Get involved in our research work

Become a Young Champion

We will be recruiting for new Young Champions early 2023. Please email us at Participation@annafreud.org to express your interest. As a Young Champion you will meet like-minded people, develop skills for the future and take part in fun activities. We provide all our Young Champions with access to training and support (including helping with expenses). The Young Champion role is for young people, 14–25, with personal experience of mental health problems. This can be direct experience (you have struggled/still do struggle with your mental health) or indirect (you are an ally of a friend, colleague or family member that struggles, or has struggled, with their mental health).

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Take part in our free learning opportunities  

The "So What?" seminar series

The "So What?" seminar series aims to build the bridge between evidence and practice in child mental health by asking "So what does this mean?" in response to research findings, project outcomes, and the work of our collaborators.  

“So What?” seminars are free to attend and take place online. To keep informed about upcoming seminars, join the Anna Freud Learning Network.

You can watch the latest seminar now - 

The Transformation Seminar series

This ground-breaking series brings together some of the world’s most eminent thinkers in child and family mental health. Chaired by Professor Peter Fonagy, Chief Executive of Anna Freud, these multidisciplinary talks cover a wide variety of subjects, such as social prescribing; belonging and our sense of place; and how neurocognitive and genetic research can improve our understanding of environmental risk.  

We want a new conversation about mental health, and we’d like you to be part of it. Come and join us and help us take the discussion on mental health into new territory. Be part of the transformation.  

You can find recorded Transformation Seminars on our Transformation Seminar series video wall and on our SoundCloud Transformation Seminars playlist. 

We offer many more free learning opportunities. Find out more

Tell us which activities helps your mental wellbeing 

In 2018, we published a literature review that explored self-care approaches for children and people experiencing anxiety and depression. We identified over 100 different approaches in the literature but found that of these, only seven had been evaluated.  

This literature review contributed to the development of an online self-care resource, which was co-produced with young people. You can help us build an evidence base for these activities by letting us know what works for you, by clicking on the ‘Did this activity help your mental wellbeing?’ button on each page. This will help us decide which self-care approaches to research further. We've also created a booklet to help you create your own self-care plan and a booklet containing advice for young parents and carers on looking after their wellbeing.

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Share your feedback with us

To excel in our research activities at Anna Freud, we need to better understand what works and what doesn't. We must become aware of what we do well, how we can improve, and how people perceive us and our research. Your feedback is really valuable – if you have any suggestions or concerns about the content available on our research section, please email us: network@annafreud.org.

You can sign up to the Anna Freud Learning Network, where we share the latest research, resources and learning opportunities on a monthly basis.

If you are interested in working for Anna Freud, you can view and apply to our vacancies on our vacancy page. Due to the high volume of enquiries we receive about internships, we are unable to respond to speculative applications and advise that you check our vacancies page regularly for available internships or register an account with us to receive job alert emails. 

If you are interested in becoming a Young Champion and/or wish to learn more, please email us at Participation@annafreud.org. As a Young Champion, you will meet like-minded people, develop skills for the future and take part in fun experiences. We provide all our Young Champions with access to training and support (including helping with expenses).

All our current research participation opportunities include relevant contact information. 

The majority of our research participation opportunities are offered remotely and online, for example, taking part in online focus groups and filling out online surveys.

We offer an annual Researcher Internship Scheme. Placements benefit from flexibility and involve home working. Interns have the option to work 100% remotely or to spend 40% of their time working onsite at our London or Manchester offices:

• London: Anna Freud, 4–8 Rodney Street, London N1 9JH 

• Manchester: Huckletree, The Express Building, 9 Great Ancoats Street, Manchester M4 5AD

If you are interested in becoming a Young Champion and sharing your experiences and ideas by participating in research or joining the team as a volunteer for a minimum of two hours each month, you can do so from home. However, you can also participate in onsite events, such as our regular Youth Panels in our London office. We cover travel expenses up to £30.

• London: Anna Freud, 4–8 Rodney Street, London N1 9JH

At Anna Freud we have made a commitment to equity, diversity and taking an anti-racist stance. This is in recognition that there is more we could be doing to improve equity and stand against all forms of racism and discrimination.  

We commit to pursuing research opportunities that allow us to prioritise the voice of people from marginalised and minoritised communities through participation, co-production, peer research and qualitative research methods.  

We understand that language can shape thought. Taking a sensitive and thoughtful approach to language is fundamental in our everyday interactions and the way we communicate our research.  

The annual Anna Freud Researcher Internship Scheme aims to make research careers more accessible and inclusive for individuals who may experience additional barriers in pursuing research careers, or who are underrepresented in the field of mental health research. We encourage individuals from minoritised ethnic groups and individuals with lived experience of mental health difficulties to apply for this scheme.  

We recognise that equity and diversity does not stop at race and ethnicity. Further work needs to be done in considering other groups who may not feel well represented by our research. This includes, but is not limited to, young people who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, people from lower socio-economic groups and people with physical or mental health problems.