Department of Experimental Psychology

Identifying research priorities for severe paranoia We talk to lead author David Sher about his paper, which aimed to establish potential research priorities for understanding and treating severe paranoia for the first time.

NEWS: Identifying research priorities for severe paranoia

David Sher talks about his latest paper looking at the top 15 research priorities of people with persecutory delusions (severe paranoia) and their carers. @oxexppsy.bsky.social‬ and @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social‬

www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/...

🔍 Practitioner Psychologists (incl. 2nd/3rd yr Trainees): Have you experienced indirect trauma exposure through work?

We're running a short survey to understand its impact.

📝 psychiatryoxford.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

@ox.ac.uk @oxexppsy.bsky.social

Today we have Sage Boettcher @dynacog-lab.bluesky.social & Dejan Draschkow @abclab.bsky.social (@oxexppsy.bsky.social) in our #psychology dept. colloquium @unimarburg.bsky.social with talks on how International dynamics drive behavior & immersive memory! Join us in Gutenbergstraße18 (Dekanatssaal)

YouTube video by Mental Health in Development Introducing the WISDOM Research Network for Schools

📣 Schools wanted!
Is your school passionate about mental health? Join the WISDOM Research Network to get involved in research + access carefully curated mental health resources.
🎥 Watch our video:
youtu.be/7Z5y6CvNcH8
It is free to join and take part! Let’s make a difference, together!

Michael Barry

We're pleased to announce that Michael Barry has been awarded the Valeria Frighi Intellectual Disabilities Research Award. Michael is a trainee on the Oxford Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology.

Read more about how he will use the funding: tinyurl.com/mvvh646d

Delighted that first clinical testing results of Feeling Safer are now published. Our new six-month supported online programme for persecutory delusions maintained the large effects of the face-to-face therapy. @oxexppsy.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1017/S003...

Front entrance of the Life and Mind Building Oxford, June 2025

Selfie in front of the LaMB, June 2025

Portrait in early 2017

Today, the University formally took over the new Life & Mind Building to house @biology.ox.ac.uk @oxexppsy.bsky.social from autumn 2025. Quite a journey over the years since the dark days of the Tinbergen closure: less hair (though greyer) & a few more lines, but excited for the future

From Oxford to Chile
OH BRC and @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social Prof Cathy Creswell is leading a new global project to adapt Oxford research on #childanxiety.

The OSI programme, supported by our BRC & NIHR ARC OxTV, is now being tailored for Chilean families.
🔗 Read more: tinyurl.com/ProfCCChile

How does our brain learn that thunder follows lightning? We don't just remember two separate events; we build a predictive model to anticipate the world. My research dives into this very question: how we learn and predict the order of events. 🧵👇 1/9 #neuroscience #memory #sleep

NIHR National Institute for Health and Care Research #ARCseminar (Picture of people dancing at silent disco from The Centre for Ageing Better's Age-positive image library)

Don't miss the final national #ARCseminar of 2025

Wed 9 July - Creative arts for #dementia
eventbrite.com/e/creative-a...

Short talks explore the impact of music therapy, singing & dancing interventions for people with dementia & using creative arts to involve people with dementia in research.

🚨JOB ALERT🚨

@oxengsci.bsky.social, in collaboration with @oxexppsy.bsky.social & St Catherine's college, is hiring an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering (Technologies for Mental Health and Cognition).

To view the job particulars and apply, click the link below. Feel free to share! 👇

Cathy Creswell's ChAAMPS Study selected as a finalist for the 2025 Made With Patients Awards This recognition celebrates the meaningful co-production approach that shaped the development of an anxiety intervention for autistic children and their families.

Congratulations to Professor Cathy Creswell and team on this well-deserved recognition! 👏

@cathycreswell.bsky.social @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social @oxhealthbrc.bsky.social
#MadeWithPatientsAwards #PFMD #PatientEngagement #AutismResearch

www.psy.ox.ac.uk/news/childho...

🚨 New from the #CoSPACE Consortium: How do we overcome international barriers in #Youth #MentalHealth research during crises? #COVID19

🌍 14sites | 10countries | 1 #GlobalResearch blueprint

📖 Read: rdcu.be/eoDpU

@ox.ac.uk @oxexppsy.bsky.social @topicgroup.bsky.social @jennymcmahon.bsky.social

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨

We are recruiting a part-time Research Assistant to join TOPIC & work on a feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial of a brief online parent-led CBT intervention for children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

📅 Deadline: 9 June 2025

Apply here:
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

🎙️ PODCAST | The tinny sound of music blaring from a nearby phone is enough to irritate anybody, but for #misophonia sufferers it's more than a mere annoyance. Find out more with ‪@drjanegregory.bsky.social‬‬ from @oxexppsy.bsky.social in our brand new #podcast episode 👇‬

🎧 pod.fo/e/2db930

First post on Bluesky! Check out our new paper (w/ @abclab.bsky.social @brognition.bsky.social) in Nature Communications @natcomms.bsky.social (featured in Editors' Highlights🌟)!

