REACH grabs Consolidator Grant

Professor Craig Morgan of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) has been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to investigate the development of mental health problems during adolescence in a range of ethnic groups.

Consolidator Grants are awarded to young researchers to help them further develop their independent research career and to consolidate their research teams. Grants are open to researchers of any nationality showing exceptional promise, and with between seven and 12 years of experience since completing their PhD. 

Craig Morgan, Professor of Social Epidemiology in the Department of Health Service & Population Research, completed his PhD in 2003 at the IoPPN and his successful proposal was to conduct a cohort study of around 2,500 adolescents from all ethnic groups aged 11 to 14 from schools in south London investigating the development of mental health problems. In particular, the research will focus on how resilience and protective factors, such as social support and coping strategies, can mitigate or buffer against the adverse effects on mental health of social risk factors, like social disadvantage and stress. The title of the proposal is ‘Risk, Resilience, Ethnicity, and AdolesCent Mental Health’ (REACH).

“During REACH, we hope to collect information from those who take part about a range of social risk and protective factors and then examine the effects of these on mental health outcomes one and two years later,” said Professor Morgan.

He continued: “Adolescence is an important developmental stage and, for many, mental health problems that persist into adulthood often first emerge at this time.  It is hoped that investigating the nature and development of mental health problems in adolescence will provide useful evidence on how to prevent the onset and persistence of such problems at this critical stage.”

For further information contact Tom Bragg, Press Officer at IoPPN, King’s College London, on +44(0)2078485377 or email tom.bragg@kcl.ac.uk