The Platforms for Longitudinal Mental Health Data (PALM) team, led by Professor Louise Arseneault, focuses on increasing the discoverability and accessibility of longitudinal mental health data.

Awareness of mental health and wellbeing has steadily increased in recent years. Estimates of the extent and the adverse impacts of mental health problems underline the urgent need for more research to understand the causes and the consequences of mental ill health and to identify the most effective interventions. Existing longitudinal and cohort studies provide unique opportunities to answer critical questions related to population mental health and wellbeing. They are vital in such research as they can first reveal the determinants that influence their development and ultimately inform interventions and policies that help alleviate them.

The PALM team works to maximise this data’s uptake and facilitate mental health research by developing platforms that provide easy access to information about longitudinal mental health data. The team’s projects include the Catalogue of Mental Health Measures and the Landscaping International Longitudinal Datasets project.

Pictured: the PALM team. Top row right to left: Hannah Lewis, Malaika Okundi, Maria Jose Rodriguez Pinzon, Professor Louise Arseneault and Bridget Bryan. Bottom row right to left: Elena Triantafillopoulou, Esther Downton, Pauline Thibaut and Eliza Hamdorf.