MQ: Transforming Mental Health

Updated on Jan 21, 2024

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Formation 2013 Purpose Mental Health Research Website www.mqmentalhealth.org		Type Medical Research Location London, England

MQ: Transforming Mental Health is an international mental health research charity. The charity was created in 2013, with initial funding from the Wellcome Trust, to raise funds from the general public for research.

The charities aims are to fund multi-disciplinary research into mental health. It funds research across the spectrum of biological, psychological and social sciences.

Whilst the charity is based in the UK, it has an international focus and funds research globally.

Research

MQ's research programme focuses on three specific themes:

Research that will improve the quality of currently available treatments, both psychological and medical;

Research that will improve understanding of the mechanisms of disease and lead to better strategies for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illness;

Supporting early career researchers

MQ has two major funding streams at present. These are the PSY-IMPACT awards, and the Fellows award.

PSY-IMPACT

The organisation has so far awarded £1.5 million in funding to four new research projects, with the aim of improving the effectiveness and accessibility of psychological therapies. Funding has been allocated to the following:

A study at King's College London focused on developing psychological treatments for ‘worry and rumination’, a dominant symptom of depression and anxiety disorder. This study has been awarded up to £415,000.

A study at Birkbeck University focused on developing preventative interventions for 10-month infants at risk of attention deficit hyper activity disorder (ADHD), which has been awarded up to £500,000.

A study at the University of Oxford exploring the effectiveness of e-therapies in self-help psychological treatments, which has been awarded up to £415,000.

A study at the University of Pennsylvania which aims to develop a practical tool that will help researchers, patients and clinicians work together to select the best treatment for those with mental conditions and illnesses. The project has been awarded £99,900.

Fellows

The MQ fellows award provides successful applicants with up to £225,000 over 3 years to support research exploring new ways to understand, treat or prevent mental illness. 11 fellows have so far been selected for 2015, 2014 and 2013.