Emma Soneson

Emma is pleased to consider applications from prospective MSc & DPhil students with interest in child and adolescent mental health, school mental health, or public mental health. 

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I lead a broad portfolio of research in child and adolescent mental health, with interests ranging from psychiatric epidemiology to intervention development and evaluation. I have particular expertise in public health approaches, mental health services and support, the intersections between education and mental health, and ways in which we can support schools to take a central role in mental health promotion and prevention.

My current work primarily focuses on analysing data from the OxWell Student Survey (PI Prof Mina Fazel), a large schools-based survey exploring a wide range of factors related to child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing. I have used the data from this survey to explore vulnerable adolescents' access to and unmet need for mental health services and assess children's and adolescents' perceptions of school-based mental health support. My ongoing research within the OxWell Student Survey focuses on how to ensure that mental health support is available, accessible, and acceptable to children and adolescents, particularly those from minoritised and marginalised populations (especially those who have experience of adversity, but also trans and gender diverse young people and young people from ethnic minoritised backgrounds). 

I am also interested in learning more about how to support more meaningful participation and engagement in mental health research. As part of this work, I co-lead a mixed-methods randomised controlled trial (The BrainWaves Adolescent Consent Study) to assess whether the way in which we obtain informed consent impacts adolescents' participation in (mental) health research. This trial will enable us to learn how we can empower young people to confidently take part in research. 

Reflecting my broader interests in child and adolescent public mental health, I also have roles within projects focusing on 

• social determinants of mental (ill) health,
• school-based mental health interventions,
• child maltreatment and interpersonal victimisation,
• eating disorder epidemiology,
• consent in the context of research and mental health services, and
• physical activity interventions.

Prior to joining the department, I completed a PhD in Psychiatry (2022) and an MPhil in Public Health (2017) at the University of Cambridge. My PhD research, funded by the Gates Cambridge Trust and UKRI Emerging Minds Network, focused on public health approaches for improving early identification and intervention for child and adolescent mental health difficulties and was awarded the Cambridge Clinical School's Milo Keynes Prize for Outstanding Dissertation and the Bill Gates Sr. Prize for 'outstanding research and social leadership'.