IMPACT was launched in March 2019. The Centre employs researchers that are based in psychological services but work throughout the Trust.

The centre aims to promote research activity in psychological services in particular. Psychological Services are delivered in the Mental Health, Learning Disability and Community Well-Being Division and in the Women, Children and Families Division of the Northern HSC Trust.

Psychological Services are directly responsible for a number of specialist services that have referrals totalling over 4000 annually. While the majority of those employed in the service are Psychologists, the service is multidisciplinary in nature including Psychiatrists, Occupational Therapists, Cognitive Behaviour Therapists & others.

The centre is led by Professor Ciaran Shannon, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist within NHSCT and employs an experienced multidisciplinary research team with backgrounds in Psychology, Psychiatry and Research Methods.

Our centre members have published widely in high impact journals and have attracted substantive funding. The Centre works with an extensive range of collaborators including those from university, industry, and voluntary sector backgrounds. Many of our projects have a university partner from Ulster University or Queen’s University Belfast.

This collaborative approach leads to research that is of greater impact, more widely disseminated, has strong theoretical and clinical implications, and fewer participant access issues. The IMPACT Research Centre employs 2 full time Senior Researchers, Dr Julie-Ann Jordan and Dr Claire McCartan, and a research psychologist, Dr Clare Howie.

The Centre also hosts the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network for Mental Health and together those employed by psychological services and NICRN form the IMPACT team within the Trust.

The NICRN is part of UK-wide initiative to provide opportunities for patients and clinicians to participate in high-quality clinical research. NICRN Mental Health acts as a contact point for Clinical Mental Health researchers in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK who have an interest in conducting clinical research in the NI population. The co-lead for this network throughout Northern Ireland is Prof Ciaran Mulholland, Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer (QUB) and mental health researchers in the network are Dr Suzanne Barrett and Ms Chrissy Moffett.

Participant and public involvement plays an integral part in all of our research projects. Service user groups are actively involved throughout the research process from design through to dissemination.

Latest News

Keep up to date for the latest News from Impact Research Centre

May 17, 2024


Survey on how to communicate with young people about behaviours in relationships launching soon!

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December 20, 2023


IMPACT Collaboration on International Scoping Review for Peer Support in Mental Health

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May 17, 2023


NIHR Grant Award of £2million for Trauma Therapy Research

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