Lucy Foulkes

I am a Prudence Trust Research Fellow and NIHR Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. 

My group’s work focuses on adolescent mental health and social development. We are known internationally for our work examining the effects of mental health awareness efforts and school mental health interventions. In particular, we examine why these initiatives have unintended negative consequences for some young people, while having benefits (or no effect) for others.

Our current research projects fall under three strands:

 1. School interventions: Understanding why universal school-based mental health interventions are ineffective at reducing mental health problems in adolescents, and why they can sometimes have negative impacts

2. Mental health awareness: Assessing how learning about mental health problems can change adolescents’ reporting and experiencing of these symptoms

3. Self-diagnosis: Exploring self-diagnosis of mental health problems in adolescence, including why some young people do this and its benefits and risks

In the past I have also focused on social cognition in adolescents, particularly social risk, social reward and social influence processes, and how these are related to mental health problems. 

We use a range of methods in our work, with a primary focus on experimental designs and qualitative methodology.

See my full list of academic publications on Google Scholar.

I also have extensive experience of public science communication. My first book, What Mental Illness Really Is (…and what it isn’t), was published in 2021. My second, Coming Of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us, was published in 2024. I regularly give public talks about mental health and discuss this topic on podcasts and radio (e.g. BBC's All In The Mind, Guardian Science), and have written many articles for the mainstream media (e.g. The Guardian, New Scientist).

I am also active on Instagram, where I share research insights about adolescence in a brief, accessible format.