About us

Our innovation institute addresses one of the major societal challenges facing the world today – the increasing burden of mental ill health and neurodegenerative disorders.

The institute consists of a diverse group of scientists and clinicians dedicated to translating our world-leading research into new and better therapies for brain and mental health disorders. Our scientists and clinicians work with patient groups and their families, charities, the NHS, local and UK government funding agencies, academic research groups from around the world and industry.

Our work covers the lifespan from childhood to older age and includes neurodevelopmental conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, the major adult psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, epilepsy, dystonia, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

The burden of mental ill health and brain disorders is increasing, affecting one in four people in the UK population, with significant personal impact and at a cost of over £100 billion per year to the economy.

Unfortunately, these conditions have not yet seen the major advances in diagnosis and treatment as other areas of medicine have over recent decades.

But the picture is changing, and we are now at a critical moment of opportunity as new insights from genomics, data science, psychology and neuroscience have the potential to transform our understanding of disease processes, refine diagnoses, develop new and more effective therapies, and optimise the delivery of treatments.

How we work

We collaborate with experts in neuroscience and mental health from across the university.

Our mission at the Neuroscience and Mental Health Innovation Institute is to harness our world-leading research in brain and mental health to enhance the lives of patients and their families.

We are very pleased to have this opportunity to showcase our work, what drives us, what our values are, the ways in which we engage widely with patient groups and external partners to focus and enhance the impact of our research, and how innovation is at the heart of what we do.