Ruth Wadman
Research Fellow

Profile

Biography

Ruth is a Research Fellow for the Age of Wonder Adolescent Mental Health Collaboratory. Her research focuses on what works to protect adolescent mental health, as part of the Born In Bradford Age of Wonder Cohort study. 

Ruth joined the Mental Health and Addiction Research Group in 2017 as a Research Fellow. She is also the Theme Manager for the Yorkshire and Humber ARC (Applied Research Collaboration) Mental and Physical Multimorbidity theme. Prior to this, Ruth worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Durham University and the University of Nottingham.

Ruth’s research has focused on emotional and social functioning in young people with mental health conditions and/or neurodevelopmental disorders. Current research interests include mental and physical multimorbidity, youth mental health including self-harm, and the meaningful involvement of young people in research. Ruth is a Chartered member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and is a Fellow of The Higher Education Academy. 

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Psychology - Durham University
• MRes Psychology – University of Manchester 
• PhD Psychology – University of Manchester

Research

Overview

Ruth’s research interests focus on child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing, including self-harm and student mental health.

Ruth has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and is passionate about involving young people in the research process.

Projects

• ARC Yorkshire and Humber Mental and Physical Multimorbidity theme
• Optimising Wellbeing during Self-isolation (OWLS)
• Age of Wonder Adolescent Mental Health Collaboratory: What works to protect adolescent mental health?

Research group(s)

• Mental Health and Addiction

Publications

Full publications list

• Ruth Wadman's publications

External activities

Memberships

• British Psychological Society
• Researchers in Behavioural Sequence Analysis
• The Early Career Researcher Youth and Public Engagement on Self-Harm (ECR YaPS; founding member)

Invited talks and conferences

• Risky business? Involving young people in research on self-harm and suicidality. From Harm to Hope Self Harm Conference (Harmless), Nottingham 2016. 
• Involving Children and Adolescents in Research on Sensitive Topics: The Case of Self-Harm and Suicidality. University of Nottingham Children and Childhood Network Annual Conference, 2015 [keynote].
• Exploring the experiences of young people with Tourette syndrome in secondary school - findings from the ImPAcT project. Tourettes Action Teacher Training Day, London, 2014.

Media coverage

• Interviewed for Sky News and BBC Radio Nottingham items on the effectiveness of harm minimisation strategies for self-harm.
• Interviewed for Capital FM East Midlands News item “Teachers need more training to spot Tourettes”, 2013.