Themes
We have identified several research themes to facilitate cross-faculty collaborations and support researchers at all career stages to participate in research projects. Currently, these are:
Meaningful Involvement of Children and Young People in Research
Leads: Hollie Gay & Kate Goldie Townsend
We work in partnership with children and young people encompassing a range of activities that are labelled differently across disciplines, including participation, involvement, and engagement in research. What can researchers learn from professionals in terms of communication and engagement?
Our researchers hold interdisciplinary regular seminars to talk about new approaches and perspectives to working with children, and welcome presentations from young persons involved in research. We hope to see you there!
Bio-psycho-social-cultural Mechanisms of Mental Health
Leads: Angeliki Kallitsoglou and Lisa Price
We seek to understand the factors that contribute to young people’s mental wellbeing. Our research considers biopsychological, educational, environmental, and social/societal aspects and considers the role of creativity, the arts and play.
We are interested in the role played by nature, reading for emotional literacy and resilience, adventurous play; as well as that of interventions in school or mental health settings.
We bring together researchers in education, in gene-environment interactions as well as psychologists, intervention developers and writers.
Mental Health and Education
Lead: Darren Moore & Silvana Mareva
We aim to explore the relationship between education and mental health in the broadest sense of each of these terms. We bring together researchers and practitioners from across the university and beyond, representing a range of disciplines including education, psychology, public health, law and sociology.
Our research considers definitions of mental health and education, the practitioner roles related to mental health in educational settings, interventions and approaches, methodological approaches to studying the relationship, different education settings and support and access for specific groups of young people.
We are particularly interested in exploring the ways schools as systems impact the mental health of the young people there, as well as the adults supporting them.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Leads: Vashti Berry and Thomas El-Hoss
We are interested in the meaning and consequences of adversity in childhood. We are fortunate to have researchers and practitioners from a range of disciplinary backgrounds contributing to the theme. At our recent seminars and workshops, we have bought people together to discuss – the historic development of the concept of childhood adversity, the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) over the lifespan and the use of an ACE framework in education, health, and social care settings. Our plans are to develop this work into a series of outputs including blogs, publications, and research proposals. We warmly welcome anybody who wants to join the theme and share their experiences and expertise.
Themes are open to all CYP Wellbeing @Exeter Research Network members. Please sign up here to keep up to date with progress and events. Please email cypwellbeing@exeter.ac.uk if you have any questions.