researchers working outside of Psychology to understand their perspective on mental health in emerging adulthood. Dr Byrom is an enthusiastic champion of Early Career Researchers and always keen to hear from potential PhD students or to support fellowship applicants.

By training, Dr Byrom is an experimental psychologist. She completed her DPhil examining individual differences in learning at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, with Professor Robin Murphy. She was awarded an MRC Centenary Award to further develop her work.

Research interests

• Mental Health in Emerging Adulthood
• Peer Support
• Educational practice within Higher Education
• Lived Experience Perspectives

Teaching

• Psychology and the Individual
• Clinical Applications of Learning Theory

Expertise and public engagement

Dr Byrom was the founding director of Student Minds and continues to serve as a trustee. She has served on the organising committee for the International Association of Youth Mental Health biannual conference and was a research fellow for Zinc’s Mission 1: Women and Girl’s mental health