Paul Heron

Paul Heron is a Research Fellow in the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group, Dept. Health Sciences, and a Trial Manager for the RE-DEFINE refugees and asylum seekers project. Paul has a background in Psychology and Research Methods. Paul previously worked in the NHS on a range of NIHR mental health research with a focus on severe mental ill health (SMI) such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Paul currently works on the Health and Wellbeing (HWB) cohort which aims to understand lifestyle and health-related behaviours of people with SMI. HWB has the overall goal of reducing the 20-25 years mortality gap inequality in people with SMI and currently has thousands of people from across England participating. HWB is developing bespoke physical health interventions to target: physical activity and exercise, smoking, diet, alcohol, and other physical health and lifestyle factors. Paul is interested in trial design and research ethics within this population and how novel designs can be ethically and practically implemented within the NHS.

Paul provides data management support to the IMPACT Southeast Asia project which aims to collectively improve the mental and physical health of individuals with comorbid long-term health problem. IMPACT is commencing in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Paul is also a Trial Manager for the World Health Organisation (WHO) RE-DEFINE project which aims to deliver a psychosocial preventative intervention to refugees and asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan. People with refugee status who experience emotional distress are invited to a Randomised Controlled Trial to test a Self Help+ intervention which aims to improve their wellbeing and reduce the likelihood of developing mental health conditions such as PTSD.

Other research interests include: bespoke research database design, social media and website management, delivering therapeutic interventions.