Staff from ARC NWC will be instrumental in several new research groups, created as part of a fresh approach to researching mental health.
ARC NWC member Lancaster University has been awarded almost £11 million pounds for pioneering mental health research following a major investment by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Lancaster has been chosen as one of five newly created Mental Health Research Groups (MHRG) across England as part of a wider £55 million NIHR initiative designed to ensure that world-class research is conducted in the heart of the communities that stand to benefit most.
Evidence shows that Lancashire has specific mental health support needs, and this new funding aims to tackle those needs. More than 13,000 people in Lancashire and South Cumbria have been diagnosed with a severe mental illness, while Blackpool has the highest rate of deaths linked to addiction and suicide in England.
The new group will move mental health research out of traditional clinical settings and directly into Lancashire and South Cumbria, focusing on locally identified priorities and working alongside residents to develop a more proactive, preventative model of care.
Professor of Allied Health Rehabilitation, Louise Connell, is the implementation lead for the Lancaster project and for ARC NWC. She said:
“This investment gives us the chance to do what really matters: working with people and services to turn good evidence into real change. The MHRG and ARC NWC share a strong commitment to implementation and knowledge mobilisation, and this dedicated support for mental health research means we can build on that together. By combining our strengths, we can develop approaches that are grounded in local experience and make a genuine difference for communities across Lancashire and South Cumbria.”
By embedding researchers within local community groups and primary care services, the initiative aims to reach people who have historically been under-represented in health studies, ensuring that future treatments and services are designed by—and for—the people of Lancashire and South Cumbria.
Other universities that will host the new MHRGs include Plymouth, Keele, Lincoln and Huddersfield.
ARC NWC Director Professor Mark Gabbay and Professor of Connected Health at the University of Liverpool, Dan Joyce, will play a central role in Huddersfield’s research work.
The pair, who are based in the University’s Institute of Population Health, will contribute expertise in health inequalities, the use of large-scale datasets and AI, and the coproduction of research with the public, patients and carers.
Their involvement comes as the University of Huddersfield prepares to open the Centre for Equity in Mental Health (CEMH) in April 2026.
Profs Gabbay and Joyce will work alongside the CEMH’s collaborators, including MRIC (the Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre) and the Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre, helping build future trials capacity and develop research that addresses entrenched health inequalities.
Professor Gabbay said: “This is fantastic news for regional research into mental health inequalities. ARC NWC is playing a vital role in supporting mental health research infrastructures through collaboration with our members and we are excited to be in the vanguard helping deliver this huge investment by the NIHR into mental health research.”
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR, emphasised the importance of community based research: “Mental health challenges can be isolating, especially for people in our most underserved regions. By moving our research focus into the places where people live and work, we are supporting a shift toward more preventative, community based mental health care.”
