Professor Angie Hart is leading the Brighton contribution to a five-year project involving 11 institutions around the UK. With overall funding of £35.4m, the overarching project is being led by the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre and begins on 1 December.
Professor Hart's team will focus on a workstream entitled Flourishing & Wellbeing, drawing on expertise to enable initiatives and interventions for patients and non-patients, to be delivered in accessible and inclusive spaces beyond the clinic - such as communal public spaces and workplaces.
These initiatives will create inclusive real-world ‘laboratories’ bringing together ordinary people with academic experts in mental health issues to create practical and effective interventions that have been demonstrated to boost wellbeing and resilience at both an individual and wider community level. By helping ‘beat the odds’ for myriad individuals, the community-focused work carried out by the Ογ½ΆΦ±²₯ improves the odds for wider communities to cope with the day-to-day struggles many people are increasingly facing.