We are the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research, based at Swansea University.
Our Centre brings together researchers, people with lived experience, practitioners, and policy partners to better understand suicide and self-harm, and to prevent them.
“We believe good evidence, used well, can save lives.
Everything we do is rooted in compassion, collaboration, and real-world impact.”
We carry out high-quality research to improve understanding of suicide and self-harm across the life course, using large-scale data, lived experience insight, and close partnership with services.
Our work helps to:
- Identify risk and protective factors
- Inform policy and practice
- Improve prevention and support at local and national levels
- Share evidence in clear, accessible ways
We work closely with communities, services, and decision-makers to ensure research leads to meaningful change.
Meet the Team
Meet the people behind the National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research and the work we do to improve suicide prevention and self-harm research in Wales.
Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry based at Swansea University, with expertise in suicide and self-harm prevention, youth mental health, common mental disorders, epidemiology, public health and population data science. Ann John is also a PI and co-director of DATAMIND.
Professor of Social Work based at Cardiff University. Jonathan Scourfield is also Deputy Director of CASCADE, the Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre.
Responsible for coordinating delivery across the Centre, managing timelines, and bringing together partners and workstreams to ensure projects are delivered effectively.
Research Fellow at Swansea University specialising in children and young people’s mental health, suicide prevention and self-harm.
Based at Swansea University, driving the integration of machine learning into epidemiology within the National Centre.
With expertise in public mental health, psychiatric epidemiology, suicide and self-harm and health informatics.
Based at School of Health and Social Care, Swansea University, with expertise in health economics, qualitative research and data analysis.
Supporting policy and practice collaboration.
Based at DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, with expertise in the improvement of mental health and wellbeing and the prevention of suicide and self-harm within the care setting.
From University of South Wales with expertise in substance misuse.
Lecturer in Suicide Prevention and researcher specialising in self-harm, suicide, and LGBTQ+ young people. Jess Williams is also the People with Lived Experience Panel Coordinator.
Working in suicide prevention and self-harm research, focusing on population-level suicide trends, inequalities, and policy-relevant evidence.
Working in suicide prevention and self-harm research, focusing on children and young people and mixed diverse populations.
Focused on using machine learning to improve understanding of children and young people’s mental health, with a strong emphasis on the fair and ethical use of AI.
Contributing to the development and validation of mental health phenotypes and suicide and self-harm research across the Centre.
Currently focusing on self-harm and suicide prevention research within the Centre for Adult Social Care and DECIPHer centres at Cardiff University.
Focused on developing a National Digital Twin to improve understanding of self-harm and suicidal behaviours, supporting evidence-informed suicide prevention.
Linking Real-Time Suspected Suicide Surveillance and population-level data to enable timely and comprehensive research on suicide risk factors, with domestic abuse as an example use case.
Supporting Centre activity with a focus on external engagement, alongside administrative support.
Provides administrative support and coordination across Centre activity, supporting the entire team on projects at each stage from planning through to delivery.