Research Scientists
Professor Mark Williams
Professor Mark Williams is a Wellcome Principal Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and Professor of Clinical Psychology. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Experimental Psychology and the Department of Psychiatry and is the Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the British Academy and the US Association for Psychological Science.
Professor Williams, along with colleagues John Teasdale (Cambridge) and Zindel Segal (Toronto), developed Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for prevention of relapse and recurrence in major depression. His research is concerned with psychological models and treatment of depression and suicidal behaviour, particularly the application of experimental cognitive psychology to understanding the processes that increase risk of suicidal behaviour in depression.
Kitty Wheater
Kitty Wheater is a social anthropologist who is conducting ESRC-funded DPhil research on the increasing prevalence of mindfulness-based approaches in British society. She is working with researchers, teachers and clients to investigate how mindfulness-based approaches are used by meditators to face the challenges of modern urban life, including chronic illness, stress and environmental change.
Adele Krusche
Adele Krusche has conducted research investigating dispositional mindfulness as part of her Masters course and developed an interest in how mindfulness can alter perspectives and help with disorders. She was the lead recruiter on the Staying Well after Depression multi-centre RCT and trial coordinator in the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Adele is currently conducting research into online mindfulness courses and their benefits in conjunction with the Mental Health Foundation and Wellmind Media and works part time as IT support and website moderator.
Bergljot Gjelsvik
Bergljot Gjelsvik is Honorary Research Clinical Psychologist at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre having trained as a clinical psychologist at the University of Oslo and holds a Masters of Studies degree in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) at the University of Oxford. She is completing her PhD on suicide prevention and deliberate self-harm focusing on causes of suicidal behaviour, risk and protective factors. Bergljot works clinically with depressed and suicidal individuals using MBCT.
Dr Melanie Fennell
Dr Melanie Fennell is one of the pioneers of cognitive therapy for depression in the UK and developed the Oxford Diploma in Cognitive Therapy and Oxford/MSc in Advanced Cognitive Therapy. She is a research clinician in the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and teaches on the Masters Degree in MBCT in Oxford University. Dr Fennell has a particular interest in cognitive therapy for depression and low self-esteem. Her book “Overcoming Low Self-Esteem” has become a classic of self-help literature, recommended on the National Health Service’s self-help scheme known as “Books on Prescription”.
Dr Maret Dymond
Dr Maret Dymond trained as a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Southampton and has a degree in psychology and PhD in perinatal psychology at the University of Reading. Dr Dymond trained as a teacher in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Depression (MBCT) and in Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP). She currently leads on a project facilitating and evaluating MBCP classes for expectant parents in collaboration with NHS colleagues introducing MBCP within the UK and Europe.
Dr Danielle Duggan
Dr Danielle Duggan gained her DPhil in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford and is now a Post-Doctoral Research Psychologist working on a variety of projects at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. Current projects include the clinical service providing courses of MBCT to clients of the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, as well as the multi-centre RCT ‘Staying Well After Depression’.
Dr Catherine Crane
Dr Catherine Crane gained her DPhil in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and has been working as a Senior Post-Doctoral Research Psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry. She is working on a variety of projects including collaboration with researchers at the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, University of Bristol and the multi-centre RCT “Staying Well after Depression.” Dr Crane’s research interests include mindfulness based treatment approaches, suicide, self-regulation and autobiographical memory.
Dr Gaetan Cousin
Dr Gaetan Cousin gained his DPhil in Psychology at the University of Neuchatel, in Switzerland, where he has worked on physician-patient communication. He is currently working at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre as a Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher, on a 2-year project financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Dr Cousin’s interests include mindfulness-based interventions, personality and individual differences in patients’ reactions to the treatments, as well as medical communication within somatic and psychiatric contexts.
Dr Thorsten Barnhofer
Dr Thorsten Barnhofer worked in Prof Mark Williams’ group at the Oxford Department of Psychiatry for eight years, during which time he was involved in research on the effects of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in suicidal and chronic depression as a clinician, mindfulness teacher, and researcher. He is now a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London, where the main focus of his research is on the investigation of cognitive and neurophysiological factors underlying the persistence of affective disorders and their modification using mindfulness-based interventions. He teaches MBCT workshops and retreats for mental health professionals, and is a licensed CBT-therapist and yoga teacher.
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