New mental health research centre to launch after £11m NIHR award

The University of Huddersfield is set to open a new research centre, with the goal of improving mental health research capacity and capability in the local area to support mental health care provision, following an award of £11million from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The Centre for Equity in Mental Health (CEMH) will open in April 2026, with the award -  the biggest to date for the University’s School of Human and Health Sciences – coming from the prestigious and highly competitive NIHR Mental Health Research Groups (MHRG) programme.   

The award, which is for five years of research, is designed to help the University to become a world leader in mental health research and to transform the mental health research landscape locally.  

Professors Michael Doyle and Ann Caress worked with South West Yorkshire Partnership Teaching NHS Foundation Trust and locally-based partner Debs Teale of The Debs Effect to assess the provision of mental health services in Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield over a 12-month period in 2024 and 2025. 

Local research highlights issues in mental health provision

They identified issues including long waiting lists for initial appointments, inaccessible services, inappropriate referrals to NHS mental health services and patients not being signposted to charities or voluntary organisations that could help. Their research builds upon earlier work at the University exploring the challenges for people with mental health problems across the life course.  

The CEMH will partner with University of Liverpool professors, Mark Gabbay and Dan Joyce. Part of the university’s Institute of Population Health, Profs Gabbay and Joyce will contribute expertise in health inequalities, using large-scale datasets and AI, co-producing and delivering research with the public, patients and carers. The centre will also collaborate with M-RIC, the Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre, and develop a relationship with the Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre for future trials work.

South West Yorkshire Partnership Teaching NHS Foundation Trust will be the centre’s lead NHS partner. The Trust is strongly committed to growing its research portfolio, increasing participation in research studies and promoting research-informed practice.

Professor Caress, Professor of Health Services Research, said,

"Mental health matters. Having good mental health means feeling mentally and emotionally strong, being able to cope with life’s challenges, and feeling connected to others, your community, and the world around you. 

“We know from recent stakeholder engagement work that we undertook across Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield that improving mental health is a priority in our localities but there are many challenges to maintaining good mental health and accessing support when needed. The funding from NIHR is both important and greatly valued, as it will be transformative for mental health research and service delivery across Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield.”

Professor Doyle, Professor of Mental Health Research, added, “The University of Huddersfield is honoured to have received such a significant award from NIHR. 

“We are excited to be working with the NIHR Mental Health Research Groups team, our collaborators in the NIHR Centre for Equity in Mental Health and our many partners across Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield over the next five years. This collaboration will help develop innovative, applied mental health research that is rooted in the lived experiences of local communities and to increase mental health research capacity and capability in our localities."

Professor Bob Cryan CBE, University of Huddersfield Vice-Chancellor, said, “We are committed to helping to make a difference to the wellbeing of people in the local area, and the new centre’s work will have a real impact on improving mental health outcomes in Kirklees, Calderdale and Wakefield. I am delighted that the hard work from Professors Doyle and Caress over the last couple of years has resulted in this award of £11m from NIHR.”

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR, said: “Mental health challenges can be isolating, especially for people in some of our most under-served regions. Community allows us to tackle isolation.

"By moving our research focus out of traditional clinical settings and directly into the areas where people live and work, we are driving a fundamental shift toward a more preventative model of care in the community. We are committed to ensuring that the latest innovations and support reach those who need it most, long before they reach a crisis point.”

The other universities to host MHRGs will be :

• University of Plymouth
• Keele University
  
• University of Lincoln
  
• Lancaster University