Meeting of minds: imagining the future of child and youth mental health research from an early career perspective

Ruth Knight; Ola Demkowicz; Eva Sprecher; Aislinn Gomez Bergin; Hazel Marzetti; Kimberly Petersen; Buket Kara; Vilas Sawrikar; Hannah White; Jackie Parsonage-Harrison; Jeanne Wolstencroft; Tessa Reardon; Anna March; Leanne McIver; Hannah Jones; Tim Clarke; Josefien Breedvelt; Eleanor Chatburn

doi:10.1192/bjb.2025.26

Meeting of minds: imagining the future of child and youth mental health research from an early career perspective

BJPsych Bull. 2025 Jun 27:1-7. doi: 10.1192/bjb.2025.26. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ruth Knight¹, Ola Demkowicz², Eva Sprecher^{3

4}, Aislinn Gomez Bergin⁵, Hazel Marzetti⁶, Kimberly Petersen⁷, Buket Kara⁸, Vilas Sawrikar⁹, Hannah White¹⁰, Jackie Parsonage-Harrison¹¹, Jeanne Wolstencroft¹², Tessa Reardon^{13

14}, Anna March¹⁵, Leanne McIver¹⁶, Hannah Jones¹⁷, Tim Clarke¹⁸, Josefien Breedvelt¹⁹, Eleanor Chatburn^{20

21

22}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, York St John University, York, UK.
² Psychology of Education, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
³ Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
⁴ Anna Freud, London, UK.
⁵ School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
⁶ School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
⁷ Psychology of Childhood and Education in the School of Education, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
⁸ Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
⁹ Population Child Health Research Group, School of Clinical Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
¹⁰ School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK.
¹¹ Department of Sport, Health Care and Social Work, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK.
¹² BRC Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK.
¹³ Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Public Health and Sports Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
¹⁶ Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.
¹⁷ NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
¹⁸ NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, Norwich, UK.
¹⁹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
²⁰ Child Mind Institute, New York, NY, USA.
²¹ Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
²² Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

PMID: 40574464
DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.26

Abstract

Child and youth mental health is an international public health and research priority. We are an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral network of UK-based early career researchers (ECRs) with an interest in child and youth mental health research. In this paper, we reflect on ongoing challenges and areas for growth, offering recommendations for key stakeholders in our field, including researchers, institutions and funders. We present a vision from an ECR perspective of what future child and youth mental health research could look like and we explore how the research infrastructure can support ECRs and the wider research field in making this vision a reality. We focus specifically on: (a) embracing complexity; (b) centring diverse voices; and (c) facilitating sustainable research environments and funding systems. We present recommendations for all key partners to consider alongside their local contexts and communities to actively and collaboratively drive progress and transformative change.

Keywords: Child and adolescent psychiatry; child and adolescent mental health; child and youth mental health; early career researcher; research infrastructure.