Successful first term for new public lecture series

The Wolfson Centre for Young People’s Mental Health’s new public lecture series has been well received in its first term.

The interdisciplinary research centre, focused on understanding and improving the mental health of young people, has held the first four virtual lectures in the monthly series, featuring a range of experts working in the UK and around the world.

Topics covered so far in the series have included support resources for parents and families in emergencies, the impact of stressors, reinforcement learning and depression, implementing mental health interventions for young people in low-resource contexts and the mental health of children adopted from care.

The series is organised by Dr Lucy Riglin and Dr Yulia Shenderovich, who co-lead the Wolfson Centre’s research methods and open science practices workstream.

Dr Lucy Riglin said: “We have been really pleased with the initial response to the Wolfson Centre Lectures. Over the past four months, we have been joined online by a fantastic array of speakers from a range of disciplines, including experts from the Universities of Oxford and Sussex, University College London and here at Cardiff University.

“A special thanks to Professor Lucie Cluver, Professor Glyn Lewis, Dr Daniel Michelson and Professor Katherine Shelton for their talks and starting off the series so well.”

Dr Yulia Shenderovich added: “Holding the lectures online has enabled the series to already reach an international audience with over 400 people registering for the series so far. Each talk has been followed by an interesting question and answer session and we are really grateful to everyone who has attended to support the series so far.

“All the talks have also been recorded so I’d encourage anyone who is interested to catch up on the Wolfson Centre’s YouTube channel now.”

Dr Riglin concluded: “It’s been a great first term for the Wolfson Centre Lectures and we are excited to see the series develop over the coming year.

“The next talk will now be held on Wednesday 12 October at 14.00 (GMT) and we will be sharing the details soon.”

The first four Wolfson Centre Lectures are available to view online:

• Parenting in Emergencies: evidence and innovation to support children and their caregivers (Professor Lucie Cluver, University of Oxford)
• Vulnerability to stressors, reinforcement learning and depression
  (Professor Glyn Lewis, University College London)
• Developing and implementing adolescent mental health interventions in low-resource contexts (Dr Daniel Michelson, University of Sussex)
• The mental health and neuropsychological profile of children adopted from care (Professor Katherine Shelton, Cardiff University)