Programme

 

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*Please note all times are in BST

 

  • Adrian was elected President in 2020. He holds this role until 2023 and leads the RCPsych on behalf of its members and associates.

    Adrian is Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist at Langdon Hospital in Dawlish, Devon. He is a former Medical Director of Devon Partnership NHS Trust and founding Chair of the School of Psychiatry at the Peninsular Deanery (2006-2008).

    He was the elected Chair of the South West Division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2007-2011) and sat on the College Council in this capacity. In 2010 he was appointed Chair of the Westminster Parliamentary Liaison Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (attending the three main Party Conferences 2011-14 in this capacity).

    He was Clinical Director for Mental Health, Dementia and Neurology, working for NHS England South West (2013-2015, interim from 2012-13). He has also acted as a Reviewer and Clinical Expert for the Healthcare Commission and its successor organisation the Care Quality Commission.

    He has chaired expert review groups on Integrated Care Systems, Cannabis, Prevent and Learning from Deaths. In addition, he set up the Quality Improvement Committee and the Workforce Wellbeing Committee at the College.


    His priorities as President are:


    • establishing a pathway to parity for mental health services
    • equality and diversity
    • sustainability
    • workforce wellbeing
    Adrian is a keen cyclist - road and hybrid in Devon and Brompton in London. Adrian has completed three Étape du Tours (an event for amateur cyclists covering the same route as a Tour de France stage). Adrian and his wife, Sarah are on their third tandem.
  • Taking action to reduce health inequalities is a matter of social justice. In developing strategies for tackling health inequalities we need to confront the social gradient in health not just the difference between the worst off and everybody else.  There is clear evidence when we look across countries that national policies make a difference and that much can be done in cities, towns and local areas. But policies and interventions must not be confined to the health care system; they need to address the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.  The evidence shows that economic circumstances are important but are not the only drivers of health inequalities. Tackling the health gap will take action, based on sound evidence, across the whole of society.  The pandemic has exposed and amplified underlying inequalities in society that lead to inequalities in health.
  • Chair: Professor Sir Simon Wessely, Professor of Psychological Medicine, King's College London
    "From UK Military Mental Health to Civilian Care: Lessons Across Populations"
    Professor (Sir) Simon Wessely, Professor of Psychological Medicine, King's College London
    Australian Military Mental Health, PTSD and Suicide: How Does Risk Change Over Time
    Professor David Forbes, PhD, Director, Phoenix Australia - Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
    Trauma and Stress Disorders in the US Military: Learning more about PTSD, Suicide and TBI
    Professor Robert J Ursano, M.D., Director, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS), Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Uniformed Services University

  • Chair: Peter Tyrer, Emeritus Professor of Community Psychiatry, Imperial College, London
    Multi-centre randomised controlled trial (RCT) for health anxiety in primary and general hospital care: clinical and economic outcomes.
    Richard Morriss, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Nottingham
    Pathological illness worries (health/illness anxiety) in the general population:The DanFunD study.
    Professor Per Fink, Head of the Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark
    Health Anxiety: the silent epidemic that is amenable to treatment
    Peter Tyrer, Emeritus Professor of Community Psychiatry, Imperial College, London

  • Chair: Professor Fiona Gaughran, National Psychosis Unit, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
    Inflammation, the microbiome and Psychosis
    Professor Iris Sommer, University Medical Center Groningen
    Clozapine and Immunity
    Professor James MacCabe, National Psychosis Unit, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
    Obsessions and Compulsions and clozapine
    Dr Emilio Fernandez-Egea, Cambridge and Peterborough Foundation Trust and University of Cambridge

  • Chair: Dr Lenny Cornwall, Consultant Psychiatrist, Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Trust
    The employer perspective – what knowledge and skills are employers looking for?
    Dr Lenny Cornwall, Consultant Psychiatrist, Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Trust
    The trainee perspective – what do trainees get from leadership training and what can they get?
    Dr Alex Till, Chair Psychiatric Trainees Committee 2018-19, Royal College of Psychiatrists
    The College perspective – what does the College understand to be the leadership role for psychiatrists and how will the new higher training curricula support this?
    Dr Helen Crimlisk, Deputy Medical Director, Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Trust; Associate Registrar, Leadership and Management, Royal College of Psychiatrists

  • Chair: Cate Bailey, East London NHS Foundation Trust and Dr Juliette Brown, East London NHS Foundation Trust
    Dr Rebecca Lawrence, Consultant Psychiatrist, NHS Lothian
    Dr Caroline Elton, Founder, Career Planning for Doctors
    Dr Caroline Walker, NHS Practitioner Health and Founder of The Joyful Doctor
    Dr Suhana Ahmed, Consultant Psychiatrist, South West London and St George's Mental Health Trust

  • Your chance to ask questions to our keynote speakers:

    Professor Sir Michael Marmot MBBS, MPH, PhD, FRCP, FFPHM, FMedSci, FBA Director of the Institute of Health Equity (UCL Department of Epidemiology & Public Health)

  • RCPsych Lounge
    10.00 - 11.00
    Specialty training drop in
  • RCPsych Lounge
    11.30 - 11.45
    Ask the managing editors
  • 11.20 - 11.50 Break
  • Chair: Dr Claire A Wilson PhD MRCPsych, King's College London
    The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic violence and abuse, and implications for mental health services in high income settings
    Prof Louise M Howard PhD MRCP FRCPsych, King's College London
    Domestic violence and the Covid-19 pandemic – findings from the (Dial & C) Study in India
    Dr Prabha S Chandra MD FRCPsych FRCPE, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, India
    Perinatal Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic
    Dr Claire A Wilson PhD MRCPsych, King's College London

  • Chair: Professor Helen Killaspy, Professor of Rehabilitation Psychiatry, University College London
    The use of novel stimulants in the general population and LGBT+ community
    Dr Derek Tracey, Consultant Psychiatrist & Clinical Director, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, London
    The social context of drinking amongst LGBT+ people in Scotland
    Prof Carol Emslie, Lead - Substance Use and Misuse Research Group, School of Health & Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University
    Understanding the pleasure and benefits of drug use for LGBT+ communities
    Dr Ian Hamilton, Lecturer in Mental Health, Department of Health Sciences, University of York

  • Chair: Professor Fiona Gaughran, National Psychosis Unit, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience
    Why does clozapine work?
    Professor Sir Robin Murray, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London and the National Psychosis Unit, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
    Depression, Affective Instability and Psychosis
    Rachel Upthegrove, Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health, University of Birmingham
    Brain Networks and Treatment Resistance in Psychosis
    Professor Sukhi Shergill, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London and the National Psychosis Unit, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

  • Chair: Julie Hankin, Executive Medical Director, Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
    Dr Ananta Dave, Medical Director , Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
    Dr Subha Thiyagesh, Medical Director , South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
    Dr Avinash Hiremath, Medical Director, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust

  • Chair: Ross Runciman, ST6 General Adult/Old Age Psychiatry Registrar – Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
    Simulation of an example of bullying
    Dr Alpana Bose
    The role of the Psychiatrists' Support Service
    Dr Ros Ramsay, Specialist advisor to the Psychiatry Support Service at the Royal College of Psychiatrists as well as being Deputy Medical Director at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
    The role the BMA can take in bullying and the wider evidence for bullying amongst doctors as well as its effects on them
    Professor Dinesh Bhugra, Former President, RCPsych

  • Chair: Dr Adrian James, President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
    Dr Shubulade Smith, Congress Co-Chair and Presidential Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
    Dr Rajesh Mohan, Presidential Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

  • 13.10 - 14.00 Lunch
  • Take the opportunity to have a break from the conference and virtual platform to spend time outdoors. Allow yourself time and permission to enjoy the simplicity of tuning in to yourself and your surroundings while strolling mindfully. In preparation for this you will be provided with an audio link lasting 5-7 minutes to support you in making the transition from conference mode to mindfulness walking. The pace of walking is slow to encourage reflection and observation. Walk from your front door and if at all possible find some local green space or somewhere you can be in touch with nature.  The walk should last around 20-30 minutes.  
  • 13.30 - 14.00
    Poster Lounge
    Rapid Fire Poster Presentations
  • RCPsych Lounge
    13.00 - 14.00
    Meet the PTC Officers
  • RCPsych Lounge
    13.00 - 14.00
    Careers drop in
  • Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults.  His first degree was from Wadham College, Oxford and he went on to study for an MA and a PhD.  He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches an MA in Children’s Literature.  
     
    Michael is also a popular broadcaster and has presented BBC Radio 4’s acclaimed programme about language, “Word of Mouth” since 1998, as well as regularly presenting documentary programmes for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3, including the Sony Gold Award-winning “On Saying Goodbye”.  
     
