Mental Health Award: Leveraging longitudinal data to transform early intervention in mental health

Mental Health Award: Leveraging longitudinal data to transform early intervention in mental health is sponsored by Wellcome. Funds projects utilizing longitudinal data to innovate early identification methods for anxiety, depression, and psychosis.

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This scheme is now closed Lead applicant career stage : Early-career researcher , Mid-career researcher , Established researcher Administering organisation location : Anywhere in the world (apart from mainland China) Funding amount : £1-5 million per project Funding duration : 3-5 years Calculating next key date… View full application timeline You can apply to this call if you are a team of researchers: from any relevant discipline.

We consider a broad range of disciplines to be relevant to mental health science, as long as the research fits within our principles of mental health funding from eligible organisations based anywhere in the world ( apart from mainland China ) We encourage applications from: diverse and interdisciplinary teams, with collaborations covering multiple areas of expertise relevant to the proposed project researchers at any stage of their career, including those who are new to the field of mental health and data science The award will be held by a lead applicant from an eligible administering organisation, on behalf of a team of coapplicants.

Include, as applicants (lead or co-applicants), at least one mental health scientist and one data scientist with expertise relevant to the proposed work. Demonstrate the necessary expertise, technical skills and organisational support to deliver the proposed research. We are particularly seeking teams with multidisciplinary expertise.

Include coapplicants or collaborators based in each country the research will focus on. If you are using multinational longitudinal datasets, you don’t need representation from each country in the dataset, but your application must clearly demonstrate how the expertise of the team is well-aligned with the geographical context and populations central to the research.

Demonstrate how they will approach ethical and equitable partnerships between team members. This should include your approach to partnerships between low- or middle-income country and high-income country researchers if your team includes both. Be of an appropriate size for the proposed research.

Teams must consist of at least two applicants (the lead applicant and one coapplicant) and must not typically exceed eight applicants (the lead applicant and seven coapplicants). There is no limit to the number of collaborators. Actively foster a diverse, inclusive and supportive research environment within the team and across represented organisations.

Include lived experience expertise of anxiety, depression and psychosis as part of the project team. This can be as lead applicants, coapplicants and/or collaborators as appropriate. The overall team should include the skills needed to effectively involve and collaborate with lived experience experts.

We do not require applications to include a UK or other high-income country applicant and do not prioritise such applications over those that only include low- or middle-income country applicants. Have the experience needed to drive and lead a collaborative, large scale research project and the necessary support structures in place to enable this. Have experience in people and research management, as appropriate for their career stage.

Have experience of, or demonstrate commitment to, effectively leading a team that embeds lived experience expertise, as relevant to the research proposal. Actively promote a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment within the team and across their organisation. Be affiliated, if the project is conducted exclusively in a low- or middle-income country, with an eligible organisation based in that country.

This may include permanent, visiting or honorary contracts with the partnering institution. Have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract, or the guarantee of one, for the duration of the award. The contract should not be conditional on receiving this award.

Lead applicants with less than three years remaining on their contract at the point of application must have secured their next position at an eligible organisation and provide a letter of support from them. Be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project. Coapplicants can be based at the same or different organisations as other applicants, including in different countries (except mainland China).

They can be at any career stage and come from any relevant discipline. Be essential for the delivery of the project and make a significant contribution. For example, in designing the proposed research and leading a specific component of the project.

Have a guarantee of space from their administering organisation for the duration of their commitment to the project, but they do not need to have a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract. Be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project. Collaborators are distinct from coapplicants.

Collaborators support the delivery of the project but don't lead on a specific component of the research.

For example, collaborators could support by: providing access to tools or resources such as datasets or clinical records providing access to organisations led by or working in collaboration with lived experience experts providing expertise on working in different countries sharing subject-specific knowledge and guidance, for example expertise on statistical analysis or measurement of specific variables Collaborators are not paid for their input but you can request costs for their expenses.

Collaborators do not have to meet eligibility requirements. They are not required to give a minimum research time commitment. Read about the different applicant roles at Wellcome .

If you’ve spent time away from research Career breaks, parental leave, sick leave You can apply for this award if you have spent time away from research (for example, for a career break, parental leave or long-term sick leave). We will take this into consideration during the review of your application. If you have retired, you must contact us before applying.

You must have a guarantee of space from your administering organisation for the duration of the award. Lead and coapplicants can be part-time. Part-time applicants should still be able to contribute at least 20% of their research time to the project.

