Professor Richard Emsley selected as NIHR Senior Investigator

Professor Richard Emsley

Professor Richard Emsley is one of 43 new appointments made in this year’s NIHR Senior Investigator awards round. The award recognises the most prominent and prestigious researchers of applied health and social care. The selected Senior Investigators will help to shape the direction of health, and social care and public health research in the UK over a four-year term.  

Richard Emsley holds a joint appointment as Academic Director of the King’s Clinical Trials Unit and Professor of Medical Statistics and Trials Methodology in the Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King's College London. He was an NIHR Research Professor from 2019 to 2025. 

He is the Theme Lead for Trials, Genomics and Prediction at the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and Director of the NIHR Research Support Service Hub delivered by King’s College London and Partners, which has a specific Hub focus on Mental Health & Neuroscience studies. He is the Director of the Innovative Trials Hub in the Data and Digital Alliance Team, as part of the Office for Life Sciences Mental Health Goals Programme. 

Professor Richard Emsley said,

“I am absolutely delighted to be appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator. This award reflects the collective effort of many outstanding colleagues and collaborators and reinforces my commitment to improving how we design and conduct innovative clinical trials to improve mental health outcomes.” 

Before joining the IoPPN in January 2018, Richard held a personal Chair at The University of Manchester as Professor of Medical Statistics and was Deputy Director of the then Manchester Clinical Trials Unit. 

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR and Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care, said:

"By recognising leaders across the breadth of health and care, we are reinforcing NIHR's commitment to supporting excellence wherever it is found and ensuring that research leadership mirrors the communities and professions it serves.  

"Senior Investigators make a significant impact to the NIHR and the wider research landscape and I look forward to seeing the contributions and impact they make across health and care research." 

Across King’s College London Professor Manu Shankar-Hari has also been appointed as a NIHR Senior Investigator.  Professor Manu Shankar-Hari is Professor of Critical Care Medicine in the School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences. He is also Director of the King’s Health Partners’ Centre for Critical Illness Research in the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine. 

In total, 59 senior investigators have been appointed in this latest cohort. They include leaders from a range of specialties and disciplines including paediatrics, podiatry, dentistry, nursing and midwifery. 


Tags: Geonomics and Prediction -

By NIHR Maudsley BRC at 24 Mar 2026, 12:00 PM


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