Professor Argyris Stringaris
Argyris is a clinician scientist and the Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UCL since January 2022 and his main goal is to understand and improve young people's mental health. He trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley and Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London and was Senior Investigator and Section Chief at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA before coming to UCL.
He co-directs the AIM lab with Prof Georgina Krebs and is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the AIM clinic at NLFT. He is one of UCL’s Pro-Vice-Provosts co-leading with Prof Essi Viding the Grand Challenges for Mental Health and Wellbeing.
He has two main research aims that he pursues using open science practices including data and code sharing. In terms of basic research, his aim is to understand how affective phenomena (variably termed moods, emotions, feelings or affects) are generated and maintained.
In terms of clinical research, he studies interventions that reduce the negative impact that affective phenomena have on young people and families.
His team is funded by the Wellcome Trust to discover what treatments work for young people with anxiety and depression and the mechanisms underlying them.
Dr Christina Carlisi
Christina Carlisi is a Prudence Trust Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the UCL Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, where she directs the Cognitive and Affective Neurodevelopment Lab (CANDL). Dr Carlisi’s research uses epidemiology, behavioural and computational methods and neuroimaging to understand how young people process emotional information, and how this impacts mental health and treatment outcomes across development.
She is particularly interested in how individual differences in diverse factors such as environment and neurocognitive mechanisms give rise to (or protect us from) the development of anxiety and depression, and what these factors might be able to tell us about treatment response. She is also involved in UCL’s Clinical Psychology Doctorate, including co-leading the Clinical Academic Training Pathway.
Professor Essi Viding
Essi Viding is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology and Pro Vice Provost for UCL’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Grand Challenge. Her research integrates behavioural genetics, neuroimaging, and developmental psychology to better understand how biological predispositions interact with environmental factors to influence mental health and behaviour. A key aim of her work is to move towards early, evidence-based interventions that can help at-risk children and young people.
Prof Viding’s work has contributed to public understanding of child psychology, and her research has informed both academic theory and practical policy on youth mental health and criminal justice. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Professor Georgina Krebs
Georgina Krebs is a Professor of Young People’s Mental Health at University College London, where she co-leads the Anxiety, Self-Image, and Mood (AIM) Lab with Professor Argyris Stringaris. Her work focuses primarily on understanding the phenomenology, mechanisms and treatment of emotional disorders in young people. To address these aims, she uses diverse methodologies including epidemiology, behavioural genetics, experimental approaches, and treatment trials.
Her research has been funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, National Institute for Health and Care Research, and the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust. In addition to her academic work, Georgina is an Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist and leads the AIM Clinic, a specialist NHS service supporting students with body dysmorphic disorder and related conditions. She is also a Clinical Advisor for the BDD Foundation, a national charity, and Topic Advisor for the OCD/BDD NICE guidelines
Dr Helena Rutherford
Helena Rutherford is an Associate Professor at the Yale Child Study Center, with appointments in Yale’s Department of Psychology, the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, and the Combined Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences. She is Deputy Programme Director at Yale for the UCL-Yale MRes in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology, and co-directs the UCL-Yale PhD in Developmental Neuroscience and Mental Health. As Director of the Before and After Baby Lab, Dr Rutherford’s research focuses on the neurobiology and psychology of parenting and mental health, with a particular emphasis on the perinatal period.
Professor Linda Mayes
Prof Mayes is the Chair of the Yale Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine and Chief of Child Psychiatry in the Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. She is the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Paediatrics, and Psychology at the Child Study Center, and Deputy Dean of Professionalism and Leadership at the Yale School of Medicine. Prof Mayes is also Director of Anna Freud - Yale Child Study Center Bridge Program. She oversees a collaborative master’s programme in developmental psychopathology and neuroscience, offered collaboratively between Yale and University College London (UCL). She is also a child and adult psychoanalyst, and a member of the faculty of the Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis.
Professor Niko Steinbeis
Prof Steinbeis is Professor of Developmental Neuroscience at UCL. His primary research interest are the development and plasticity of socio-cognitive and affective skills during childhood, with view to identifying targets for intervention and prevention of mental health problems. The current focus of his research group centres around understanding the importance of control, both its execution as well as related self-beliefs. He uses an array of different methods including computational modelling and functional and structural imaging to identify sensitive periods in psychological functions key for well-being and mental health.
Prof Steinbeis is also Co-Director of Postgraduate Studies at Anna Freud, where he also delivers two academic programmes, an MRes and a PhD on Developmental Neuroscience and Mental Health, both run jointly with UCL and Yale University.
Professor Pasco Fearon
Prof Fearon is a developmental and clinical psychologist, and Director of the Centre for Child, Adolescent & Family Research at the University of Cambridge. He is internationally recognised for his work on child development, children’s mental health, and the critical role of caregiving in shaping emotional, cognitive, and psychological outcomes. His research spans large-scale longitudinal studies - including the Children of the 2020s Study - and multiple intervention trials aimed at supporting families facing adversity.
Prof Fearon also contributes to national policy efforts in the UK and internationally, and actively collaborates with partners in countries such as Canada, the Netherlands, Ghana, and South Africa. At the heart of his work is a deep commitment to promoting positive developmental outcomes through early intervention, sensitive caregiving, and mental health support.
