UK: MRC [Medical Research Council] blog: Accelerating research in severe mental illness

Posting as it demonstrates what the UK funders can do if they want to.

"Five new research hubs form the basis of the UKRI mental health research platform, which aims to tackle key challenges in severe mental illness.

Having a severe mental illness (SMI) can significantly impact many aspects of your life. By providing effective treatment and support as early as possible, it can help those affected to live full and productive lives. This is why we are establishing a mental health research platform to accelerate research in this area to understand how and why mental illnesses develop so we can improve the lives of those affected.

SMIs include disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which severely impair a person’s ability to carry out even normal day to day functioning. People with SMI experience a range of inequalities compared to the general population; they are much less likely to be employed or live in stable accommodation, for example. However, what is most shocking is that the life expectancy of people with SMI is on average 10-20 years shorter than the general population, often because poor mental health also leads to poor physical health, and this mortality gap continues to widen.

With more than 500,000 people living with an SMI in England alone it is essential that we support and enable research that tackles the key challenges facing the field."


"To address these challenges, the Medical Research Council (MRC), on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is establishing a £22.5 million mental health platform. The platform will bring together researchers from across a wide range of medical and non-medical disciplines and institutions. It aims to connect them together to focus and synergise their efforts on generating an in-depth understanding of those who experience SMI to help discover new approaches for diagnosis, treatment and support.

This initiative is supported by funding from the Securing Better Health, Ageing and Wellbeing theme, one of five UKRI-wide initiatives aiming to harness the full power of the UK’s research and innovation system to tackle large-scale, complex challenges."

https://www.ukri.org/blog/accelerating-research-in-severe-mental-illness/

 

They can't ring-fence funding, it wouldn't be fair. Except when they feel like it, then it's fair.

At least this looks to be real research, not standard biopsychosocial junk. Maybe they'll accidentally do something useful here, for once.