The Mental Health Research for Innovation Centre (M-RIC) is a partnership of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Liverpool, set up in 2023.
M-RIC is a groundbreaking research facility based in the Civic Health Innovation Labs at Liverpool Science Park. Its overall aim is to improve future mental health services and treatments
M-RIC was awarded £10.5 million by the Office for Life Sciences and the National Institute for Health and Care Research Mental Health Translational Research Collaboration Mission (NIHR MH-TRC), hosted by the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre. As one of the two key demonstrator sites, M-RIC’s aim is to create a bold and ambitious ‘learning system’ where care is continuously improved the more treatments are used, studied and refined.
The Centre brings together academic researchers, healthcare providers, service users, carers and industry to develop and evaluate new treatments and deliver innovative services.
This includes trialling new drugs and new uses of existing drugs. It also involves researching digital therapies such as apps and artificial intelligence for delivering virtual talking therapies and new ways to support mental wellbeing.
The aim is to improve mental healthcare by shortening the time it takes to translate research into real benefits for our local communities.
Prof Dan Joyce and Prof Iain Buchan co-lead M-RIC. Prof Dan Joyce is the R&I Director at Mersey Care and Professor of Connected Health at the University of Liverpool. Prof Iain Buchan is Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Chair in Public Health and Clinical Informatics, University of Liverpool and Honorary Consultant in Public Health.
Find out more about M-RIC at mric.uk.
You can contact M-RIC using the online form at https://mric.uk/contact-us/.