Scholars' Day 2022
The Mental Health Research UK Scholars’ Day is an opportunity for all our Scholars to present their progress during the past year. Before COVID the day was held face to face but in 2021 and 2022 it has been held by zoom. On both occasions the day was preceded by a rehearsal session held online.
The day was attended by all our Scholars, and most of them were introduced by one of their supervisors. We also had a number of our supporters with us as well as Trustees and volunteers. The first year Scholars have five-minutes to present their plans for their research and subsequent years have 10 minutes presentation with 5 minutes for questions.
As part of the day one of our Scholars (Jess Bradley) interviewed Dr Laila Tata a member of the Scientific Committee and there was also a Question and Answer session with Professor Sir Mike Owen, chair of Trustees.
Room 1: Children and Young People's mental health.
Chaired by: Vanessa pinfold
Presentations by:
Egle Padaigate
Katherine Bird
Taryn Hutchinson
Room 2: Depression and suicide.
Chaired by Mike Owen
Presentations by:
Kerry Hozhabrafkan
Alexandra Schmidt
Niamh MacSweeney
Dr Laila Tata interviewed by Jessica Radley.
Room 3: Schizophrenia.
Chaired by Peter Jones
Presentations by:
Samuel Knight
Jessica Radley
Marjan Biria
Room 4: MD(Res) Scholars.
Chaired by Clair Chilvers
Presentations by:
Camilla Day
Cate Bailey
Nuala Kane
5-minute thesis: First year PhD Students
Chaired by Jyothika Kumar
Presentations by:
Jane Hahn
Sophie Chick
Tom Jenkins
Oonagh Coleman
Samantha Mitchell
Noushin Saadullah
The follow up questionnaire was completed by 27 attendees split as in the pie-chart below.


All respondents found the Zoom Platform accessible and the content interesting. All responders thought the standard of presentations was good or very good, and 96% found them good or very good in terms of accessibility to a lay audience.

The length of the sessions seemed to work well.
There were approximately equal numbers voting for online or face-to-face next year, with a handful with no clear preference. One comment also suggested that a hybrid Scholars’ Day could work well.
We asked for overall reflections on the day in a few words:
A lovely day
Lovely to see such engaged scholars!
Engaging and inspiring
very interesting
Great! Nice relaxed chairing by Mike and Peter
Impressive group of scholars.
Everything was great
Very interesting and inspiring.
Excellent and inspiring sessions.
Inspirational. Great that MHRUK is supporting such bright young people.
Very enjoyable and informative day.
It was good.
Informative, interesting event
I felt so greatly encouraged that my fundraising is so well utilised by MHRUK
Interesting and informative in general
Well worth participating and the on-line format made this easy.
Very inspiring, interesting and refreshing to see how young scholars are so dedicated and committed to in-depth research and exploring new boundaries in research
It was great!
I am glad it had come around again so soon..!
Excellent meeting.