    Michael has published in the region of 200 books for children and adults, including “The Sad Book” with Quentin Blake (Walker Books) - a meditation on bereavement written after the loss of his son, Eddie;  “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” with Helen Oxenbury  (Walker Books) - made into an animated film for Channel 4 broadcast Christmas Day 2016 -  and “A Great Big Cuddle” with Chris Riddell (Walker Books) .  His poetry for adults includes “Don’t Mention the Children” (Smokestack) and “Selected Poems” (Penguin).  Non-fiction work for adults includes “Good Ideas: How to Be Your Child’s (and Your Own) Best Teacher” (John Murray),  “The Disappearance of Emile Zola, Love, Literature and the Dreyfus Case” (Faber), and his memoir “So They Call You Pisher!” (Verso).  
     
    Michael writes a monthly open “letter” to the Secretary of State for Education in The Guardian where he critiques Government policy on schools from the standpoint of a parent.  He visits schools, teachers’ conferences and university teacher training departments where he is in demand to give performances, workshops and keynote addresses. He also appears regularly at literary festivals all over the UK and Ireland. 
     
    Michael has received several honorary awards, including degrees from the Open University, the University of Exeter, the University of London Institute of Education and the University of East London/Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.  For outstanding contribution to children’s literature he received the Eleanor Farjeon Award and was Children’s Laureate 2007-2009.  In recognition of his contribution to the profile of French culture in the UK, he was made Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.   
     
    Michael’s Youtube channel – “Kids’ Poems and Stories with Michael Rosen” has had 50 million views around the world.  
  • Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes is Professor of Addiction Biology at Imperial College and Head, Centre for Psychiatry. She is also a Consultant Psychiatrist with a particular interest in pharmacological treatments of alcohol and opiate dependence at Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust.

    She graduated in medicine from Oxford University, completed her PhD at Cambridge University, and trained in psychiatry at The Bethlem and Maudsley Hospitals and Institute of Psychiatry. Her research has focused on using neuroimaging, pharmacological and behavioural challenges to characterize the neurobiology of addiction to alcohol, opiate, cocaine, gambling and nicotine.

    Her work particularly focuses on improving relapse prevention. She is currently investigating the potential of an NK1 antagonist (aprepitant) and a GABA-B agonist (baclofen) to improve opiate detox and relapse prevention. She leads an MRC funded PhD programme to produce future clinical addiction academic leaders: MARC – MRC Addiction Research Clinical Training.

    Professor Lingford-Hughes was Honorary General Secretary of the British Association for Psychopharmacology through which she co-developed and wrote their guidelines about the pharmacological management of substance misuse and addiction and comorbidity with psychiatric disorders. In addition, she has contributed to NICE guidance about opiate detoxification and alcohol dependence and contributing to PHE guidelines about managing alcohol problems. She is currently Professional Liaison Officer, British Neuroscience Association and recent past-Chair of the Academic Faculty of Royal College of Psychiatrists.
  • RCPsych Lounge
    14.00 - 15.00
    Curricula Hour
  • RCPsych Lounge
    14.30 - 15.00
    Meet the librarian: accessing online research
  • 15.05 - 15.25 Break
  • Chair: Professor Simon Wessely, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London
    The impact of pandemic on the mental health and well-being of UK healthcare workers
    Dr Danielle Lamb, NIHR ARC North Thames, Department of Applied Health Research, University College London
    Advancing understanding of moral injury in health and care settings
    Professor Neil Greenberg, Health Protection Research Unit, King's College London
    Implementation, sustainability, and application of learning from frontline staff support programmes
    Dr Sam Gnanapragasam, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

  • Chair: Prof Petrus J de Vries, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Univiersity of Cape Town, South Africa
    A retrospective case review of long-acting second generation injectable antipsychotics for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia in Kenya
    Dr Catherine Syengo-Mutisya, Consultant Psychiatrist, Nairobi, Kenya
    Education and training in psychiatry in low-resource environments – the story of Sierra Leone
    Dr Abdul Jalloh, Specialist Psychiatrist and Lecturer, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone
    Why we have to think differently about intervention research for autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities in Africa
    Prof Petrus J de Vries, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Cape Town, South Africa

  • Chair: Professor Oliver Howes, King's College London, Imperial College London and South London and Maudsley Foundation NHS Trust 
    Schizophrenia is associated with adverse changes in cardiac structure independent of conventional cardio-metabolic risk factors: a cardiac MR imaging study
    Dr Emanuele Osimo, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Campus, London; University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
    Comparative effects of 18 antipsychotics on metabolic function in schizophrenia: a network meta-analysis
    Dr Toby Pillinger, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College, London
    Modification of lifestyle risk factors in patients undergoing antipsychotic drug treatment
    Dr Adrian Heald, School of Medicine, University of Manchester

  • Chair: Dr Helen Crimlisk, Royal College of Psychiatrists
    Supporting emerging medical leaders - The RCPsych Leadership and Management Fellow Scheme
    Dr Alex Till, Royal College of Psychiatrists
    In Conversation - Mentoring, leadership, and the patient perspective
    Dr Ross Runciman, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust; Dr Amjad Uppal, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust; Mr Dan Beale-Cocks, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
    Panel Discussion - So, you want to be a leader?
    Dr Shevonne Matheiken, Northamptonshire Health Foundation Trust; Dr Sophie Behrman, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust; Dr Hanif Soomro, Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Dr Jen Rankin, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board


  • Chair: Dr Sridevi Mahalingappa, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, Royal Derby Hospital, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Secretary of the Association of University Teachers of Psychiatry (AUTP)
    Asynchronous and synchronous learning in a virtual environment
    Dr Seri Abraham, Consultant Psychiatrist, Consultant in Liaison Psychiatry, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust; Prof. Suzanne Reeves, Professor of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychopharmacology, Honorary Consultant, Islington Care Home Liaison, Academic MBBS Mental Health Lead, Division of Psychiatry, University College London; Dr James Fallon, Clinical Senior Lecturer, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Early Intervention in Psychosis and Assertive Outreach Team, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
    Assessment in the virtual learning environment
    Dr Isabel Mark, ST5 Specialist Registrar at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
    Online learning environments and student wellbeing
    Dr Declan Hyland, Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry, Clock View Hospital, Liverpool, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, Deputy Director for Year 4 at Liverpool Medical School and Specialty Lead for General Adult Psychiatry

  • Your chance to ask questions to our keynote speakers:

    Michael Rosen, Author and poet
    Professor Anne Lingford-Hughes, Head, Centre for Psychiatry and Professor of Addiction Biology at Imperial College London

  • Paul Rees joined the Royal College of Psychiatrists as Chief Executive in November 2016, from the Royal College of GPs – where he was Executive Director of Policy and Engagement.

    Working closely with the RCPsych Honorary Officers, Paul has led the modernisation of the RCPsych – leading to the transformation of College IT, stronger membership communication, more effective stakeholder engagement and a dynamic employee relations strategy.

    In collaboration with the College Officers, Paul led the introduction of a values-based approach to the way the organisation works with both its members and staff team – based on the organisational values of Courage, Innovation, Respect, Collaboration, Learning and Excellence, which were introduced in 2018.

    Among other things, this new approach saw the College celebrate Pride and Black History Month for the first time ever in 2019, and International Women’s Day for the first time in 2020. The College also launched its very own bespoke celebration of diversity in July 2020 - South Asian History Month - marking the contributions of South Asian doctors to the specialty of psychiatry.

    The values-based approach led to the College being awarded Charity of the Year in the European Diversity Awards in 2019. In 2020, Paul won the Louis Armstrong CEO Leadership Award in the Memcom Awards. 

    Paul began his career as a journalist working at the Times, Sunday Telegraph and BBC national network news.

    A move into communications saw him co-lead the successful right to roam campaign as Head of Communications at the Ramblers Association, which led to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

    Later, as Head of Campaigns and Communications at the National Housing Federation, Paul managed the campaign which brought about an end to the pre-payment meter tariff charged by the 'Big Six' energy companies to low income households for gas and electricity – saving £100m a year for less affluent families.

    As Director of Communications at the Charities Aid Foundation, he ran an award-winning campaign in 2012 that successfully persuaded the Chancellor to drop his proposed 'charity tax' on large donations, a tax that would have cost the charity sector £500m per year.  

    In other roles, Paul worked as Director of Communications on the Victoria Climbié and Zahid Mubarek public inquiries, and held the post of Head of Communications at the Home Office.

    As Director of Communications at the Association of University Teachers he co-led a successful, national campaign to protect the pay and conditions of university lecturers.
  • 16.50 - 17.00 Break
  • Join us for a very interactive comedy show hosted by TV’s own James Gill, Rachel Parris & Marcus Brigstocke.  Packed with sketches, chat, games, music and a Lip Sync Battle where you get to vote for the winner, there will even be a virtual front row - get ready for a show where there's something for everyone.  

