CeDAR (Centre for Developmental Adversity & Resilience)

Centre for Developmental Adversity & Resilience (CeDAR) International Conference, Glasgow 

10th November 2026 (All day)  

It Takes A Village (ITAV) Launch Conference: 

Early Intervention for Child and Adolescent Mental Health                                                                                                              

We are delighted to invite all those with an interest in children and young people’s mental health to attend our International CeDAR Conference. We have an outstanding programme of expert speakers, alongside a debate led by young people, bringing an important and thought-provoking perspective to the discussions. Researchers can also display posters to showcase their work. This promises to be an inspiring and enriching event, offering valuable insights, stimulating conversation, and opportunities for learning and collaboration. 

VENUE: The Grosvenor Hotel, 1-9 Grosvenor Terrace, Glasgow, G12 8TB

INVITED SPEAKERS:

Scaling up psychosocial interventions: from evidence to practice 

Keynote speaker: Professor Vikram Patel, Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and holds honorary Professorships at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Public Health Foundation of India. 

Vikram co-leads the Mental Health for All lab and GlobalMentalHealth@Harvard initiative, and his research focuses on the global burden of mental health problems, their links to social disadvantage, and community-based solutions. He co-founded Sangath, an Indian NGO recognized with international awards, and several global mental health networks. A Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and member of the US National Academy of Medicine, Patel has served on India’s first National Mental Health Policy committee, co-led two Lancet Commissions on mental health, and received major honours including the Rhodes Scholarship, Sarnat Prize, Pardes Humanitarian Prize, an Honorary OBE, and the Canada Gairdner Award. He holds multiple Honorary Doctorates and was named to TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2015.

Transforming children and young people's mental health. 

Keynote speaker: Professor Prathiba Chitsabesan (FRC Psych), National Clinical Director for Children and Young People's Mental Health and Chair of the Clinical Reference Group (NHS England), and has been involved in a number of regional and national transformation programmes. She is also a Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry working in a large mental health and learning disability trust (Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust). 

Prathiba has an interest in the mental health and neurodevelopmental needs of children and young people in contact with the criminal justice system, working across systems and government departments. She was involved in developing the mental health response following the Manchester Arena Attack (2017) and contributing to the national framework for psychosocial and mental health care following incidents and emergencies (Emergency Preparedness Resilience Response, EPRR). She continues to be research active as a Visiting Chair (University College London and Manchester Metropolitan University).

Young People's Debate - involving the community in young people's mental health 

Supporting communities to understand and prevent suicide.

Professor Rory O'Connor, Professor of Health Psychology at University of Glasgow, Past President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and Past President of the International Academy of Suicide Research. 

Rory leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Lab, one of the leading suicide research groups internationally. He has been conducting research in the factors associated with suicide and self-harm for more than 30 years and co-led the development of Scotland’s Distress Brief Intervention programme. He is recipient of several awards including the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Research Award, the American Association of Suicidology’s Dublin Award and the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s Stengel Award. He has contributed to numerous documentaries on suicide and is also author of the award-winning book When It is Darkest. Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do To Prevent It and is host of Open Mind, MQ Mental Health Research’s podcast on mental health.

It Takes a Village: expanding the reach of child mental health services

Professor Helen Minnis, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the University at Glasgow and Co-Director of Centre of Developmental Adversity and Resilience (CeDAR).  Co-Lead of the programme – It Takes A Village (ITAV). 

Helen has had a longstanding clinical and research focus on the psychiatric problems of abused and neglected children.  Her focus is on intervention development and research, including a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of an infant mental health service for young children in foster care (BeST^?), an RCT of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy for primary school-aged children in adoptive or foster placements and an RCT of a coproduced infant mental health intervention for struggling families.  She has also conducted behavioural genetic research focussed on the role of abuse and neglect and its overlap with neurodevelopment across the life-course.  She has collaborations with colleagues at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, the Universities of Aalborg and Aarhus, Denmark, Tulane University, New Orleans, US, and with the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Dr Ruchika Gajwani, Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Psychology  Honorary Consultant and Clinical Psychologist, and Co-Director, Centre of Developmental Adversity and Resilience (CeDAR), University of Glasgow.  Co-lead of the programme - It Takes A Village (ITAV). 

Ruchika’s research focus has been on developing pathways for understanding risk and resilience within marginalised, high-risk children and young people.  With the prestigious MQ fellowship, her work is focusing on knowledge mobilisation and scaling community-based interventions for young people with complex unmet needs, such Borderline Personality Disorder features (BRIDGE project).  Along with Professor Helen Minnis, she is involved in building service pathways in Scotland and shaping policy around neurodiversity, trauma to reduce health inequalities for children and families. The NIHR programme grant ‘It Takes A Village’ will be looking at identifying and preventing severe mental illness through a task-sharing approach with community and lay practitioners across Scotland and England. 

Call for Poster Presentations: Submission deadline 25th September 2026

PROGRAMME 

Delegate fee: £85 or £65 for students.  Register in advance via Eventbrite

Any queries please contact Irene O'Neill (Research Administrator) - irene.oneill@glasgow.ac.uk / 0141 330 8795

We look forward to seeing you on 10th November 2026