Experts from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC): Maudsley and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust delivered keynote addresses at this year’s Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) International Congress, showcasing the BRC’s leadership in autism research, health informatics and psychosis.
Held in Liverpool in June, the Congress brought together psychiatrists, researchers and mental health professionals from around the world to share the latest advances in mental health research, clinical practice and innovation.
Advancing precision psychiatry in autism
Professor Gráinne McAlonan, Director of the NIHR BRC: Maudsley, delivered a keynote on How a neurodevelopmental perspective can inform precision psychiatry in autism.
She showcased research using MRI, EEG and experimental medicine approaches to better understand the biological mechanisms underlying autism. Grainne’s presentation highlighted evidence that differences in brain connectivity and sensory processing emerge early in development and may contribute to the diverse ways autism presents across individuals.
Professor McAlonan also discussed research into neurotransmitter systems, including GABA and serotonin, and their potential role in autistic traits, cognition and mental health outcomes. The work aims to identify measurable biomarkers that could support stratified and more personalised approaches to care, moving beyond broad diagnostic categories towards a deeper understanding of underlying neurobiology.
Read more about this research
'Building a range of targeted medicine choices for autism'
Turning mental health data into clinical action
Professor Richard Dobson, Deputy Director and Informatics Theme Lead at the NIHR BRC: Maudsley, presented Closing the loop: turning mental health data into clinical action.
Drawing on more than a decade of work in electronic health records, natural language processing and large-scale health data infrastructure, he demonstrated how the BRC is transforming mental health data into clinically actionable insights. The presentation highlighted how researchers are unlocking information contained within unstructured clinical notes, which make up the majority of healthcare data.
By combining NHS-scale datasets, language AI and advanced analytics, researchers are developing new approaches to identify treatment-resistant schizophrenia earlier, improve patient phenotyping, accelerate clinical trials and generate richer real-world evidence.
Professor Dobson also highlighted the BRC’s wider leadership in health informatics through programmes such as CogStack, Foresight and RADAR-base, which are helping to bring together clinical records, AI and digital technologies to support earlier intervention, personalised care and improved outcomes.
Read more about this work
CogStack Impact study
The importance of language in psychosis research and care
Professor Fiona Gaughran, Chair of the NIHR BRC: Maudsley Board, Director of Research and Development, and Lead Consultant for the National Psychosis Service at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, delivered a keynote entitled Psychosis: What’s in a name and the trouble with words.
Drawing on her experience in specialist psychosis services, Professor Gaughran explored how the language used in psychiatry can shape diagnosis, treatment and patient care. She argued that psychosis is often used as though it were a diagnosis rather than a descriptive term, and suggested that the phrase psychotic illness may encourage greater consideration of underlying causes and treatment needs.
Her presentation highlighted the importance of diagnostic precision in psychosis research and clinical practice. Using examples including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, Professor Gaughran discussed how accurate diagnosis can support more targeted treatment, improve research quality and help deliver more personalised care.
The three keynote presentations highlighted how the BRC is translating world-leading research into better understanding, treatment and outcomes for people living with mental health conditions.