  • CURED illuminates a pivotal yet largely unknown chapter in the history of psychiatry and the struggle for LGBTQ equality: the campaign that led the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Before this momentous 1973 decision, the medical establishment viewed every gay and lesbian person as diseased and in need of a cure.  As long as lesbians and gay men were “sick,” progress toward equality was nearly impossible. 

    While this award-winning documentary is indisputably about science, medicine, and politics, at its core this is a film about social change. The activists’ ingenuity brought about a shift that transformed not only LGBTQ people’s perceptions of themselves, but also the field of psychiatry and the social fabric of America. 

    Watch CURED anytime between 16  and 22 June and join the filmmakers, Bennett Singer and Patrick Sammon, on 21 June in conversation with Rainbow SIG Chair Dr Maire Cooney and Dr Josep Vilanova,  which includes screening of clips from the film.

    Click here to view the CURED website.
  • Salsa is a sociable and energetic dance style. This live session will be a great way to start learning, unwind and enjoy the music and movement. You will be introduced to essential Salsa steps and moves in a relaxed and enjoyable environment.

    Your session will be lead by City Academy tutors Sarah Rowe and Dani K. Dani K, is the founder and director of ALCADANZ and also an award winner for Best UK Salsa performer. Sarah currently represents Otradanz at a national and international level and has taught and performed at the One Dance Latin festival, Marrakech Salsa Congress and the Berlin Salsa Congress to name a few.

    You will start with the basics and slowly building your steps and transitions into more complex combinations. Time to get your dancing shoes on, practice your new moves and add your own personal flair.

  • This session will comprise of 3 separate talks exploring neurodevelopmental issues and the lives of 3 different artists who had a major impact on 20th century music and literature.

    Speakers include:

    • Dr Carsen Vogt, Berkshire (Chair)
    • Dr Uttom Chowdhury, Bedfordshire 
    • Professor Samuel Stein, London
    • Dr Jennifer Stein, Cornwall

    Oliver Sacks, wrote about a jazz drummer who used his tics to improvise when playing drums. The talk will focus on 'Witty Ticcy Ray' and his remarkable life and will bring together Sack's other stories of people with Tourettes.

    Thelonius Monk, widely regarded as a jazz composer of uncompromising creativity, had a “cryptic personality”, as well as unusual tics and habits. The talk will analyse in more detail his unique piano playing style with reference to neurology and psychiatry.

    James Baldwin - a writer and thinker who straddled his own struggle with racism and homophobia through his public rejection of difference. A boy from Harlem who attracted celebrities and politicians, but who became overwhelmed by his own success. We will look at his, and others’ experience of hitting a glass ceiling, common in high functioning ASD.
  • A mulitfactorial integrated system, yoga was originally designed to calm the agitated mind by balancing the mental and physical processes while promoting health behaviours.   In this experiential session we will explore yoga practices, describing them in a modern context that elucidates their influence on physiology and psychology, in a manner that is conducive to improved emotional health.
  • This session aims to showcase personal stories, self-care and allyship in the workplace. Looking at how we can ensure we maintain our wellbeing, how people have overcome experiences in the workplace and what we can do to support our colleagues. 
  • 8.30 - 9.00
    Poster Lounge
    Rapid Fire Poster Presentations
  • Graham Thornicroft is Professor of Community Psychiatry at the Centre for Global Mental Health and the Centre for Implementation Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. He is also a Consultant Psychiatrist at South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, working in a community mental health team in Lambeth. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, is a National Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator Emeritus and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Fellow of King’s College London and the Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. 

    Graham took his undergraduate degree at Cambridge in Social and Political Sciences, studied Medicine at Guy’s Hospital, London and then trained in Psychiatry at the Maudsley and Johns Hopkins Hospitals. He gained an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD at the University of London. 

    Graham has made significant contributions to the development of mental health policy in England, including chairing the External Reference Group for the National Service Framework for Mental Health, the national mental health plan for England for 1999-2009.    

    He is also active in global mental health, for example, he chaired the World Health Organisation Guideline Development Group for the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Intervention Guide (1st and 2nd editions), a practical support for primary care staff to treat people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders in low and lower middle incomes, which is now used in over 100 countries worldwide. He chaired the External Reference Group for the WHO guidelines on the Management of Physical Health Conditions in adults with severe mental disorders (2018). He now chairs the Guideline Development Group for the WHO guidelines on mental health at work.

    He is a Board Trustee of United for Global Mental Health, a Board Member for  Mental Health and Human Rights, and he chairs the Board of Implemental. His areas of research expertise include: reduction of stigma and discrimination, evaluation of mental health services, and global mental health. Graham has authored or edited over 30 books and over 600 peer-reviewed papers in Pubmed. In 2020 he was named as among the most Highly Cited Researchers in the world by Clarivate. Graham received a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours Awards in 2017. 
  • Early adverse exposures, such as maternal stress during pregnancy and child abuse, are thought to result in long-lasting consequences on neural circuit function and stress hormone regulation and ultimately in an increased risk for psychiatric but also medical disorders later in life. The impact of these environmental risk factors is moderated by genetic variation. The biological mechanisms underlying this increased risk and these gene x environment interactions are still unclear. This lecture will focus on putative biological mechanisms that implicate the ability of the stress hormone cortisol, released in response to stress, to trigger a cascade of adaptive genomic and non-genomic processes through activation of it’s receptors and the moderation of these responses by genetic variation. These stress hormone receptors are intracellular and bind to the DNA where they act as transcription factors. In such, this system presents a unique set-up for gene x environment interaction. 
    Overall, the presentation will outline how stress-exposure can have lasting effects on cell and tissue function and how this relates to risk or resilience to stress-related psychiatric disorders.

  • RCPsych Lounge
    9.00 - 10.00
    Let's talk about CESR
  • RCPsych Lounge
    9.30 - 10.00
    Meet the librarian: accessing online research
  • Chair: Dr Ursula Werneke Associate Professor (docent) in Psychiatry, Sunderby Hospital, Luleå and Umeå University, Sweden
    Vitamin D and mental disorders – cause, consequence or coincidence?
    Professor John McGrath, National Centre for Register-based Research Aarhus University, Denmark and University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia   
    Does vitamin D supplementation improve outcomes in early psychosis? Results from the DFEND trial.
    Professor Fiona Gaughran, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
    Vitamin D, respiratory infections and Covid-19 – what does the evidence tell us?
    Professor Adrian Martineau, Professor of Respiratory Infection and Immunity, Queen Mary University of London

  • Chair: Professor Alan Carson, Professor of Neuropsychiatry, University of Edinburgh
    Neuro exam and cognition
    Professor Adam Zeman, Professor of Neurology, University of Exeter

  • Chair: Sir Professor Robin Murray, Professor of Psychiatric Research at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
    Stopping Antidepressants: the view from RCPsych
    Professor Wendy Burn, Past President Royal College of Psychiatrists, Consultant Old Age psychiatrist.
    The right way and the wrong way to stop psychiatric medications 1: mood stabilisers and antidepressants
    Professor David Taylor, Director of Pharmacy and Pathology, SLaM and Professor of Psychopharmacology, KCL
    The right way and the wrong way to stop psychiatric medications 2: antipsychotics and benzodiazepines
    Dr Mark Horowitz, Psychiatry trainee, C&I and Clinical Research Fellow, UCL and NELFT

  • Chair: Nikki Nabavi, The BMJ, The University of Manchester
    Online Risks for the Mental Health of Young People
    Dr Jon Goldin FRCPsych Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Specialty Lead DCAMH  Joint Training Programme Director  Vice-Chair CAP Faculty, RCPsych Mildred Creak Unit Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
    Net gains?? Exploring the brighter side of social media and young people’s mental health
    Dr James Woollard, Chief Clinical Information Officer and Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. National Specialty Adviser in Digital Mental Health, NHS England and Improvement
    Lived experience of being online and in the public eye
    Oenone Forbat, Writer, Presenter, Social Media Influencer

  • Chair: Professor Kenneth R. Kaufman, AM, MD, FRCPsych, DLFAPA, FAES; Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Anaesthesiology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA; Visiting Professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; London, UK
    Ethnic inequalities and severe mental illness: evidence and actions
    Professor Kamaldeep  S. Bhui, CBE, MBBS, MSc, MD, FRCPsych, FRCP(E); Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry &  Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences,  Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, UK; Honorary Professor of Psychiatry, Queen Mary University of London, UK; Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, East London NHS Foundation Trust
    Unravelling the complexities of inequalities in mental health care and outcomes for cultural and linguistic minorities
    Professor Steve Kisely, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCPsych, FRANZCP, FFPH, FAFPHM, FAChAM; Professor, Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia and Professor of Psychiatry, Community Health, and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Canada; Brisbane, Australia
    Mental health care for the underserved in Brazil

