On the 21st of July, I attended The British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) Summer Meeting at the University of Birmingham. I was lucky enough to be invited to speak during a Postdoctoral symposium: “Sleep and Mental Health: From mechanisms to practice”. Especially given this meeting was the 50th Anniversary of the BAP.
The symposium was a great display of the diverse research happening across sleep and circadian science and mental health research. With talks ranging from population cohorts, genetics, engagement with school children, depression, and using virtual reality. I was very humbled to be sharing the stage with Dr Giulia Gaggioni (University of Edinburgh), Dr Emma Sullivan (University of York) and Dr Emily Stanyer (University of Oxford). This symposium was well-chaired by Dr Catia Olivera and Dr Emma Sullivan, and introduced by Dr Alexandra Pike, all from the University of York. Talking with each of the speakers, we greatly enjoyed the symposium and we received good interactions with those who attended. This symposium highlighting the work of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) working at the interface of mental health, sleep and circadian science provided a good opportunity to further share the current Circadian Mental Health Network ECR Pilot Project funding call.
Throughout the meeting’s poster sessions, it was also fantastic to see many posters focused on the influence of many different aspects of sleep and circadian rhythms in a variety of mental health conditions. There were many posters highlighting the work of undergraduate and Master’s students, which was so impressive to see.
As this was the 50th Anniversary, there were many talks demonstrating the history of not only the BAP but the history of psychopharmacology research. Exploring how approaches to psychopharmacology have changed was enlightening, and the meeting itself demonstrated how open to adapting the research is. It was also great to see there was a session on Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement.
The entire meeting was also well covered by the Mental Elf, and I was lucky enough to chat with them about circadian rhythms, sleep, mental health and involving individuals with lived experience in research. You can check out the full interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWivxS8-Rfc. They also have many other interviews with speakers from across the meeting on their YouTube.
Overall, the meeting gave me a greater understanding of the landscape of psychopharmacology, and introduced me to some amazing ECRs working with circadian rhythms, sleep and mental health. I will be excited to go back next year.
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