News 02/10/2025
Launch of the Brain and Genomics Hub
On Tuesday, we were proud to attend the official launch of the Brain and Genomics Hub, where Adferiad and Bipolar UK are a charity partners in the groundbreaking research project.
The Brain and Genomics Hub research will focus on those with psychosis, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. People with these conditions often have overlapping symptoms and psychiatrists often use treatments that are very similar for these conditions. Biological research, particularly genetic, but also other research, suggests that the causes of these conditions are also overlapping.
The Hub brings together researchers and specialists from across lots of different specialisms. For example, clinicians, neuroimagers, early career researchers, lived experience advisors and charity partners, the lab team, statisticians, and data scientists, and bringing all these together enables new data interpretation which will drive change forward.
This represents a pioneering step forward in serious mental health and research—bringing real hope to people in Wales, across the UK, and internationally who are living with serious mental illness.
It is one of six new research hubs forming part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) programme—the largest ever UK Government investment in serious mental health research.
Once collected and made available for other researchers, this information will represent a landmark data resource, unrivalled across the world.
Adferiad’s Data Officer and Research & Evaluation Lead, James Heard, said:
“I think this is a really important opportunity and it’s great that Adferiad are involved in this research and with the Hub. We really hope that this research will lead to better diagnosis and better treatment options for people.”
While past studies have used MRI and EEG to look at brain structure and functioning, the neuroimaging at the Hub will go beyond this approach into much deeper detail, which allows for analysis of the fine details of electrical functioning in different parts of the brain.
The involvement of people with lived experience in research is often quite narrow, involving only a few people advising on certain elements of the work. However, the Hub is seeking to broaden its approach to co-production and make the process much more inclusive. Their aim is to create a community so that people who become involved in the study don’t simply become passive participants, but members of the Hub who not only take part but are fully involved and advise on the research throughout its stages.
One of the most exciting parts of this work is the e-cohort, which will identify everyone in Wales that has a diagnosis of severe mental illness. Researchers will then be able to access all the information to help improve our understanding of different conditions. The process will allow researchers to follow people through childhood and adolescence, when they are in contact with health services and education, and they will be able to study whether there are signs in their data that indicates who is going to develop (or when they may to get a diagnosis) of severe mental illness.
Key themes from the launch included:
- Co-production at the heart of research – ensuring that people with lived experience are central to shaping priorities and outcomes.
- Thinking big and being ambitious – aiming not just to understand mental illness but to transform the way it is treated.
- Translation into care – ensuring research findings are directly applied to improve clinical practice and support.
- Partnership working – it was especially encouraging to see the collaboration with Adferiad and Bipolar UK highlighted at the launch.
Alun Thomas, Adferiad CEO, said, “This Hub is about more than research. It is about changing the world for people with lived experience of serious mental illness, and I am delighted that we are able to ensure those at the heart of this work, people with lived experience, are involved”.
Learn more about this work here, featuring our Research & Evaluation Lead James Heard.