    Professor Sara Evans-Lacko, PhD; Associate Professor, Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), London School of Economics and Political Science; London, UK
    Health system strengthening for mental health in low- and middle-income countries: introduction to the Emerald programme
    Professor Sir Graham Thornicroft, MSc, PhD, FRCPsych, FMedSci; Professor of Community Psychiatry, Centre for Global Mental Health and Centre for Implementation Science, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; London; UK


     

  • Your chance to ask questions to our keynote speakers:

    Professor Elisabeth Binder, Director, Dept. of Translational Research in Psychiatry Max-Planck Institute of Psychiatry

  • 11.20 - 11.50 Break
  • Chair: Sam Chamberlain MB/BChir PhD MRCPsych, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Southampton
    The Unfinished Story of the Neurobiology of OCD
    Himanshu Tyagi MRCPsych PhD, Consultant Neuropsychiatrist and Medical Psychotherapist, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
    Understanding the OCD Brain: Using Technology to Build Bridges Between Humans and Mice
    Susanne Ahmari MD PhD, Associate Professor and Director, Translational OCD Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh
    Executive Functions and Fronto-Striatal Connectivity in Relation to Compulsivity
    Matilde M. Vaghi PhD, Department of Psychology, Stanford University

  • Chair: Professor Alan Carson, Professor of Neuropsychiatry, University of Edinburgh
    Diagnosing delirium and dementia in a general hospital setting
    Dr Thomas Jackson, Geriatrician and Clinician Scientist, University of Birmingham
    Getting excited about apathy
    Professor Masud Husain, Professor of Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford

  • Chair: Professor Oliver Howes, King's College London, Imperial College London and South London and Maudsley Foundation NHS Trust
    Lithium augmentation: tortoise or hare?
    Dr David Cousins, Newcastle University
    RCPsych Psychopharmacology Committee Robert Kerwin Prize Winning Talks
    Clinical and biological effects of long-term lithium treatment in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: randomised clinical trial
    Dr Orestes V Forlenza
    Timing of onset of relapse prevention with lithium in bipolar disorder: evidence from randomised controlled trials
    Dr Matthew Taylor, Oxford Health NHS Trust

  • Chair: Dr Jed Boardman, Senior Lecturer in Social Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College, London
    Money and mental health - what the research says
    Dame Prof Til Wykes, Professor and Vice Dean Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London and Hannah Belcher
    Money and mental health - the changing policy landscape
    Conor, D’Arcy, The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute
    Money and mental health - lived experience
    Lee Brookes, Expert by Experience


  • Chair: Prof Hamish McAllister-Williams, Newcastle University and Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS FT
    Treatment Resistant Depression : a ‘difficult-to-treat’ concept
    Koen Demyttenaere, MD, PhD,  Professor of Psychiatry, University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven
    MAOIs - not to be forgotten
    David Baldwin, MA, DM, FRCPsych, Professor of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, UK
    Additional options for difficult to treat depression: the long and the short of it
    Hamish McAllister-Williams, PhD, MD, FRCPsych, Professor of Affective Disorders, Newcastle University and Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS FT

  • Chair: Dr Ananta Dave, Medical Director, Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
    CESR Evaluator
    Dr Declan Hyland, Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry
    Psych Stars
    Dr Declan Hyland, Consultant in General Adult Psychiatry, Dr Helen Bruce, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Psych Stars, Mehdin Shah, Bethany Platford, Cecilia Vinchenzo and Heather MacAdam
    Curriculum Framework 2022
    Dr John Russell, RCPsych Associate Dean for the Curriculum 
    The Foundation Fellows Scheme
    Dr Arthita Das, Consultant Psychiatrist
    Wellbeing Champions
    Dr Mihaela Bucur, Associate Registrar for Wellbeing and Retention RCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer
    Parliamentary Scholars
    Jonathan Blay, Public Affairs Manager, Royal College of Psychiatrists
  • RCPsych Lounge
    12.30 - 13.30
    Medical training initiative Q&A session
  • 13.10 - 14.00 Lunch
  • Take the opportunity to have a break from the conference and virtual platform to spend time outdoors. Allow yourself time and permission to enjoy the simplicity of tuning in to yourself and your surroundings while strolling mindfully. In preparation for this you will be provided with an audio link lasting 5-7 minutes to support you in making the transition from conference mode to mindfulness walking. The pace of walking is slow to encourage reflection and observation. Walk from your front door and if at all possible find some local green space or somewhere you can be in touch with nature.  The walk should last around 20-30 minutes.  
  • RCPsych Lounge
    13.00 - 14.00
    Meet the Chief Examiner
  • 13.30 - 14.00
    Poster Lounge
    Rapid Fire Poster Presentations
  • RCPsych Lounge
    14.00 - 15.00
    Curricula hour
  • Catherine Harmer trained in experimental psychology before completing a PhD in psychopharmacology both at the University of York. She came to the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford in 1998 as a post-doctoral researcher and was appointed as a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in 2007. Catherine Harmer’s work focuses on the cognitive mechanisms underlying treatment effects in psychiatry. She uses a combination of functional neuroimaging, cognitive measures, psychopharmacological challenge tests in humans to find out how, for example, antidepressants work in depression. Her work is funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre. Catherine Harmer serves on the executive committee of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, is an associate editor for Psychological Medicine and a Council Member for the British Neuroscience Association. She has won prizes from the Society for Biological Psychiatry and the British Association of Psychopharmacology for her work on antidepressant drug action.
  • The past 10 years have seen rapid acceleration of our understanding of how genes and environment act and interact in influencing risk for eating disorders. The Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI) is currently rolling out across the globe. But how do we integrate this emerging scientific information into our understanding of how some people are more vulnerable to developing eating disorders than others? How can clinicians incorporate information about genetics into their case conceptualizations and clinical work? Where is this research leading us? This presentation will distill the current state of the science and address these critical questions.
  • Chair: Prof Julia Sinclair. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton; and University Hospital Southampton.
    Alcohol use disorder: clinical features, neurobiology, and evidence-based treatment
    Prof Anne Lingford-Hughes. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London.
    Gambling Disorder: clinical presentation, neurobiology, and treatment options.
    Prof Jon Grant. Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago.
    Problematic Usage of the Internet: an addiction or a conduit?
    Prof Sam Chamberlain. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton; and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

  • Chair: Professor Alan Carson, Professor of Neuropsychiatry, University of Edinburgh
    Should neurologists learn more psychiatry?
    Dr Biba Stanton, Consultant Neurologist, King’s College Hospital
    Teaching neuroscience to psychiatrists
    Professor Wendy Burn, Past-President Royal College of Psychiatrists

  • Chair: Angelika Wieck, Consultant in Perinatal Psychiatry, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and University of Manchester.
    Influence of maternal depression on foetal growth and neonatal neurobehavioural development
    Kristi Sawyer, (Postdoctoral Research Associate), Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London.
    Review of the evidence regarding the possible association between autism spectrum disorders and in utero SSRI exposure
    Professor Ian Jones, Congress Co-Chair.
    Prescription of valproate-containing medicines in women of childbearing potential with psychiatric disorders – is it worth the risk?
    Professor David Baldwin, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton; and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.


  • Chair: Dr Ken Busch, Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association
    Psychotherapy training in psychiatry in the UK and the US
    Dr Jessica Yakeley, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy; Director, Portman Clinic Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, London
    The Royal College of Psychiatrists Medical Student Psychotherapy Scheme Strategy
    Dr Sarah Majid, Consultant Psychiatrist in Medical Psychotherapy, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust
    Psychotherapy with the LGBT population in the US
    Dr James R. Batterson UMKC School of Medicine Immediate Past Speaker, Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association

    Discussion
    Dr Sidney Weissman, Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis and formerly Director of Psychiatric Residency Education at Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago

  • Chair: Dr Sarah Reeve, University College London
    The longitudinal associations of sleep problems in early childhood with psychotic and borderline personality disorder symptoms in adolescence
    Dr Isabel Morales-Muñoz, University of Birmingham; and Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
    Cross-sectional and prospective associations between sleep, anxiety and depression in adolescents.
    Faith Orchard, University of Sussex
    Treating sleep problems in patients with psychosis
    Dr Felicity Waite, University of Oxford

  • Your chance to ask questions to our keynote speakers:

    Professor Catherine Harmer, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford
    Professor Cynthia M. Bulik, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Karolinska Institutet

  • RCPsych Lounge
    16.00 - 17.00
    Specialty training drop in
  • 16.25 - 16.45 Break
  • Chair: Dr Shubulade Smith, Congress Co-Chair
    Race-thinking and the amygdala
    Dr Lasana Harris, Associate Professor in Social Psychology, University College London
    The impact of racism on the development of psychosis
    Dr James Kirkbride, Reader in Epidemiology, University College London
    Dr Rajesh Mohan, Consultant Psychiatrist, Presidential Lead for Race and Equality, RCPsych

