Thousands of people living with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis or major depression are being invited by the NHS to join GlobalMinds, a major three-year study aiming to create the most detailed dataset yet on severe mental illness and enable more personalised treatments.
About 49,000 eligible adults in England and Wales are being sought, with nearly 2,000 already enrolled and a further 1,000 people with dementia included through separate recruitment routes. NHS England’s DigiTrials service is identifying and inviting suitable patients across participating trusts and offering targeted support for those who are more severely ill or face barriers to using digital technology.
Participants provide a blood or saliva sample (at-home kits or arranged visits available), complete online questionnaires and consent to researchers linking these data with their NHS medical records. The study will combine genetic, clinical and personal information to investigate factors that influence risk, severity and treatment response in serious mental health conditions.
GlobalMinds is led by Akrivia Health Ltd in partnership with Cardiff University and will initially run in England and Wales before expanding internationally. The study is supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and funded by the Wellcome Trust and Johnson & Johnson.
Key voices
– Dr Adrian James, NHS England’s National Medical Director for Mental Health and Neurodiversity, said the study could transform understanding of severe mental illness and usher in a new era of personalised treatments, urging people contacted to consider joining.
– Professor James Walters, GlobalMinds’ Chief Investigator at Cardiff University, said the programme offers an unprecedented chance to link genetic and routine clinical information to enable earlier, more precise diagnosis and better-targeted treatments.
– Brian Dow, Deputy Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness, highlighted the partnership between researchers, the NHS and charities as a strength that keeps lived experience central to the work.
– Akeela Mohammed, a Patient Public Involvement and Engagement Adviser for GlobalMinds, emphasised designing the research with the voices and needs of vulnerable and less-included communities in mind.
Participant experience and safeguards
A Patient Public Involvement and Engagement group helps shape the study. Eligible participants aged 18 or over who live in an area covered by a participating NHS trust and have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis, major depression or a related condition can sign up at globalminds.org. After a brief eligibility check and online questionnaire, volunteers provide a blood or saliva sample. All participants receive a voucher of up to £50 as thanks, can choose whether to take part in specific elements, and may withdraw at any time without giving a reason. No one’s data is shared with researchers without their knowledge and permission.
Participating NHS trusts
Current participating organisations include:
– South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust
– Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust
– Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
– Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
– Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
– Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
– Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
– Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
– Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
– Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
About Akrivia Health and additional study components
Akrivia Health, founded in 2019 as a University of Oxford and NHS spin-out, curates electronic mental health records into structured data usable for research and works with clinical academics and people with lived experience. The UK-led GlobalMinds programme includes a dementia cohort of 1,000 patients recruited via hospitals, care homes and a pilot with Cera Care in three English locations, with support from NIHR Research Delivery Networks.
Logistics and partners
Kaizen Bioservices handles sampling logistics. Global Initiative Ltd provides the website and Trial Deck clinical trial management platform. Claremont Communications helped design the study website and patient-facing materials.
Further information and contact
Sign up and full details: https://globalminds.org/
Dementia cohort information: https://dementia.globalminds.org/
For media and interview requests, contact Tanisha Kamat at [email protected] or 07407 687936.
