Global Mental Health Unboxed #22
Your monthly newsletter on all things global mental health
7 May 2025
Dear readers,
Welcome to subscribers old and new for this month’s serving of global mental health news, events, jobs, publications and resources. I hope you enjoy this issue and share it far and wide with your networks. The times are difficult, including for our field, where the ripple effects increase anxiety globally and individually, while funding is being cut and projects are unexpectedly dropped, leading to loss of jobs, expertise, help for affected people. I will try to respond however I can, in my small way, by featuring diverse content here, including as many job ads as I can find, and reflecting current news, resources and publications. I hope to receive your ideas as well - leave me a comment or email me at manolova.gergana@gmail.com
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Yours,
Gergana
News and Notes in Global Mental Health
Here I share interesting pieces of information, announcements and news that have reached me in our field. I rely on your contributions as well - please share your news or announcements with me.
Wellcome giving grants to fundamental research of generative AI for anxiety, depression and psychosis
The controversy around the use of AI in mental health grows by the day, but there are serious possibilities there too, which Wellcome strives to uncover with their latest funding round. Open to all researchers from early-career onwards, the scheme will award up to 3 million GBP to each team approved. Reflecting the novelty of AI, the scheme begins with a 4-month accelerator stage, after which a separate funding call will take place.
4th advocacy forum by GMHAN to take place in February 2026
Put this one in your calendars - and it will be added to globallyminded.org too in time - the 4th global mental health advocacy forum, which the Global Mental Health Action Network is organizing, will be taking place between 2 and 4 February in the Philippines. There will be the possibility of online attendance as well, and participation is completely free in holding with the motto of the forum “No Voice Left Behind”. You can apply for the limited pool of travel grants for in-person attendance by July 2025, more information on the website.
Events in Global Mental Health
The event calendar for 2025 is at globallyminded.org. Keep in mind that events may beannounced shortly before they take place and I publish them on the website with only 2-3 days’ notice. I only publish some spotlights here.
8 May - Transatlantic dialogue on climate change and mental health by WHO EURO and PAHO
8 May - Mental Health and Climate Change: When a global crisis and planetary emergency collide – Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School
You get one day warning, but there will be two separate events dedicated to climate change and mental health on 8th May. Coincidence? I think not. The topic is gaining serious traction following the conference on air pollution organized by WHO in March in Colombia; although climate change and air pollution are two separate factors affecting mental health on a biological and psychological basis, you’ll find they have been mostly ignored so far, while presenting increasingly bigger challenges.
20 May - Hot Brain 3: Climate change and brain health by UCL and Lancet Neurology
… and if the above two events do not sufficiently emphasize the biological grounds for action, I suggest you tune in for this one. Brain health is the foundation of mental health, after all, and this one-day conference will make it abundantly clear why we should all be alert to how it’s affected by climate change.
Jobs and Opportunities in Global Mental Health
The jobs and opportunities listed here might not be advertised as being in global mental health and the decision for including them is mine alone. Unless otherwise stated, I have found out about them through job sites, social media posts, other newsletters and so on, so I have no more information on them than publicly available and you should refer to those listed in the job ad.
No or minimum experience necessary
Research Assistant /Technician, University of British Columbia, Canada - by 12 May
PhD students for Real-world evidence in Health Technology Assessment, Erasmus University, Netherlands - by 16 May
Some experience (2-5 years) necessary
Lecturer in Medicine, Health and Society, King’s College London, United Kingdom - by 11 May
Research Associate, The Douglas Research Centre, Canada - by 16 May
Research Fellow, University of Manchester, United Kingdom - by 19 May
Principal Coordinator, Movement for Global Mental Health, Remote - by 31 May
5+ years of experience necessary
International Consultant - Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist, UNODC, Austria - by 9 May
Performance and Partnership Directors, Healthy Brains Global Initiative, US - by 11 May
Head of Innovation in Mental Health, Wellcome, UK - by 29 May
Senior Researcher, University of Oxford, United Kingdom - by 16 June
Associate Director, Mental Health, Milken Institute, US
Resources in Global Mental Health
A section for various resources, databanks, information sources that may prove helpful.
McGill University webinars in global mental health - this is an excellent suggestion for your playlist, revisiting the classics of “critical, cultural, and practical perspectives” for mental health globally and especially in low- and middle-income countries. The speaker cast is stellar, while the cross-section of geographies and issues is impressive. My favourites are No. 5, on the topic of refugees and mental health, and No. 7, on an intervention in global mental health which is now getting the South-to-North treatment (in London and New York). I hope McGill continues to add to this collection.
Publications in Global Mental Health
The selection of publications ultimately reflects my personal knowledge and preferences, but I have no intended bias. Feel free to send me publications you consider interesting or that you would like to be featured. I try to focus on articles that are free or open access
Truthful communication of mental science: pledge to our patients and profession - you may have already read this clear statement of intent to continue to “[communicate] the truth”. To understand why this brief article, barely one page, is impressive by its own existence, take a look at the section “Declaration of Interests” which is essentially a who’s who of major psychiatric journals around the world. Several characteristics can apply: pithy, full of equal parts concern and anger, and biting in the way the basic tenets of psychiatric science are wielded like a blunt weapon: “Science is predicated on scientific method. Consideration of all known factors is critical to determining what matters. Clinical research in psychiatry is about discovering the true nature of illnesses and the distress that people experience.”
It is heartening to read this commitment, which shows that academic publishing is aware of the integrity needed to justify its continued existence; we also should hold the signatory journals to it, including by discussing publicly through the networks available to us the process of our research, our publications and our informal discussions.
Educating medical and nursing students to provide mental health, neurological and substance use care: a practical guide for pre-service education - this WHO guide is excellent in filling a long-necessary gap for the task-sharing model. Yes, there are never going to be enough psychiatrists, and yes, we do need to work with medical and nursing workers to plug in the gap, because mental health is an inseparable part of health and mental health conditions are only growing. Organizing in-service training is onerous and uncertain enterprise, as research shows, for many reasons. Will it work better to catch ‘em young, that is, during their pre-service training? Only time and trial will tell, but the guide does not skimp on its content. Rather than give one and only curriculum, it flexibly takes decision-makers through every step of the process and gives a list of tools to achieve success.
Something for your mental health
Starting a new corner to share something satisfying, funny or enriching that can enhance your experience of daily life and through this, your mental health.
Have you heard of the Voyager Golden Record? The two Voyager spacecraft were launched all the way back in 1977. Their mission: convey Earth’s information to any space civilization advanced enough to intercept and understand this “message in a bottle”. This has, so far, been the single attempt of humanity at sending forth a material representative of Earth to any civilizations that might be out there - an action born out of hope. The two spacecraft each bear an identical phonograph containing images and audio recordings about life and human cultures on Earth, the location of Earth in the Milky Way galaxy, our planet’s nature, chemistry and physics. Most importantly, music from Earth. You can find the full list in the Wikipedia entry above, and the playlist is available on YouTube.
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter. I will publish the next edition in June 2025 and in the meantime will keep updating my website when I find the time. If you have ideas, suggestions, or just want to say hi (the best thing!), you can leave me a comment or write an email - my address is above in the introduction.