  • Chair: Professor Alan Carson, Professor of Neuropsychiatry, University of Edinburgh
    COVID 19 and the nervous system
    Dr Benedict Michael, Senior Clinician Scientist Fellow, University of Liverpool
    What is new in prion disease?
    Dr Alison Green, Reader, University of Edinburgh

  • Chair: Dr Emily Finch, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
    Gambling disorder in England: 2021 overview
    Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE, Founder and Director, national problem Gambling Clinic and Psychiatry President, Royal Society of Medicine
    An Overview of the Treatment Programme at the National Problem Gambling Clinic
    Dr Venetia Leonodaki, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the National Problem Gambling Clinic
    Gambling and Interpersonal Violence
    Dr Amanda Roberts, Associate Professor at the University of Lincoln
  • Reflections on: Mind State and Society: Social History of Psychiatry and Mental Health in Britain 1960-2010 
    George Ikkos, Chair HoPSIG (History of Psychiatry Special Interest Group) RCPsych and Nick Bouras, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Kings College London
    Psychiatry in my time - Panel discussion
    Chair: Professor Dinesh Bhugra, Former President, RCPsych
    Professor Nicol Ferrier, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Newcastle University
    Professor Eve Johnstone, University of Edinburgh
    Dr Aggrey Burke, Consultant Psychiatrist, COPE Mental Health Foundation, Birmingham and Patron, ACCI, Wolverhampton
  • Chair: Professor Mary Cannon, Department of Psychiatry, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland
    High Potency Cannabis - the most important risk factor determining incidence for psychosis
    Professor Sir Robin M Murray, Professor of Psychiatric Research, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London
    Cannabis, Cognition and Mental Health in young people
    Professor Mary Cannon, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin
    "Cannabis use disorders amongst youth: When weed takes over"
    Dr Bobby Smyth, Consultant Child and Adolescent Addiction Psychiatrist, Health Services Executive and Department of Public Health, Trinity College Dublin
    Cannabis in Canada: can there be smoke without fire?
    Professor Oyedeji Ayonrinde, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
  • Chair: Professor Kenneth Kaufman, Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
    The big picture 
    Dr William Lee, University of Exeter 
    A small picture
    Professor Eva Petkova, New York University School of Medicine 
    Another small picture
    Professor Kam Bhui, University of Oxford
    What journals are doing, and what we should do next
    Professor Sophia Frangou, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; Professor Allan Young, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London; Professor Gin Malhi, Sydney Medical School; Andrea Cipriani, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford      

  • A mulitfactorial integrated system, yoga was originally designed to calm the agitated mind by balancing the mental and physical processes while promoting health behaviours. In this experiential session we will explore yoga practices, describing them in a modern context that elucidates their influence on physiology and psychology, in a manner that is conducive to improved emotional health.
  • The Turtle Song project is a singing and song writing initiative for people living with dementia and for their carers and companions. It is a partnership project between Turtle Key Arts, Royal College of Music and English Touring Opera and has been running since 2008. 

    The session will be an interactive introduction to the way that we co-create songs with people living with dementia.  Working with a professional composer and workshop director, it will illustrate the ability of creativity and music to enhance the quality of life for everyone and will be an uplifting and joyous start to the day.  

    Testimonial from a participant living with dementia: “It’s a friendly, fun and creative experience that’s inclusive and not in the least bit condescending 

  • 8.30 - 9.00
    Poster Lounge
    Rapid Fire Poster Presentations
  • RCPsych Lounge
    9.00 - 10.00
    Specialty training drop in
  • This presentation will describe recent research showing how neurodevelopmental problems and childhood maltreatment contribute towards increasing risk of severe mental illness and will discuss the likely physiological underpinnings of this additive risk and the clinical implications.  
  • Fiona Godlee is the Editor in Chief of The BMJ. She qualified as a doctor in 1985, trained as a general physician in Cambridge and London, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. She has written and lectured on a broad range of issues, including health and the environment, the ethics of academic publishing, evidence based medicine, access to clinical trial data, research integrity, open access publishing, patient partnership, conflict of interest, and overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

    Fiona is honorary professor at the Netherlands School for Primary Care Research (CaRe), honorary fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of Public Health at the University of Cambridge, honorary fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and a by-fellow of King’s College Cambridge.

    She is on the advisory or executive boards of the Health Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute, Alltrials, the Peer Review Congress, the International Forum for Quality and Safety and Healthcare, Evidence Live, Preventing Overdiagnosis, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change and the Climate and Health Council. 

    She was a Harkness Fellow (1994-5), President of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) (1998-2000), Chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (2003-5), and PPA Editor of the Year (2014). Fiona is co-editor of Peer Review in Health Sciences . She lives in Cambridge with her husband and two children.
  • Chair: Professor Albert "Skip" Rizzo, Director, Medical Virtual Reality, Institute for Creative Technologies, Research Professor, University of Southern California
    Virtual Reality in a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit
    Dr Aileen O'Brien, Reader in Psychiatry and Education St George's University of London, Honorary Consultant South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust
    Does VR have potential for the assessment and treatment of deliberate fire setting?
    Katie Sambrooks, Research Associate in Forensic Psychology, CORE-FP, School of Psychology, Keynes College, University of Kent
    Winning wider audiences with immersive VR storytelling
    Zillah Watson, Visiting Fellow at Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford

  • Chair: Dr Ken Courtenay, Chair Intellectual Disability Faculty Royal College of Psychiatrists
    The patient experience
    Mr Phil Wills
    The Dutch experience
    Dr Gerda de Kuijper, MD, PhD, ID-Physician 
    The UK experience
    Professor Rohit Shankar MBE, FRCPsych

  • Chair: Dr Sarah Markham, King's College London
    Inside NICE: More than just guidelines.
    Dr. Howard Ryland, NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Oxford; Honorary Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
    Getting It Right First Time in Rehabilitation: A National Programme Supporting Transforming Lives.
    Dr. Sridevi Kalidindi C.B.E., MB BS, BSc (Hons), PhD, FRCPsych   Consultant Psychiatrist in Rehabilitation & Recovery SLaM NHS FT;  National Clinical Lead, GIRFT Mental Health Rehabilitation, NHSI;  Visiting Senior Clinical Lecturer, IOPPN
    No Quality without Equality! Advancing Mental Health Equality to improve outcomes for all.
    Dr. Shubulade Smith CBE, Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Lecturer, Clinical Director, Forensic Services South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust; Clinical Director, NCCMH, Royal College of Psychiatrists

  • Chair: Professor Kenneth R. Kaufman, AM, MD, FRCPsych, DLFAPA, FAES; Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Anaesthesiology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA; Visiting Professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; London, UK
    Getting published: practice tips for students, trainees, and tenacious researchers
    Professor Kamaldeep S. Bhui, CBE, MBBS, MSc, MD, FRCPsych, FRCP(E); Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry & Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, UK; Honorary Professor of Psychiatry, Queen Mary University of London, UK; Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, East London NHS Foundation Trust
    Predatory journals and dubious publishers:  how to avoid being their prey
    Professor Steve Kisely, MD, MSc, PhD, FRCPsych, FRANZCP, FFPH, FAFPHM, FAChAM; Professor, Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia and Professor of Psychiatry, Community Health, and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Canada; Brisbane, Australia
    Quality open access journals: RCPsych -- CUP portfolio
    Professor Kenneth R. Kaufman, AM, MD, FRCPsych, DLFAPA, FAES; Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology and Anaesthesiology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA; Visiting Professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London; London, UK
    The changing landscape of academic publishing
    Ann H. Avouris, BA; Executive Publisher, Journals, Cambridge University Press; New York, New York, USA


  • Chair: Prof. Allan H. Young, Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
    Childhood maltreatment and the physical burden of patients with bipolar disorders.
    Prof. Bruno Etain, University Paris Diderot and Assistance Publique des Hopitaux de Paris, France  
    Telomere length is associated with childhood trauma experiences in patients with a severe mental disorder.
    Dr Monica Aas NORMENT K.G Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway  
    HPA axis, Genetic Biomarkers and Early Life Stress impact in Affective Disorders.  
    Dr Mario F P Juruena.  Centre for Affective Disorders - Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience - King’s College London

  • Your chance to ask questions to our keynote speakers:

    Professor Helen Minnis, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow

  • 11.20 - 11.50 Break
  • Chair: Professor Naomi Fineberg, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom
    Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) for Mental Illness
    Dr Eduardo Cinosi, Consultant Psychiatrist, Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, Hatfield,  UK
    Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) for Mental Illness
    Professor Richard Morriss, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK
    Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) for Severe Mental Illness
    Professor Eileen Joyce, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK

  • Chair: Professor Daniel Smith, University of Glasgow
    Exploring different aspects of mental health among young people in Scotland
    Ms Judith Mabelis, MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow
    Measuring barriers to accessing mental health services in 19,000 pupils: findings from the OxWell School Survey 2020.
    Mina Fazel, Associate Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of OXford and Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre for Psychological Medicine, Oxford University Hospitals NHSFT
    Pupil mental health, concerns and expectations about secondary school as predictors of adjustment across the transition to secondary school.
    Professor Frances Rice, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Wolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health, Cardiff University.

