Dr Renate Reniers BSc MSc PhD

Institute of Clinical Sciences
Lecturer in Psychiatry
In affiliation with the Institute for Mental Health and the Centre for Human Brain Health

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)121 301 2361
Email: r.l.e.p.reniers@bham.ac.uk

Address: Institute of Clinical Sciences & Institute for Mental Health
University of Birmingham
The Barberry National Centre for Mental Health
25 Vincent Drive
Edgbaston
Birmingham, B15 2FG

Dr Reniers is a research psychologist investigating the interplay between neurobiological, clinical and behavioural aspects of adolescent development and youth mental health. Her research involves the transition from health to disease, with a particular interest in emerging mental health problems (psychosis), neuroimaging (MRI and fMRI), social cognition (empathy, psychosocial functioning), adolescent and young adult risk-taking behaviour, and the impact of stress on brain and behaviour.

Qualifications

PhD in Neuroscience & Psychiatry – University of Manchester 2010
MSc Psychology (Neuropsychology) – Maastricht University 2005
BSc Psychology (Biological Psychology) – Maastricht University 2005
Propedeuse Public Health – Maastricht University 2003

Biography

Before taking up a position as Lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham, Dr Reniers was a Research Fellow at the School of Psychology of the University of Birmingham and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Nottingham. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the University of Manchester and received her MSc and BSc from Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Teaching

Intercalation BMedSc - Psychological Medicine

Module lead: Neurobiology of Psychological Processes
Research Project Supervisor

MBChB

Joint Module Lead: Decision Making (year 2)
Psychology Component Lead for years 1 & 2

Graduate Entry Course (GEC)

Personal tutor BSc Biomedical Science students

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Reniers Supervises Doctoral students in areas related to her research interests and considers applications on a rolling basis. Students interested in working with Dr Reniers should contact her in first instance on r.l.e.p.reniers@bham.ac.uk.

Research

Google Scholar

Research Gate

Dr Reniers’ research involves the transition from health to disease, with the main research themes being:

Emerging mental health problems (psychosis)
Social cognition (empathy, psychosocial functioning)
Adolescent and young adult risk-taking behaviour
The impact of stress on brain and behaviour

Other activities

Member of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS)
Member of the International Society for Research on Impulsivity (ISRI)
Member of the International Early Psychosis Association (IEPA)
Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Excellence in Science program

Publications

Reniers RLEP, Lin A, Yung AR, Koutsouleris N, Nelson B, Cropley VL, Velakoulis D, McGorry PD, Pantelis C and Wood SJ (2016). Neuroanatomical predictors of functional outcome in individuals at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis. Schizophrenia bulletin, 43(2), 449-458.

Reniers RLEP, Murphy L, Lin A, Para Bartolomé S and Wood SJ (2016). Risk perception and risk-taking behaviour during adolescence: The influence of personality and gender. PLOS One, 11(4), e0153842.

Reniers RLEP, Beavan A, Keogan L, Furneaux A, Mayhew S and Wood SJ (2016). Is it all in the reward? Peers influence risk-taking behaviour in young adulthood. British Journal of Psychology, 108(2), 276-295.

Cropley VL, Lin A, Nelson B, Reniers RLEP, Yung AR, Bartholomeusz CF, Klauser P, Velakoulis D, McGorry P, Wood SJ and Pantelis C. (2015). Baseline grey matter volume of non-transitioned ‘ultra-high risk’ for psychosis individuals with and without attenuated psychotic symptoms at long-term follow-up. Schizophrenia Research, 173(3), 152-158.

Heinze K, Reniers RLEP, Nelson B, Yung AR, Lin A, Harrison BJ, Pantelis C, Velakoulis D, McGorry PD and Wood SJ. (2015). Discrete alterations of brain network structural covariance in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis. Biological Psychiatry, 77(11), 989-996.

Reniers RLEP, Garner B, Phassouliotis C, Phillips LJ, Markulev C, Pantelis C, Bendall S, McGorry PD and Wood SJ. (2015). The relationship between stress, HPA axis functioning and brain structure in first episode psychosis over the first 12 weeks of treatment. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 231, 111-119.

Reniers RLEP, Völlm BA, Elliott E and Corcoran R. (2014). Empathy, ToM, and self-other differentiation: An fMRI study of internal states. Social Neuroscience, 1, 50-62.

Lin A, Reniers RLEP* and Wood SJ. (2013). Clinical staging in severe mental disorders: Evidence from neurocognition and neuroimaging. British Journal of Psychiatry, S11-S17.

Reniers RLEP, Corcoran R, Völlm BA, Mashru A, Howard R and Liddle PF (2012). Moral decision making, ToM, empathy, and the default mode network. Biological Psychology, 90, 202-210.

Reniers RLEP, Corcoran R, Drake R, Shryane NM and Völlm BA (2011). The QCAE: A Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93(1), 84-95.

* joint first authorship

Further publication details available here