We investigated how attention operates differently within WM and LTM:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

(1/6)

🌟 A joy supervising this project by DClinPsych student John Kerr – just published in The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist!

We explore the challenges junior mental health workers face when assessing trauma ➡️ bit.ly/4mgQfvA

@oxexppsy.bsky.social

In this NIHR video, released by The Mental Elf, Professor Cathy Creswell discusses practical solutions for inclusivity in mental health research 📹 #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek @cathycreswell.bsky.social @topicgroup.bsky.social @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social @nihr.bsky.social @thementalelf.bsky.social

A new theoretical model of persecutory delusions (severe paranoia) that explicitly shows what needs to happen in treatment. Incl. how to introduce counterweights to the thoughts and behaviours that cause paranoia. @oxexppsy.bsky.social @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Connor Keating wins Dissertation Award from the International Society for Autism Research The award will be given at INSAR's 2025 Annual Meeting, which is being held in Seattle this week.

Congratulations to Connor Keating for winning the Dissertation Award from the International Society for Autism Research! A fantastic achievement👏 @connortkeating.bsky.social #INSAR2025

www.psy.ox.ac.uk/news/connor-...

Stylized brain (the OxCIN logo) coloured as a blue/green map of the world, with the text OxCIN Global Scholars underneath

🌍 OxCIN Global Scholars: apply by June 30th! 🌎

Our Global Scholars programme provides a year of remote MRI training and collaboration for early-career researchers from the Global South.

Apply now to join the 2025/26 cohort. Please repost!

oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/traini...

A landmark experiment published in Nature puts leading theories of consciousness to the test Professor Ole Jensen is part of a global consortium that embraced a novel collaborative approach to investigating one of the brain’s greatest mysteries

Professor Ole Jensen is part of a global consortium that embraced a novel collaborative approach to investigating one of the brain’s greatest mysteries... 🧠🔮 @olejensen.bsky.social @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social

Learn more on the EP website - www.psy.ox.ac.uk/news/a-landm...

New paper out in SLEEP @sleepjournals.bsky.social!

In his study, Jude Thom shows how cortical regions excited by tDCS before sleep express more spindles during subsequent sleep. doi.org/10.1093/slee...

@oxexppsy.bsky.social @oxcin.bsky.social @ukri.org

Introductory slide for talk by Gaia Scerif.

Interesting Jeeves Lecture at @standrewspsyneuro.bsky.social by Prof. Gaia Scerif from @oxexppsy.bsky.social on attentional processes. @uniofstandrews.bsky.social #psychscisky

Congratulations, Amy! @amymccall.bsky.social 👏

Development and validation of a measure of concrete and abstract thinking Abstract-analytical thinking, which characterizes rumination and worry, has been shown to be a risk and maintenance factor for psychological disorders, yet there are no accessible, reliable measures t...

🚨 Thrilled to share my PhD paper just out in PLOS ONE!

We developed & validated the concrete and abstract thinking (CAT) measure - an accessible, reliable tool to assess abstract thinking linked to rumination & worry.

@oxexppsy.bsky.social #paramedicmentalhealth

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Congratulations @huangfy-tw.bsky.social 👏🎉

join us at @oxexppsy.bsky.social | @ox.ac.uk!

A roadmap to better support for neurodivergent children ADR UK Research Fellow Dr Simona Skripkauskaite believes linked administrative data research could help build a more supportive and responsive system that me...

I wrote a blog explaining why I believe administrative #Data is useful and how it can help us understand #MentalHealth support needs in #Neurodiversity better. Read it here: 🔗 www.adruk.org/news-publica... #supporttheyouth @oxexppsy.bsky.social @oxchildpsych.bsky.social

Prof Christopher Summerfield @ Stratford Upon Avon Literary Festival

On Friday 9 May at Stratford Upon Avon Literary Festival, hear from Prof Christopher Summerfield on 'These Strange New Minds: How AI Learned to Talk and What it Means'

@oxexppsy.bsky.social