  • Chair: Vanessa Ford, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
    Sally Smith
    Sexual Safety Collaborative: Standards
    Jessica Barrett, Lead Researcher and Developer, National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
    Improving sexual safety in mental health inpatient settings: A National Quality Improvement Collaborative
    Dr Matthew Milarski, Quality Improvement Coach, National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health
    A Ward’s Perspective
    Lee Alexander, Forest Close, Julie Smalley, Forest Close, Juliet Miller, Forest Close and Michelle McNealis, Forest Close

  • Chair: Dr Kate Lovett, Dean, RCPsych.
    The whys and wherefores of research training
    Prof Tamsin Ford, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge.
    How to publish: (crystal clear) points means prizes. Writing abstracts and posters
    Prof Sam Chamberlain. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton; and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
    Navigating the submission maze: what do publishers look for in a good paper?
    Dr Niall Boyce. The Lancet Psychiatry

  • Chair: Dr James Lee-Davey, East London NHS Foundation Trust
    The suicidal patient: clinical and ethical considerations
    Dr Chloe Beale, East London NHS Foundation Trust
    "You have capacity to decide to end your life": a patient perspective
    Ms Ellie Thomas, Service User and Carer Group for the 2018 Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983
    Suicide and the law
    Mr Alex Ruck Keene, 39 Essex Chambers

  • Chair: Dr Katherine Walesby, Clinical research fellow and specialty registrar in geriatric and general medicine, Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh
    The life course analysis of the neuroscience of socioeconomic status- From theoretical perspectives to practical analysis
    Dr Sahan Benedict Mendis MRCPsych, Alzheimer Scotland Clinical Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh and Honorary ST5 in General Adult Psychiatry. 
    The shape of frailty and the factors which affect it
    Mr Miles Welstead, University of Edinburgh
    Motoric Cognitive Risk – more than a predictor of dementia
    Dr Donncha Mullin, MRCPsych, Clinical Research Fellow, Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre and Division of Psychiatry at the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh. Honorary Specialty Registrar in Psychiatry, NHS Lothian, Scotland 
  • RCPsych Lounge
    12.30 - 13.30
    The RCPsych's 3 year International Strategy - 1 year in
  • 13.10 - 14.00 Lunch
  • Take the opportunity to have a break from the conference and virtual platform to spend time outdoors. Allow yourself time and permission to enjoy the simplicity of tuning in to yourself and your surroundings while strolling mindfully. In preparation for this you will be provided with an audio link lasting 5-7 minutes to support you in making the transition from conference mode to mindfulness walking. The pace of walking is slow to encourage reflection and observation. Walk from your front door and if at all possible find some local green space or somewhere you can be in touch with nature.  The walk should last around 20-30 minutes.  
  • RCPsych Lounge
    13.00 - 14.00
    Update on the RCPsych equality strategy and Careers drop in
  • 13.30 - 14.00
    Poster Lounge
    Rapid Fire Poster Presentations
  • RCPsych Lounge
    14.00 - 15.00
    Curricula hour
  • Vivian B. Pender, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell Medical College and a Training Psychoanalyst at Columbia University. A Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association she has served  as aTrustee since 2014. She is the incoming 2020 APA President-Elect.

    At the United Nations she represents the International Psychoanalytical Association andthe American Psychiatric Association. Until 2011, she chaired the NGO Committee on the Status of Women and is the Immediate Past Chair of the NGO Committee on Mental Health, coalitions of non-government organizations in consultative status with the UN that include the APA and the IPA. As a UN Consultant Psychiatrist she was instrumental in the establishment of UN Women. She is a volunteer Asylum Evaluator for Physicians for Human Rights. She was a volunteer psychiatrist with Psychiatric Outreach to the Homeless. She is a volunteer with the New York Cares Medical Reserve Corps. In 2015, she founded Healthcare Against Trafficking, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education and advocacy in the healthcare sector. To this end she has presented Grand Rounds and symposia on the prevention of child abuse, forced early marriage and human sex trafficking. She is a co-investigator on a Weill Cornell Department of Internal Medicine innovative grant to study “Experiences of Sex Trafficking Victims in Healthcare Settings.” She produced four documentaries of conferences at the United Nations on mental health, human rights, human trafficking and violence.

    Dr. Pender has honors and awards for her excellence in teaching undergraduate students, medical students, residents and fellows. She has published journal articles and book chapters on affect, pregnancy, human trafficking, global mental health and leadership. In 2016 her book, The Status of Women: Violence, Identity and Activism was published.
  • Professor Chris Whitty is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, the UK government’s Chief Medical Adviser and head of the public health profession.

    Chris is also Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), with overall responsibility for the department’s research and development, including the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. He represents the UK on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization.

    Chris is a practising NHS Consultant Physician at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and Gresham Professor of Physic at Gresham College.

    Chris is an epidemiologist and has undertaken research and worked as a doctor in the UK, Africa and Asia. He was Professor of Public and International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) before becoming CMO.

    Chris was the interim Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2017 to 2018, including during the Novichok poisonings. Before that, he was the Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for International Development (DFID), which included leading technical work on the West Africa Ebola outbreak and other international emergencies.
  • RCPsych Lounge
    14.30 - 15.00
    Meet the librarian: accessing online research
  • 15.05 - 15.25 Break
  • Chair: Prof Hugo Critchley, Sussex
    Applications of real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging to alleviation of psychological symptoms
    Professor David Linden, Maastricht and Cardiff
    Autonomic biofeedback in management of neuropsychiatric conditions
    Dr Yoko Nagai, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
    Harnessing physiology in anxiety management
    Dr Cristina Ottaviani, Sapienza and University of Rome

  • Chair: Sophia Frangou, University of British Columbia and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
    Brain correlates of psychopathology in children growing up in social disadvantaged or enriched environments
    Sophia Frangou, Departments of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
    Research in Depression: Great Expectations and Great Challenges
    Argyris Stringaris, Mood, Brain and Development Unit, NIMH
    Trajectory of brain structural development in young individuals at familial risk of mood disorder
    Dr. Heather Whalley, The University of Edinburgh

  • Chair: Mr Steve Gilbert OBE, Service user & Serious Mental Illness Living Experience Consultant and Vice Chair of Independent Mental Health Act Review
    Ideas for clinicians to help patients have better experience of Mental Health Tribunal hearings” 
    Dr Joan Rutherford, Chief Medical Member, Mental Health Tribunal England and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
    Advocacy in mental health 
    Ms Rheian Davies, Head of Legal, Mind
    How clinicians can help patients have a better experience of mental health services
    Dr David O’Flynn, Trust Mental Health Act Clinical Lead, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust


  • Chair: Dr Maria Papanastassiou, NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
    The Nature of Suicide
    Dr Rachel Gibbons, Royal College of Psychiatrists
    Work with those Bereaved by a Doctors Suicide
    Dame Clare Gerada

  • Chair: Professor Angela Hassiotis, Professor of Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability and Consultant Psychiatrist, UCL Division of Psychiatry and Camden and Islington Foundation NHS Trust
    The clinical and ethical imperative to optimise medications
    Dr Rory Sheehan, Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London
    Challenges to making medication decisions
    Dr Dheeraj Rai, Consultant Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Bristol
    De-prescribing Psychotropics: How to come "unstuck"
    Dr Rohit Shankar MBE, Consultant in Adult Developmental Neuropsychiatry Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust & Associate Professor (Hon.)/Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Exeter Medical School

  • 16.40 - 17.00 Break
  • Come and join us for a lively and interactive virtual wine tasting when we finally start planning to host our friends again.  

    During the session, wine host Fabio will introduce two gastronomic wines that are bound to impress your guests this summer! 

    Please see below the two wines which will need to purchased in advance of the session (Both wines are available through Waitrose and can be purchased in-store or online) :

    1. Cave de Turckheim Crémant d'Alsace NV [Sparkling Wine, France] 

    Current Price: £13.49 

    2.  Altano Organic Douro Red 2019 [Red Wine, Portugal] 

    Current Price: £10.99 

    Please also see this PDF presentation (PDF) for further details on each wine plus recommended food pairings, including vegan options. 

    Please note that spaces for this event are limited and are on a first come, first served basis. Also note that this event will be live only and not available to view on demand.
  • Vinny Peculiar
    ‘Vinny Peculiar songs make you laugh and cry and think all at the same time’  
    Tom Robinson BBC 6Music 
    Rolling Stone Magazine said…‘Vinny’s kitchen sink confessional style of writing is often described as quintessentially English – ‘homespun tunesmithery in the Robyn Hitchcock/Martin Newell vain –wry nostalgia, witty wordplay 
     
    While not performing or recording albums Vinny can be found doing music workshops aimed at aiding recovery with Tonic Music for Mental Health. 

