15 November 2023
- Speaker: Dr Ganga Shreedhar, London School of Economics
- Title: Public understanding of the sixth mass extinction and support for systems transformations to mitigate biodiversity loss: Evidence from UK, USA, India, Brazil and South Africa
- Time: 12.15pm - 1.05pm (GMT)
- Location: 10W 2.02
Dramatic declines in biodiversity in the UK and across the world have led scientists to sound the alarm that we are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction event. In response to these existential risks of species extinction and associated planetary changes such as climate change, recent intergovernmental and scientific reports have called for transformative changes in human behaviour, societies, and systems. This study explores public understanding of the sixth mass extinction and the willingness to support transformative change through choices (e.g., electing politicians, changing diets) and the endorsement of policies (e.g., eco-labels, carbon taxes) using international survey data from the UK, USA, India, Brazil, and South Africa (n=2,700). The findings are supported by qualitative insights from interviews conducted with the public (n=50) and scientists (n=15).
16 November 2023
- Speaker: Nina Higson-Sweeney, University of Bath
- Title: Advances in our understanding and treatment of adolescent depression: the role of fatigue
- Time: 12.15pm - 1.05pm (GMT)
- Location: 10W 1.10
Adolescent depression is a prevalent and disabling condition, but current psychological treatments are only moderately effective. One way to improve outcomes is to further our understanding and capacity to target the most frequent and problematic symptoms. One such symptom is fatigue, with initial findings in adolescents suggesting it is common, highly disabling, and has the potential to interfere with engagement in psychological therapies for depression. Despite this, fatigue is poorly understood and often left unaddressed by treatments provided in routine mental health services.
In this presentation, Psychology PhD student Nina Higson-Sweeney will provide an overview of our current understanding of fatigue within adolescent depression, including a summary of three studies conducted as part of a mixed methods PhD on this topic. These studies include:
- a systematic review of non-pharmacological interventions to address fatigue in adolescents
- a qualitative exploration of adolescents’ experiences of fatigue in depression
- a quantitative secondary analysis of data from a large-scale randomised controlled trial, examining whether current psychological treatments for depression address fatigue.
The presentation will conclude with consideration of the practical and theoretical implications of the findings, alongside directions for future research.
22 November 2023
- Speaker: Professor Geoff Haddock, University of Cardiff
- Title: What do we think about people who are attitudinally ambivalent?
- Time: 12.15pm - 1.05pm (GMT)
- Location: 10W 1.10
While research has studied the consequences of being attitudinally ambivalent, we know much less about how ambivalent people are perceived and evaluated. This talk describes a series of studies examining how people (a) perceive and mentally represent dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets, (b) how they evaluate dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets and (c) how they expect to interact with dispositionally ambivalent and non-ambivalent targets.
29 November 2023
- Speaker: Dr Dima Danai, City University of London
- Title: Exploring the interplay of genetics with functional and structural brain variations in psychosis
- Time: 12.15pm - 1.05pm (GMT)
- Location: 10W 1.10
In this talk, Dr Dima Danai will discuss the impact of genetic variations on structural and functional brain changes in psychotic disorders. An effective method for understanding how genes contribute to the onset of psychotic symptoms involves examining the connection between candidate genes, polygenic risk scores, and biomarkers that characterise brain structure or function in psychosis. The presentation will also explore the influence of biological aging (telomeres) on these factors. It will introduce the application of multivariate machine learning techniques to analyse these complex relationships. Moreover, it will highlight recent advancements in imaging transcriptomics and the valuable role of transcriptional atlases in validating hypotheses regarding the molecular mechanisms behind changes in macroscopic neuroimaging phenotypes associated with psychosis.