Their part-time work should be compatible with delivering the project successfully. You should not apply for this call if: You intend to carry out activities which involve the transfer of funds into mainland China. You cannot demonstrate that you can dedicate enough time and resources to the project, if funded.

You already have applied for, or hold, the maximum number of Wellcome awards for your career stage. Find out how many Wellcome awards you can apply for, or hold, at one time depending on your career stage . You are already an applicant on two applications for this funding call.

You can be, at a maximum: a lead applicant on one application and a coapplicant on another one a coapplicant on two applications You must demonstrate that you have sufficient capacity for both projects if funded. The applications should be for different projects with no overlap of activities. There is no limit on the number of applications on which an individual collaborator can be named, provided they have sufficient capacity.

Check what kinds of research project aren’t right for this scheme . Is your organisation right for this call? The administering organisation is where the lead applicant is based.

It is responsible for submitting your final application to Wellcome and managing the finances of the grant if it is awarded. The administering organisation can be a: higher education institution non-academic healthcare organisation not-for-profit or non-governmental research organisation Commercial organisations are not eligible to apply as administering organisations for this call.

However, coapplicants and collaborators can be based at commercial organisations. One organisation can submit multiple different applications. What's expected of lead applicant and coapplicant organisations We expect organisations based in the UK to meet the responsibilities required by the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers for institutions, managers and researchers.

Any organisation with Wellcome funding that is based outside the UK is expected, at a minimum, to follow the principles of the Concordat.

We also expect organisations to: Guarantee that the space and resources applicants need have been agreed and will be made available to them from the start date through to the end date of the award Explain how the application fits with the strategic aims of the organisation Give the lead applicant, and any staff employed on the grant, 10 days a year (pro rata if part-time) to undertake training and continuous professional development (CPD) in line with the Concordat.

This should include the responsible conduct of research, research leadership, people management, diversity and inclusion, and promotion of a health research culture. Provide a system of onboarding, embedding and planning for staff when they join the organisation and/or start the award.

If the application involves a collaboration or partnership between multiple organisations, the partners must enter into a suitable collaboration agreement, including provisions that cover: access to background intellectual property ownership of foreground intellectual property arrangements for the protection, management and exploitation of foreground intellectual property The administering organisation is required under our grant conditions to own all the foreground intellectual property arising from the project and to take the lead in any commercialisation activity.

For guidance, read Wellcome's intellectual property policy . Your research environment Wellcome believes that a diversity of people and expertise leads to richer understanding and more impactful discoveries. Excellent research happens in environments where people from all backgrounds are treated with respect, are supported and enabled to thrive.

Our definition of a research environment is not limited to the quality of the infrastructure but also considers the culture and behaviours that create excellent research practice. This includes research that is inclusive in design and practice, ethical and engaged with relevant community stakeholders, as well as open and transparent. Read guidance on how to talk about research environment in your application.

Is your research right for this call?

What your research proposal must include Your research proposal must: focus on predicting the onset, early progression and/or treatment response of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis at the individual or subgroup level leverage existing longitudinal data validate the prediction model in a fully independent sample integrate an experimental component use robust and appropriate data analytics be carried out by a multidisciplinary team that includes mental health researchers and data scientists incorporate lived experience in the most appropriate and ethical ways include strong consideration of translational potentia l Focus on early identification Projects can focus on onset and/or progression after onset, including relapse and treatment response, as long as the focus remains on enabling earlier identification than currently possible.

Projects can focus on one or multiple factors that predict the onset, early progression and/or treatment response of anxiety, depression and psychosis. Both data-driven and hypothesis-driven prediction models are in scope and there is no preference for one over the other. The proposal should focus on building and validating models enabling prediction and targeting at the individual or subgroup level (rather than population-level risk).

The proposed model can include predictors that span individual, family and society levels, as long as the primary focus is still on individual or subgroup level prediction. In your proposal, you must show that you have considered the ethical risks surrounding prediction and early identification . Leveraging existing longitudinal data Proposals must include the analysis of existing longitudinal data.

We define longitudinal data as any data collected on the same individuals over time with a minimum of at least three time points. There are no eligibility restrictions on sample size. We recognise that a larger sample does not always translate to a stronger early identification model, and that small datasets might have the potential to offer valuable insights.

Longitudinal datasets can be held by academic, non-for-profit, public or private/commercial institutions.