    In this IC Fringe session Vinny’s music performance is introduced by Dr John Barnes with whom Vinny has collaborated on participation projects with Johns patients in Somerset and conference workshops for medical students and rehab faculty. John will give an entertaining presentation of a toolkit on how and why psychiatrists should collaborate with artists and musicians. 
  • In this session Professor Femi Oyebode will read from poetry written by people who have a history of psychiatric illness including Elizabeth Jennings, Robert Lowell, Ivor Gurney, Anne Sexton, and others. 

    The aim is to illustrate the themes and concerns that emotional disquiet
  • The Royal College of Psychiatrists are delighted to introduce this specially commissioned performance by rising talent, classical trio, Undercroft.

    The Undercroft Trio have been playing together since their first year of undergraduate study at Trinity Laban. Taking the works of Beethoven as a cornerstone for their chamber playing, they have since branched out to cover all genres of music, from jazz to contemporary.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Recital programme

    Piano Trio No. 1 in C Minor Op. 8 - Dmitri Shostakovich  

    Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor Op. 63 - Robert Schumann 

    Since they formed, they have had a multitude of performance opportunities including two recitals at Wigmore Hall, and concerts around the home counties. Whilst studying, they won the Carne Trust Chamber Award, granting them exclusive masterclasses with the Linos Trio and members of the Carducci Quartet. They went on to become finalists for the Intercollegiate Piano Trio Competition at Chetham's School in Manchester, and were joint winners of the Carne Trust Chamber Competition 2020.
  • This dance session will involve about twenty participants, ranging in age from sixteen through twenty-five, including college and post-graduation students of the department of dramatic Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, Nigeria. 

    Participating in the dance workshop demonstrated the mental and emotional benefits of dance. Some of the benefits of dance on our general wellbeing includes: increased mental stamina and memory, increased self-confidence, joyful self-expression, emotional exploration, setting and attaining goals and taking on new challenges. 

    Mental Health Support Initiative in conjunction with the Department of Dramatic Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, Nigeria, presents “How Dance affects our Mental and Emotional Health”… We hope participants will appreciate our performance.   
  • This drama presentation will involve about twenty participants, ranging in age from sixteen through twenty-five, including college and post-graduation students of the department of dramatic Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, Nigeria. 

    We have come to realise that ‘Mental health stigma’ operates in the society and is internalized by individuals across boards. This has been the story in Nigeria over the period. As a student body, we hope to increase the mental literacy among members of the global community with this presentation of ours. As observed, this ethics-laden issue acts as a barrier to individuals who may seek or engage in treatment services and other issues of life.  

    Mental Health Support Initiative in conjunction with the Department of Dramatic Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, Nigeria, presents a drama titled “Mental Health Stigma in Nigeria”… We hope participants will appreciate our performance.   
  • The Conspiracy Clinic is a podcast focusing on one of the most controversial sequelae of COVID 19 - conspiracy theories. We will share the most thrilling to the most bizarre and explore how they have impacted upon us during the pandemic. How did these theories originate? What drives the paranoia in society? How does fake news affect mental health? We explore these issues and more. Join us if you are keen to find out how the vaccine is monitoring you, how Bill Gates created COVID 19, and all about the secret world of the lizard people.
  • 8.30 - 9.00
    Poster Lounge
    Rapid Fire Poster Presentations
  • The global pandemic, as endured inside the NHS, has often felt apocalyptic - chaotic, traumatic and profoundly destructive. But the original meaning of ‘apocalypse’ centres not on destruction but on revelation. Fundamentally, an apocalypse reveals truths that were otherwise hidden. Rachel will reflect on what a year of mid-pandemic palliative medicine has taught her about loss, death, grief, hope and NHS resilience
  • While much of the research points to postpartum psychiatric conditions being quite similar to other psychiatric conditions, except that they occur in the postpartum period, clinicians who study   psychopathology among pregnant and postpartum mothers find that they can be quite unique.  The experience of motherhood is influenced often by past trauma, ongoing partner relationships and cultural meanings of being pregnant or postpartum. The talk will discuss case studies from the Mother Baby unit in India and explore contemporary research in this area. The role of trauma in perinatal psychiatric disorders and how maternal trauma may contribute to attributions of psychopathological states to the fetus or the infant, to dissociative states and to suicidality will also be discussed.  In South Asian cultures, trauma often relates to patriarchal norms and gender preference and influences help seeking.  The talk will also discuss the use of a clinical interview used cross culturally- the Stafford Interview for Maternal Mental Health in order to precisely document psychopathology in different cultures. 
  • Chair: Prof. Wendy Burn Past-President Royal College of Psychiatrists
    ‘Has Transforming Care transformed people’s lives?’
    Dr. Ken Courtenay Chair, Faculty of Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability, Royal College of Psychiatrists
    ‘A family’s experience of hospital care and community aspiration’  
    Bekki Davis and Mary Spence, Challenging Behaviour Foundation
    ‘Safe and sustainable transitions to community for vulnerable adults’
    Dr. Rajesh Mohan, Chair, Faculty of Rehabilitation and Social Psychiatry, Royal College of Psychiatrists

  • Chair: Professor David Baldwin, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton; and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust
    Practical advice for assessing and understanding ADHD: diagnosis, comorbidities, and biological models
    Prof Sam Chamberlain. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton; and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
    How does ADHD change across the lifespan and how do services cope? The CATCh-uS project
    Prof Tamsin Ford. Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. 
    Evidence-based treatments for ADHD, including the BAP and NICE Guidelines
    Prof Samuele Cortese. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton.

  • Chair: Dr Lynne Jones OBE FRCPsych, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
    Non-violent direct action on the climate
    Dr Hayley Pinto, Consultant Psychiatrist in Addictions Psychiatry, CGL Norfolk
    Collective action by psychiatrists to organise on the emergency  
    Dr Kirsten Shukla, Consultant CAMHS Psychiatrist, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
    Young people, the climate emergency, social, racial and climate justice
    Daze Aghaji, Climate Justice Activist and Dr Nick Barnes, RCPsych Sustainability Committee
  • Chair: Dr Alex Thomson, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
    Enhancing assessment and challenging stigma – what you mustn’t miss
    Dr Alex Thomson, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
    How to hear what your patient is trying to tell you
    Dr Emma McAllister
    People with obsessive-compulsive disorder as ‘risk objects’
    Prof David Veale, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, King's College London

  • Chair: Dr Jon Goldin, RCPsych Westminster Parliamentary lead
    Sir Norman Lamb Chair of the Children & Young People's Mental Health Coalition, Chair of Maudsley NHS and former Minister for Care and Support
    Luciana Berger Chair of Maternal Mental Health Alliance, Managing Director oat Edelman UK and former Shadow Secretary of State for Mental Health’
    Dr Ben Spencer Consultant Psychiatrist and Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge

  • Your chance to ask questions to our keynote speakers:

    Professor Prabha Chandra, Professor of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore

  • RCPsych Lounge
    10.00 - 11.00
    Let's talk about CESR
  • RCPsych Lounge
    11.00 - 12.00
    Specialty training drop in
  • 11.20 - 11.50 Break
  • Chair: Nicola Swinson, NHS Forth Valley
    Risk assessment: Myths and Evidence
    Prof Seena Fazel, University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry
    Risk of harm to others: subjectivity and meaning of risk in mental health practice
    Prof Taj Nathan, Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust
    Moral psychology and risk assessment
    Dr Ed Silva, Mersey Care NHS FT

  • Chair: Professor Rafey Faruqui, University of Kent, Canterbury and Kent & Medway NHS Partnership Trust
    Medication for Huntington's disease
    Professor Hugh Rickards, National Centre for Mental Health, University of Birmingham
    Pharmacotherapy of Neuropsychiatric aspects of Epilepsy
    Dr Niruj Agrawal, St. George's Hospital London & St. George's Medical School, University of London
    Pharmacotherapy of Tic Disorders
    Professor Andrea Cavana, National Centre for Mental Health, University of Birmingham & Aston University, Birmingham

  • Chair: Indira Vinjamuri, Consultant Psychiatrist and Director of Medical Education - Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust
    What NHS Benchmarking Data tells us about the state of mental health services
    Stephen Watkins, Director, NHS Benchmarking Network
    Real life impact: the information contained in the data
    Simon Rose, Lived Experience Educator, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
    Why Data Matters for Clinicians
    Dr Asif Bachlani, Clinical Director for Acute and PICU Network, Priory Group

