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The Yale Bridge programme
The Yale Child Study Center – UCL/Anna Freud Centre Bridge Programme is based on the active exchange of scientific and clinical knowledge, learning and experience across the Yale Child Study Center and the AFC. This involves joint programmes and personal collaborations between scientist practitioners at the two institutions linked by shared history. There are a number of activities involved in this Bridge Programme.
1. Joint Research Laboratories
A key element of our scientific Bridge activities is the establishment of two parallel neuroscience labs on each side of the Atlantic for conducting coordinated world-class clinical-developmental neuroscience research with infants, children, and adolescents. The Developmental Electrophysiology Labs at Yale and the Anna Freud Centre use the latest high-end technologies to measure brain activity, known as high density array electroencephalography and functional imaging. These labs are also closely linked to other functional imaging resources and neuroscientists at both Yale and UCL. Thematic areas of shared research include studies of:
- The effects of trauma and early abuse on the brain and specifically on children’s response to stress
- The neural profile of emotional avoidance among adolescents and young adults engaged in impulsive risk taking such as early drug use
- The neural circuitry related to parental response to infant cues such as cries and the impact of parental psychopathology on those basic circuits
Investigators in this joint research program are using multi-modal imaging methods as additional methods for studying the impact of mental health (primarily psychosocial) treatments for children with serious psychological disorders. The joint research team is also advancing new statistical methods for approaching repeated assessments of brain function across time.
2. Postgraduate Studies - MSc in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology:
Yale and UCL/AFC offer a two year UCL masters degree programme, with the first year based in London at UCL/AFC and the second year based at Yale. The program attracts talented students internationally who work on independent research studies with clinical neuroscientists and developmentalists at Yale across a range of departments. Competitive in its selection, the program is also serving as a successful springboard for students’ entry into competitive Ph.D. and research programs.
3. Joint Postdoctoral Appointments:
At both the UCL/AFC and Yale sites, two postdoctoral fellow positions provide opportunities for young scholars to begin a clinical research career in developmental and social neuroscience. Each fellow works in the respective units at Yale and the AFC but with periodic visits to the other site and regular (weekly) shared lab meetings.
4. Fellow exchange training programmes:
In addition to the two year masters training programs, we offer shorter exchange visits for researchers and clinicians as well as trainees working in various Bridge activities These visits are key, for researchers working on joint projects in the shared laboratories and facilitate discussions of shared findings and development of research grants. For clinicians, the visits offer opportunities to develop joint clinical interventions and also adapt those interventions to the US or UK health care systems.
5. Joint Clinical Projects and Extending Evidence Based Practice:
The Bridge facilitates joint clinical projects and studies to develop and test innovative intervention approaches for children and families at risk for early developmental and mental health difficulties. Interventions originate from a shared theoretical model, is developed and tested on one or other sites and then ‘exported’ across sites, in part, to evaluate transportability under controlled conditions. Examples include a prevention program for infants in families with extremely high psychosocial risk, treatments for children and families with anxiety disorders and new parenting approaches in families with personality disordered with a special attention to the impact on their children. As with the joint research projects, clinicians at both Yale and the AFC work closely together to develop parallel clinical interventions and outcome assessments with a special focus on increasing the evidence base for child mental health treatments.
6. Joint Conferences and Trainings:
Each year the Anna Freud Centre and Yale sponsor a research training program that brings international faculty of eight to ten together with about 20 young scholars interested in psychoanalytically oriented research. Additionally, we have one to two annual “bridge” conferences in New Haven and one meeting in London that highlights the work of the Centre and the AFC / Yale Bridge attended by several hundred individuals, chiefly clinicians and clinical researchers. These conferences attract a broad range of scholars and usually result in publications either as co-authored manuscripts or jointly edited books.