They can include, but are not limited to: electronic health records and registries community, village or household panels data from experimental research collected over time intervention trials with at least three time-points Projects can include enrichment of existing longitudinal datasets, including: harmonisation between datasets collection of additional data and metadata (e.g. new measures, more frequent or detailed assessments, include qualitative/unstructured data) increasing the sample size or diversity of the dataset making data more findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable You should share your research proposal with the data holders of all the longitudinal dataset(s) you are planning to use.

We expect you to have received confirmation that the dataset(s) is suited for your research. See the ‘Information you need to provide’ section for what we require. We encourage applicants to include data holders of the longitudinal dataset(s) as part of the research team, if appropriate.

For projects analysing longitudinal data drawn from populations that are historically underrepresented in research, the study must consider biases in the data collected and proactively address them and seek to mitigate the risks of harm to these underrepresented groups from the research findings . Validation in independent dataset(s) Applicants must validate their models in fully independent samples.

Prediction models can often show high accuracy within the sample they were built in but fail to generalise in independent samples. To be successful, your application should show that you will validate your prediction model with independent datasets.

This should include: which dataset(s) you will use for validation why this dataset is suitable how you plan to harmonise the datasets The independent datasets should be fully separate from those used in the development of the prediction model. Subsets of the original dataset or test/validation splits are valuable for model development, but are not sufficient for independent, external validation.

You can enrich the existing independent datasets for validation purposes as outlined above, including new data collection . Integration of an experimental component Proposals must include an experimental component that complements the results of the analysis of the longitudinal data.

This could include, but is not limited to: advancing mechanistic understanding of one or multiple early identification factors advancing intervention potential by acting on early identification factors using the early identification model to implement earlier or better targeted interventions in a pilot or feasibility study Our definition of an experimental component is broad, and includes any manipulation including, but not limited to: molecular and cellular studies human studies, including clinical trials The experimental component could involve primary data collection or already collected data from an experimental study.

In any case, the proposal needs to clearly lay out how the experimental approach complements the analysis of the existing longitudinal data and how it expands our mechanistic understanding or translational potential of the early identification model. Studies based solely on simulated data are out of scope.

Projects with human participants must also use, as a minimum, one or more of our recommended common measures in the collection of new data where appropriate. These common measure(s) do not have to be primary outcome(s), and you may also collect any other measures . Robust and appropriate data methods Projects should integrate mental health and data science expertise and bridge the gap between the two disciplines.

You should approach data analysis in a way that makes best use of the longitudinal data available to propose robust prediction models for early identification of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis. You can use any approach, including predictive, clustering, classification, generative, probabilistic and others.

You will need to justify your approach and clearly show how your results will transform our understanding of early identification and intervention. Analysis of data previously collected may raise ethical considerations. You should address these concerns and provide a comprehensive data management plan that: Demonstrates how the proposed work aligns with best practice guidelines for ethical data science.

Please use the Wellcome ethical framework (see the data analysis section from page 38 onwards) to reflect on risks and develop mitigations. Outlines concrete measures to safeguard privacy, ensure confidentiality, protect data integrity and minimise the risk of data loss. Ensures the proposed research follows the rules set in the participants’ informed consent forms and seeks additional consent from participants as necessary.

We expect applicants to comply with Wellcome’s research environment principles of open science and relevant diverse inputs . Collaboration between mental health scientists and data scientists Each project must have a minimum of one data scientist and one scientist working in mental health as part of the core team. This means that they should be either the lead applicant or a coapplicant.

Relevant expertise for this funding call could potentially include, but is not limited to: data experts (for example, data scientists, analysts, ethicists and engineers) psychiatrists and psychologists science, technology, engineering and mathematics humanities (for example, historians and ethicists) clinical and allied health sciences Mental health conditions in scope This award focuses on the early identification of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis .

These are broadly defined to include: all types of mood disorders, including depressive disorders and bipolar disorders all types of anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder all forms of psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia and postpartum psychosis We don’t have a preference for which diagnostic system or classification system you follow to define a mental health condition.

But we expect you to explain why you chose a particular framework or measurement approach, and why it fits the aim of your study. We invite applications where the early identifier(s) predicts the onset, early progression and/or treatment response of: Anxiety, depression and psychosis as categorical diagnoses. Applicants can focus on one or more of these conditions as defined above.

Any clinically relevant symptom(s) strongly associated with these conditions. The symptom(s) could be specific to one of the conditions, or shared across several of them. Functional impairments associated with any of the above conditions, that impact daily lives, such as participation in work or education.

