The University of Cambridge team

Professor Tamsin Ford

Tamsin Ford is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the effectiveness of interventions and the efficiency of services in relation to the mental health of children and young people, with a particular focus on the interface between education and health systems. Her role in this project is to lead the Cambridge team in the evaluation of Mental Health Support Teams in schools.

Dr Anne-Marie Burn

Dr Anne-Marie Burn is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. She is an experienced qualitative researcher and her research focuses on evaluating health services and interventions for young people’s mental health. She will lead the interviews and focus groups with children, young people and parents/carers who have received support from the Mental Health Support Team in their school.

Dr Jo Anderson

Dr Jo Anderson is a Senior Research Associate at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. She trained as a clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist and worked with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Jo is particularly interested in school mental health, the early identification of mental health difficulties, and the development and evaluation of programmes supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Dr Ariadna Albajara Saenz

Dr Ariadna Albajara Saenz is a Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. She has previously practised as a child neuropsychologist. Ariadna is currently involved in several research projects related to children’s mental health, special educational needs and school-based mental health interventions. With this project, she hopes to contribute to improving mental health support for children and young people in schools.

Aslihan Baser

Aslihan Baser is a Research Assistant at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on school-based mental health interventions, child and adolescent mental health trends, digital mental health interventions, social media, and social identity theory. She trained as a psychological counsellor and previously worked as a trainee school counsellor and assistant psychologist. She is currently contributing to this project, aiming to improve mental health support in schools.

Margaret Fu

Margaret is a placement student in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, where she will primarily be working on the Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in Schools project. She is also an undergraduate Psychology student at Loughborough University. She has a passion for research and aims to gain practical experience in different research processes, such as data collection and analysis, through this placement. Margaret is also grateful to be part of the Exploring Mental Health Support Teams in Schools project, which seeks to improve mental health support for young people.

Holly Platt

Holly is an undergraduate Psychology student at the University of Bath. She completed her placement year in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge during the 2024–2025 academic year, where she assisted with this project. Her interests lie in the intersections of mental health, neurodiversity, and chronic health conditions. Through this project, she hopes to contribute to improving the quality and accessibility of mental health support for young people.