Profile

Biography

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)

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.