Mental Health Research Group at the University of Lincoln

The Lincolnshire Unit for Mental Health Research (LUMHR) will establish a place-based, community-led, and internationally relevant hub for applied mental health research in rural, coastal, and small urban-deprived settings. The Mental Health Research Group will be hosted by the University of Lincoln in partnership with the University of Nottingham, with support from integrated care, public health, and third-sector stakeholders. This five-year programme builds on a successful NIHR Mental Health Development Award (MHDA), which identified the Top 10 mental health research priorities for Lincolnshire through inclusive priority-setting, network development, and rapid review. Lincolnshire is England’s fourth-largest county, with high rates of suicide, significant digital exclusion, structural barriers to service access, and disproportionately high mental health burden concentrated in rural and coastal areas. Fragmented research activity and entrenched underrepresentation compound these challenges. LUMHR will address these issues through three integrated research themes: Connect, Prevent, and Respond – each directly aligned with public-prioritised questions. Theme 1: Connect will combine high-resolution geospatial mapping, machine learning, and lived experience insight to understand service access barriers and develop co-produced solutions for underserved communities. This theme includes integrated ICS data modelling (WP1.1), participatory co-design of novel access solutions (WP1.2), and structured feasibility testing (WP1.3). Theme 2: Prevent will support upstream prevention through citizen science, community engagement, and just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs). The Living in Lincolnshire (LiL) panel (WP2.1) will provide longitudinal, community-generated insights into protective factors. These insights will guide development and prototyping of personalised (WP2.2) and community-led (WP2.3) interventions, culminating in real-world implementation trials (WP2.4). Theme 3: Respond will enhance system responsiveness to crisis and suicide risk. A real-time Suicide and Crisis Observatory (WP3.1) will identify hotspots and patterns of acute need. Targeted crisis interventions (WP3.2), workforce training adapted from evidence-based models (WP3.3), and structured feasibility trials (WP3.4) will improve timely, compassionate responses. Each work package is enabled by a cross-cutting lived experience infrastructure, supported by out Lived Experience Advisory Panel and themed Population Champions. This inclusive model is shaped by evaluation of our MHDA co-production practices, with measurable quality benchmarks across voice strength, responsiveness, focus of concerns, and influence across project stages. LUMHR will function as a regional research and impact hub. It will accelerate workforce development through cross-sector fellowships, structured mentoring, and embedded practitioner researcher roles. Methodological innovation spans explainable AI, implementation science, participatory design, and digital mental health. Learning Health System principles will inform synchronous adaptation and system-wide change, underpinned by a commitment to open science and community ownership. By the end of five years, LUMHR will deliver a sustained programme of context-sensitive, scalable mental health research that improves outcomes for underserved populations and provides a transferable model for other rural and coastal settings in the UK and beyond.