Projects can include populations living with other physical or mental health conditions as long as the focus remains on anxiety, depression and/or psychosis . Lived experience involvement Proposals must involve lived experience expertise of anxiety, depression and/or psychosis, relevant to your research topic. There is a range of ways that research teams can involve and collaborate with lived experience experts.

This may include, but is not limited to: Lived experience experts should be engaged as colleagues who use their knowledge and expertise to inform the strategic direction, governance, design and delivery of the research. They must be involved in appropriate and ethical ways to inform multiple aspects and stages of the research project. Their contribution should not be limited to recruitment and retention strategies.

Consideration of translational potential We want to encourage innovative and impactful projects that can transform early identification for mental health. This means that applicants must show that their early identification model has strong potential to be translated into a real-world setting and contribute to the development of new and improved early interventions for mental health.

We are looking for models that can identify mental health problems earlier than previously possible, allowing for more efficient treatment and new and improved early interventions. Applicants need to clearly indicate the practical implications of their work by showing how their model will inform early interventions, evidence-based guidelines or routine clinical practice.

What your research proposal can include We encourage applicants to be brave and be willing to take risks if they feel their research has the potential to be transformative. We seek to fund ambitious, impactful projects. This means some of the projects we fund may not work out and we are prepared to take these risks.

Although it is not mandatory, we have identified the following topics as areas of interest, so we encourage proposals that: analyse qualitative/unstructured data either following primary data collection or through secondary data analysis.

Applicants are required to follow best practices for data management and carefully address the ethical implications of the use of such data and the additional complexities of secondary analysis of qualitative data.

Such qualitative/unstructured data may include, but are not limited to: data from wearable devices audio and video recordings prioritise research within and across low- and middle-income countries , as we recognise that longitudinal datasets from these locations are particularly underutilised. Proposals can be led by or be in collaboration with data holders from low- and middle-income countries.

We also expect applicants to consider ethical and equitable partnerships . When possible, we also recommend that applicants undertake engagement activities as part of this award. Before you begin planning your engagement activities, we recommend that you first reach out to the dataset holder(s).

Based on the current literature, ‘two-way’ communication is the preferred approach to data-based research. This means that research participants want to feel part of the work being done and to be actively listened to. Find out more about promoting public engagement with longitudinal research .

At Wellcome we believe using an engaged research approach improves research and makes it more impactful. This is an umbrella term for engaging with different groups interested in your research.

When developing your engagement plan for this call, we recommend: using deliberative methods giving people information about the research practices you will use as well as providing the rationale for the research itself ensuring you have appropriate entry points for people’s feedback to shape your work. Find out more about using an engaged research approach.

What your research proposal must not include Your research proposal must not: Focus on identifying general risk factors at a population level. Primarily target neurodevelopmental conditions, neurodegenerative diseases, or mental health disorders and symptoms outside of the broad categories of anxiety, depression, and/or psychosis. For example, eating disorders or substance abuse are not in scope.

Be based solely on simulated data. Aim to set up entirely new cohorts or longitudinal datasets. Focus on exploratory or curiosity-driven mechanistic research that is not directly relevant to the scope of the call and Wellcome’s mental health remit .

Research costs we will cover You can ask Wellcome to pay for: You will have to contribute at least 20% of your research time to this project. If you are based in the UK or Republic of Ireland at a higher education institute (HEI), research institute or non-academic healthcare organisation, you cannot ask for your salary.

If you are based at a charity, non-governmental organisation (NGO) or social enterprise, you can ask for a contribution to your salary, equal to the time you will spend on the award. If you are based outside of the UK or Republic of Ireland, you can ask for a contribution to your salary if you hold a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract and have to get your salary from external grant funding.

The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time you contribute to the award, for example if you contribute 30% of your time to the award we will fund 30% of your salary.

If you are requesting contribution to your salary, your administering organisation must: confirm that you have to get your salary from external grant funding to participate in the research guarantee to provide salary support, including any salary costs not covered by Wellcome, if you cannot get it from other sources for the period of time you are working on the grant .

Coapplicants must contribute at least 20% of their research time to this project. If any coapplicant holds a permanent, open-ended or long-term rolling contract and has to get their salary from external grant funding, you can ask us for a contribution to their salary in your application.

The amount we pay will be proportionate to the time they contribute to the award, for example if they contribute 30% of their time to the award we will fund 30% of their salary.

The coapplicant's organisation must: confirm that the coapplicant's employment contract states they must get their salary from external grant funding to participate in the research guarantee to provide salary support, including any salary costs not covered by Wellcome, for the period of time that the person will be working on the grant.