  • Chair: Prof Cornelius Katona MD FRCPsych Medical and Research Director, Helen Bamber Foundation and Hon Professor, Division of Psychiatry, UCL
    Recent developments in mental healthcare for asylum-seekers and refugees: A UK perspective
    Dr Piyal Sen, FRCPsych, DPM, DFP, PGCAP, Medical Director, Chadwick Lodge and Eaglestone View, Elysium Healthcare, Honorary Visiting Senior Lecturer, College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University.
    Recent developments in mental healthcare for asylum-seekers and refugees: A view from across the pond.
    Professor J David Kinzie, MD , FACPsych, Professor of Psychiatry  Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon USA
    Recent developments in mental healthcare for asylum-seekers and refugees: A Canadian perspective
    Dr Rachel Kronick, MD MSc FRCPC, Child and adolescent psychiatrist, Jewish General Hospital Assistant professor, Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University Clinician-Scientist, Lady Davis Institute and Sherpa Research Institute


  • Chair: Sophie Thomson, Chair, Volunteer and International Psychiatry Special Interest Group Royal College of Psychiatrists
    Introduction to Global Humanitarian mental health : Reflection from an International Volunteering Psychiatrist
    Dr. Peter Hughes, Consultant Psychiatrist, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
    What is Humanitarian Psychiatry and how has it changed : a personal view
    Dr Lynne Jones OBE FRCPsych, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 
    Distant Volunteering in Digital Era : Lessons from distant supervision for Rohingya Refugee Camp
    Dr. Anis Ahmed, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Chair Elect VIPSIG at RCPsych

  • Chair: Razan Halawa, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust 
    Dr Pia Menzies, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
    Angelina Cham, University of Bristol
    Rachel Levy, University of Bristol

  • 13.10 - 14.00 Lunch
  • Take the opportunity to have a break from the conference and virtual platform to spend time outdoors. Allow yourself time and permission to enjoy the simplicity of tuning in to yourself and your surroundings while strolling mindfully. In preparation for this you will be provided with an audio link lasting 5-7 minutes to support you in making the transition from conference mode to mindfulness walking. The pace of walking is slow to encourage reflection and observation. Walk from your front door and if at all possible find some local green space or somewhere you can be in touch with nature.  The walk should last around 20-30 minutes.  
  • RCPsych Lounge
    13.00 - 14.00
    Meet the college officers
  • RCPsych Lounge
    13.00 - 14.00
    Careers drop in
  • 13.30 - 14.00
    Poster Lounge
    Rapid Fire Poster Presentations
  • RCPsych Lounge
    14.00 - 15.00
    Curricular hour
  • Until the discovery of the antidepressant effects of ketamine, all of the medications used to treat depression were variations of treatments discovered in the late 1950s. Although they help many people, these medications have many limitations that are well known to people who have struggled with depression. To get new types of antidepressants, we had to think differently about the brain and the biology of depression. This presentation will highlight the change in perspective that led us to discover the rapid and robust antidepressant effects of ketamine in depressed patients. I will then briefly describe what the field of depression research is learning about ketamine and esketamine (Spravato) that led to the FDA approval of Spravato in March, 2019. Lastly, I will show how the crosstalk between basic and clinical neuroscience has led to the hypothesis that ketamine and Spravato may work by helping the brain regrow synaptic connections between nerve cells that were lost due to the impact of stress and depression on the brain. These new connections appear to enable circuits regulating mood to function more effectively. Ultimately, this is a story about hope. It highlights that there are opportunities for fundamental discovery that cannot be anticipated and that can profoundly change the lives of people with depression and other illnesses.
  • Huda Zoghbi is Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology, and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the founding Director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

    Zoghbi’s interests range from neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration.  Her discovery (with Harry Orr) that Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 1 is caused by expansion of a polyglutamine tract and her subsequent studies that such expansion leads to accumulation of the mutant protein in neurons has had profound ramifications since many late-onset neurological disorders involve similar accumulations of disease-driving proteins.  Zoghbi’s work in neurodevelopment led to the discovery of the gene Math1/Atoh1 and to showing that it governs the development of several components of the proprioceptive, balance, hearing, vestibular, and breathing pathways. Zoghbi’s group also discovered that mutations in MECP2 cause the postnatal neurological disorder Rett syndrome and revealed the importance of this gene for various neuropsychiatric features. Zoghbi trained over 90 scientists and physician-scientists and is a member of several professional organizations and boards. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among Dr. Zoghbi’s honors are the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from Rockefeller University, the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Canada Gairdner International Prize, and Honorary degrees from Yale University, Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the Victor A. McKusick Leadership Award, American Society of Human Genetics, and most recently the 2020 Brain Prize, Lundbeck Foundation and the Citation Laureate by Web of Science.
  • Chair: Dr Jessica Yakeley, Consultant Psychiatrist in Forensic Psychotherapy; Director, Portman Clinic Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, London
    The future of psychiatry is psychodynamic
    Dr Gwen Adshead, Consultant forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist, west London trust
    Working with Complex Mental States – the contribution From psychotherapy
    Dr Cleo Van Velsen
    Psychotherapeutically informed psychiatry  and the patient presenting with medical symptoms
    Dr Julian Stern, Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust

  • Chair: Professor Louise Gallagher and Professor James Walters
    Psychiatric Genetics: Recent findings and their clinical potential
    Professor James Walters
    Reflections from a Unicorn
    Dr Annie Procter
    An evidence-based approach to applying psychiatric genetics findings to improve patient outcomes
    Professor Jehannine Austin

  • Chair: Dr David Rigby and Romayne Gad el Rab, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Trust
    Telepsychiatry in the UK: How digital tech transformed mental health provision
    Dr. Cyrus Abbasian. Consultant Psychiatrist, SW London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust; Honorary Senior Lecturer, St. George's University of London; Designated Partner, www.Psychiatry-UK.com
    What is it like to have a Phone Pal? Findings from a feasibility trial
    Dr. Mariana Pinto da Costa; Queen Mary University of London
    Covid-19 and Digital Mental Health; The service user perspective
    Millie Smith; Head of People Participation, East London NHS Foundation Trust

  • Chair: Diane Goslar, Patient Representative. Currently in recovery
    Speaking the Truth from Below: A Patient in the Kingston Lunatic Asylum, Jamaica in 1859-60.
    Dr Peter Barham, Psychologist & historian, Chartered psychologist & fellow of the British Psychological Society.
    Voices of the mad. Patients’ letters from the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, 1873-1908.
    Dr Allan Beveridge, Honorary Fellow, History of Medicine, Edinburgh University.
    “I have to-day seen all the 671 patients in residence in this institution… [anything] in the nature of complaint was obviously due to mental disease”: Not listening to patients, circa 1920.
    Dr Claire Hilton, Historian in Residence, Royal College of Psychiatrists.

  • Your chance to ask questions to our keynote speakers:

    Dr John Krystal, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience; Co-Director, Yale Center for Clinical Investigation; Chair, Department of Psychiatry
    Professor Huda Zoghbi, Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine and winner of the 2020 Brain Prize

  • 16.25 - 16.45 Break
  • Chair: Dr Alison J Gray,  Chair RCPsych Spirituality and Psychiatry SIG; Senior Lecturer, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Birmingham University, UK
    Hearing Spiritually Significant Voices
    Professor Christopher C.H. Cook, Professor of Spirituality, Theology & Health, Durham University, UK
    Religious delusions – research findings from two studies in the Netherlands
    Professor Arjan Braam,  Altrecht Mental health care, Utrecht, The Netherlands; University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
    Narrative Frameworks in Psychosis  
    Dr Angela Woods, Associate Professor of Medical Humanities, Institute for Medical Humanities, Durham University, UK

  • Chair: Prof. Allan Young, Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London
    Non-Affective Psychosis and Treatment Resistance 
    Prof. Rachel Upthegrove, Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham
    Start as you mean to go on: Early treatment options for mood and psychotic disorders 
    Prof. Steven Marwaha, Department of Psychiatry, University of Birmingham
    Review of First Episode Mania and Psychosis
    Dr. Sameer Jauhar, Academic Psychiatry, King's College London


  • Chair: Professor Tom KJ Craig, Emeritus Professor of Social Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry
    Making services work for homeless people
    Dr Philip Timms, consultant psychiatrist, National Psychosis Service
    Trauma-focussed practice with homeless people
    Dr Peter Cockersell, Chief Executive, Community Housing and Therapy
    Enabling homeless people to access psychological help
    Mr John Conolly, Lead Counsellor, Westminster Homeless Health Counselling Service

  • Chair: Dr Jane Bethea, Consultant in Public Health, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust & Nottingham City Council
    The Public Perspective
    Caroline Turiff, Freelance reporter
    The Clinical Perspective
    Dr Musa Sami, University of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
    The Academic Perspective
    Dr Solja Niemelä, Associate Professor of Addiction Medicine at the University of Turku, Finland