Contact
Expertise Summary
Keywords:
EEG, neuroimaging, cognitive and affective neuroscience, executive function, Mood Disorder, Tourette's Disorder
Research Summary
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research focuses broadly on mental health and wellbeing, with a particular emphasis on mood and anxiety across both clinical and non‑clinical populations. I have been leading projects exploring factors associated with mental wellbeing, behaviour, and performance in diverse groups such as young people (e.g., community samples from HICs and LMICs, adolescents with Tourette Syndrome), students (e.g., postgraduate taught students, medical students and medical trainees), healthcare professionals, and individuals experiencing psychopathological conditions characterised by maladaptive emotional or cognitive states (e.g., individuals with common mental disorders such as depressive disorders and personality disorders, sexual offenders).
RESEARCH GRANTS/PROJECTS
Principal Investigator: 'Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy- for Life (MBCT-L) v. Stress-Reduction Psychoeducation (SRP) for the improvement of mental wellbeing in healthcare, social and teaching professionals'; NIHR ARC-EM, £251,117
Principal Investigator: 'Exploring facilitators and barriers to seeking mental wellbeing support in forensic NHS staff'; NIHR ARC-EM, £115,125
Co-Investigator: TrueBlue Clinical Study - Investigating the use of a mobile phone app TrueBlue for monitoring Depression and Anxiety; BlueSkeye AI, Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottinghamshire Healthcare and Nottingham BRC-TrueBlue Virtual Human Clinical Study; £250.000
Co-Investigator: 'Exercise Recovery from Persistent Depression'; Non-funded pilot work
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH (PhD) SUPERVISION
Current:
Primary Supervisor: 'Virtual-human guided tasks for automatic analysis of depression and anxiety' Deepa Bagepalli Krishnan (P/T) PhD Psychiatry
Primary Supervisor: 'Psychological wellbeing on Saint Helena: a mixed methods study of young people, their family and professionals' Tara Murphy (P/T) PhD Clinical Psychology
Secondary Supervisor: 'Personality disorders in youth: Descriptive epidemiology and patient experience within services' Eleni Frisira (F/T) PhD Applied Psychology, Midlands Mental Health and Neurosciences DTP
Secondary Supervisor: 'Mental Health Mission: a mixed methods study of depression research clinics' Thea Palmer-Bailey (F/T). Mental Health Mission -funded, PhD Applied Psychology
Co-mentor (staff PhD): Exploring the mental wellbeing of healthcare staff as well as their experiences of accessing and using interventions designed to improve their mental wellbeing, Priya Patel (P/T Staff) PhD Applied Psychology
Recent/ Completed:
Primary Supervisor: 'Offence-related cognitions in use of child sexual exploitation materials (CSEM): The role of early maladaptive schemas, parental schemas and compulsive sexual behaviours' Huseyin Turhan (F/T) PhD Clinical Psychology, UoN Vice-Chancellor-Scholarship Funded, Completed in 2024
Primary Supervisor: 'Medical students' perceptions of factors that are associated with their mental health and psychological wellbeing' Aisha Hawsawi (F/T) PhD Clinical Psychology, SA Gvt-Funded, Completed in 2024
Primary Supervisor: 'Exploring the relationship among stress, psychological wellbeing, and performance in healthcare professionals and healthcare students' Nazm Berry (F/T) PhD Health Psychology Research, Completed in 2023
Secondary Supervisor: 'Developing a psychological web-based intervention for mothers of children with cancer' Jamilah Alanazai (F/T) PhD Clinical Psychology, SA Gvt-Funded, Completed in 2023
Primary Supervisor: 'Positive Psychological Capital as a determinant of mental health/wellbeing among working professionals: A cross-cultural study.' Shweta Anand (F/T) PhD Occupational Psychology, Completed in 2021
Joint Supervisor: 'Use of digital technology to promote self-management of clinical symptomatology and improve quality of life in young people with Tourette Syndrome' Camilla Babbage (F/T) PhD Applied Psychology, 1+3 ESRC-DTP Funded, Completed in 2021
Recent Publications
NIXON, N.L., LIDDLE, P.F., NIXON, E., WORWOOD, G., LIOTTI, M. and PALANIYAPPAN, L., 2014. Biological vulnerability to depression: linked structural and functional brain network findings The British Journal of Psychiatry. 204, 283-289 NIXON, E., GLAZEBROOK, C., HOLLIS, C. and JACKSON, G.M., 2014. Reduced tic symptomatology in Tourette Syndrome after an acute bout of exercise: An observational study Behavior Modification. (ahead of print) NIXON, N.L., LIDDLE, P.F., WORWOOD, G., LIOTTI, M. and NIXON, E., 2013. Prefrontal cortex function in remitted major depressive disorder Psychological Medicine. 43(6), 1219-1230
Past Research
RESEARCH GRANTS/PROJECTS
Co-Investigator: 'Investigating factors predictive of and associated with psychological wellbeing in transgender people following gender affirming treatment (GAT) [FEEL-WELL]'; NIHR RfPB - East Midlands, £149,982.00; Co-I
Co-Investigator: 'Effect of gender affirming medical treatment on depression and self-harm in transgender People'; NIHR CLAHRC EM Phase 5 Project, £28,047; Co-I
Co-Investigator: 'Impact of COVID-19 on delivery of community mental health services in the U.K., U.S. and Australia'; Non-funded collaborative project