Coapplicants can also ask for salary where they: Are employed by a charity, social enterprise or commercial organisation. The amount they request must be proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant. Don’t have a permanent, open ended or long-term rolling contract and they: Will spend 80% of their time on this grant.

In this case, they can ask for their full salary. Their post does not need to be underwritten and can be contingent on the application being successful. Will spend less than 80% of their time on the grant.

In this case, they can request salary proportionate to the time they will spend on the grant. The host organisation must guarantee space and salary support if they cannot get it from other sources for the period of time they are working on the grant. Their post cannot be contingent on the application being successful.

Would be employed on the grant as post graduate research assistants. If they are to spend 100% of their time on the award, their post does not need to be underwritten by the host organisation and can be contingent on the application being successful. Alternatively, coapplicants may get their salary through employment on another grant.

Alternatively, coapplicants may get their salary through employment on another grant. Staff working on your programme We will cover the salary costs of all staff, full or part-time, who will work on your grant.

Staff members may include: research assistants or technicians employed on your grant specialist service staff, for example data engineering, management and analysis, fieldwork and clinical studies project manager, if you have multiple applicants on your programme support if you or a member of staff employed on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition – see 'Disability-related adjustment support' If you’re a humanities and social sciences researcher, you can ask for funds for teaching replacement to cover the cost of a temporary replacement lecturer.

You must retain at least a 10% commitment to teaching. can cover up to 33% FTE of your contracted time are usually for a person at a more junior level than the postholder can be spread across the full period of the grant. If you already get buyout costs from another grant (funded by Wellcome or elsewhere), you can ask us for this cost, but only for the period of time on your award when you won't receive buyout costs from another grant.

You must provide a letter from your employing organisation, confirming that your contract includes a teaching commitment. You should include this in your grant application. PhD/Research Masters fees We do not provide studentships on this award.

But if applicants employ a research assistant or a technician on the grant, they can ask for the costs to cover their PhD/Research Masters fees. Each applicant can ask for fees for up to two research assistants or technicians in total on the grant, to a maximum of eight per team.

Early-career applicants (up to and including holders of early-career fellowships) may not supervise a PhD student alone but can be a co-supervisor with a mid-career or established colleague. Fees must be requested at application stage. Funds cannot be moved from other budgets to pay fees for additional people.

Research assistants/technicians should be defined as staff members and incur a lower fee than the student rate. Where organisations do not have a staff rate they may request fees at the home student rate. If no other rate is available, they may request the international student rate.

How to cost salaries for research staff Show Staff salaries should be appropriate to skills, responsibilities and expertise.

You should ask your host organisation to use their salary scales to calculate these costs, which should include: employer’s contributions, including any statutory obligations (for example, National Insurance contributions if you’re based in the UK) and pension scheme costs Apprentice Levy charges for UK-based salaries any incremental progression up the salary scale locally recognised allowances such as London allowance.

You should allow for salary pay awards during Year 1. If the pay award is not yet known, applicants should use the International Monetary Fund inflation rate, selecting the ‘inflation, average consumer price’ option as an indicator. From Year 2 onwards, you should use your organisation’s current pay rates.

We’ll provide a separate inflation allowance for salary inflation costs. Read about the responsibilities of grantholders and host organisations for people working on a Wellcome grant . Visa and work permit costs Show If you have named people on your grant whose salaries will be funded by Wellcome, you can ask for visa or work permit costs to help them take up their posts at the host organisation.

You can also ask for: visa costs for the person's partner and dependent children essential associated costs, such as travel to attend appointments at a visa application centre or embassy, and essential English language tests Immigration Health Surcharge costs for the person, their partner and dependent children if they will be in the UK for six months or more.

Disability-related adjustment support Show If you or a member of staff working on your grant is disabled or has a long-term health condition, you can ask for adjustment support to help you carry out your project.

Costs can include, but are not limited to: additional costs for staff to help with day-to-day activities related to your project assistive technology to help use computers, research equipment or materials – for example, text to audio software care costs for assistance animals if you need to travel. We will not pay for capital or building costs, such as access ramps.

You can ask for these costs if your government and/or employer: does not cover any of the costs only covers some of the costs (if they do, we will only meet the shortfall). The costs we provide must not replace the support you may get from the government or your organisation, who are responsible for providing these costs. If you don't know what these costs are now, you can ask for them after we've awarded your grant .

materials and consumables Show We will pay for