School of Psychology
 

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Ellen Townsend

Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Science

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Biography

I hold a B.A. (Hons) from the University of Leeds and a PhD from the University of Nottingham. Before joining Nottingham as a Lecturer in 2001 I spent three years as a post-doctoral researcher in the Centre for Suicide Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. I am a member of the PSPH in the School of Psychology and PI of the Self-Harm Research Group (SHRG).

Expertise Summary

Self-Harm. Suicide Prevention. Mental Health. Psychology.

Research Summary

I am a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham and PI leading the Self-Harm Research Group (SHRG) (click here for our lab www). Our group researches psychological… read more

Selected Publications

Current Research

I am a Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham and PI leading the Self-Harm Research Group (SHRG) (click here for our lab www). Our group researches psychological factors associated with self-harm and suicidality, and interventions that promote recovery, especially in young people using a range of techniques including sequence analysis, the Card Sort Task for Self-Harm (CaTS), experiments, questionnaires, epidemiology, interviews and systematic reviews. This work has been funded by the NHS, NIHR and the ESRC. Our work has influenced policy - earlier versions of our systematic review of interventions for self-harm were included in the 2011 NICE Guidance on the Longer Term Management of Self-Harm.

I led a national Clinical Research Group on self-harm funded by the Mental Health Research Network (NIHR) and am a Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health. I am a collaborator on the Multicentre Study of Self-Harm in England and am co-leading the development of INTERACT - a new research initiative for participatory research and public engagement working with colleagues from across the university. I was PI on a Wellcome Trust People Award supporting the development of our Café Connect model of public engagement. We were finalists in the UoN Knowledge Exchange and Impact Awards 2016 for this work.

I was PI on a project investigating self-harm in looked-after young people funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. See our project website: www.listen-up.ac.uk for more information. I am a Fellow of the International Academy of Suicide Research and a member of the BPS Expert Panel on the Psychology of Suicidal Behaviour. I was a participant in the Nottingham Research Leaders Programme 2015-16. I have recently been awarded a Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship at the University of Melbourne, Australia which will take place in April 2017.

In 2016 a publication co-authored with Dr Katie Glazebrook received the Institute of Mental Health 'Best Overall Publication Award' - Glazebrook K, Townsend E, Sayal K (2015). The role of attachment style in predicting repetition of adolescent self-harm: a longitudinal study. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. DOI: 10.1111/sltb.12159.

School of Psychology

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