News
Bristol psychiatrist wins prestigious NIHR Rising Research Leaders Prize
A University of Bristol clinical academic psychiatrist developing new ways to improve perinatal mental health support has received a prestigious national research leadership prize. Dr Katie Hall, a psychiatrist and NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, has been named one of…
Novel delivery of therapist-led online CBT helps people with depression, major trial finds
A new way of delivering therapist-led online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can reduce symptoms of depression and improve function, according to new University of Bristol-led research published in The Lancet Primary Care. Depression affects millions of people and can have a major impact on daily life, relationships…
Researcher perspectives: Sophie Fairweather
Sophie Fairweather is one of our PhD students. She is exploring whether we can predict the risk of someone developing anxiety and depression in childhood by using information we have about their early life. She is supervised by Professor Golam Khandaker and Dr Hannah Jones. In July 2026 we spoke…
Best practice resources needed to guide online activity discussions with young people
Mental health practitioners need best practice resources to support conversations around online activity with young people. Guidance should support conversations that are both acceptable to young people and effective at changing problematic online activity. Researchers from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Bristol and the University of Bristol conducted semi-structured interviews…
Researcher perspectives: Monika Jakiel-Rusin
Monika Jakiel-Rusin is a dietician working at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. Alongside her role at the hospital, she has been carrying out research funded through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In July 2026 we spoke to Monika about her work so far…
Researcher perspectives: Aaron Mitchell
Aaron Mitchell is one of our PhD students. He is exploring the relationship between obesity and colorectal cancer progression using genetic epidemiology and cell biology. He is supervised by Professors Lavinia Paternoster, Emma Vincent, Gibran Hemani and Richard Martin. In July 2026 we spoke to Aaron about his academic journey,…
Healthy Madrasas programme may help physical activity access for Muslim children in Bristol
A childhood obesity prevention programme developed in Bradford’s madrasas could be adapted for use in Bristol, according to research supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Bristol. The Healthy Madrasas programme supports healthy eating and physical activity through Islamic religious settings. The qualitative study…
Self-reporting sleep quality may underestimate sleep problems in dementia, study finds
People with cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease or Lewy body disease may underestimate how disturbed their sleep is when asked to report it themselves. This sleep discrepancy (the gap between how well participants thought they slept and how they slept according to objective measurements) could have broader diagnostic value,…
Mindful eating may reduce food intake, but evidence in real-world settings remains limited
Mindfulness and mindful eating practices could help people eat less in controlled settings, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis published in Clinical Psychology Review. Researchers found that the effects of mindfulness and mindful eating were larger in laboratory settings and there was no clear evidence…