Eman Yousuf
Eman Yousuf is a NIHR Maudsley BRC PhD student.
In May 2026 Eman was asked about her academic journey, her PhD and her thoughts on diversity in research.
Have you ever had an upsetting memory you just can’t get out of your mind? Or found yourself imagining an upsetting future scenario playing over and over again in your mind? Like an unwanted time machine, pulling you back to the past or forward to the future. For some young people, this is what the experience of negative intrusive images can feel like. Often, these images are incredibly powerful, emotional, and feel like they are happening right now in the present moment.
Young people have told us these images affect how they feel about themselves, the world around them, and their future. My research, supervised by Dr Victoria Pile, Professor Patrick Smith and Dr Thomas Ward explores what makes some intrusive images so powerful and why they continue to play in young people’s minds.
I was interested in pursuing a PhD to contribute towards a better understanding of mental health difficulties, improving access to research participation and mental health support.
The NIHR has been spearheading efforts to improve access to research participation. Projects such as INCLUDE were inspirational to me when I was applying for my PhD and have provided guidance that I’ve used in my research. When I was applying for my PhD, I was also excited by my supervisor, Dr Victoria Pile’s approach to research; she was recruiting young people from schools to take part in a clinical trial, INDIGO, funded by the NIHR. To me, this was one innovative way to improve both access to research participation and mental health support.
Many young people don’t seek help for their mental health difficulties, and working closely with schools is one way to make research participation more accessible. Last year, we recruited young people for one of my PhD studies; many were from underserved backgrounds and some shared difficult and upsetting experiences but had never sought help for their difficulties. Hearing from young people who may not otherwise have the chance to take part in research or access support is always an important reminder of why innovating the ways in which we do research matters.
We have also done some co-development work and hope to continue to do this throughout the PhD, both with the BRC’s Young Person’s Mental Health Advisory Group and with the Imagine Better Lab Advisory Group. Without these voices and perspectives, the research would not be what it is. I am grateful to young people’s generous contributions to the project so far. It is really inspiring to get to do this work at a moment in time where there is growing advocacy for better and more inclusive research practices.
I’m grateful and lucky to have my supervisors, Victoria, Patrick and Tom, they are brilliant researchers, who I get to learn from and whose brains I get to pick regularly. I’ve also learnt a great deal from other PhD students and researchers at the IoPPN, it really is a vibrant, supportive and inspiring community.
I’m fascinated by our inner mental experiences, the way in which a memory or imagined future scenario can feel as though it is happening in the here and now. What gives these mental images, conjured within our minds, such extraordinary power?
Mental imagery is a relatively young but rapidly growing field, and ripe for discovery. After my PhD, I’m keen to pursue a post-doc to continue pushing the field forward alongside researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience.