Dr Siân Lowri Griffiths BSc, MSc, PhD

Dr Siân Lowri Griffiths

School of Psychology
Assistant Professor

Contact details

Email
s.l.griffiths@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@lowrigriffiths_
View my research portal
Address
School of Psychology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Lowri Griffiths (She/her) isan Assistant Professor at the Institute for Mental Health and co-lead for the Children and Young People’s Theme of the Mental Health Mission, Midlands Translational Centre. Dr Griffiths has attracted ~£11 million of research funding as PI, Deputy PI and Co-I from a number of external funders including UKRI / ESCR, NIHR PGfAR, NIHR HSDR and EU Horizon. Dr Griffiths has recently established her own research group: CARE –Collaborative Applied Research for Equity in Mental Health.

Qualifications

  • Dec 2018. PhD Psychology, University of Birmingham
  • July 2008. MSc Clinical Psychology, Bangor University              
  • July 2007. BSc Psychology with Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor

Biography

Dr Griffiths has over 15 years of applied clinical research experience within the area of youth mental health. She has overseen large clinical trials and observational studies in early psychosis, applying multi-modal methods. Dr Griffiths has recently established the CARE research group which includes a dynamic team of interdisciplinary researchers and experts by experience to apply research in a collaborative way to improve mental health care and outcomes for all young people. Dr Griffiths is passionate about understanding and addressing the social determinants of mental illness which contribute to mental health inequities for underserved groups, and is an advocate for co-production and empowering young people with lived experience to drive meaningful change.  

Teaching

  • MSc in Youth Mental Health
  • MSc Thesis Supervisor
  • BSc Ideas, Concepts and Ethics in Psychology and Neuroscience
  • BSc Final Year Dissertation Supervisor

Postgraduate supervision

Doctoral Students

2024 - Polychronis Makris, Clinical Psychology Doctorate (ClinPsyD)

2024 - Jessica Hughes, ClinPsyD

2023 - Catrin Street-Maddox, Hilary Green Scholar (PhD

2022 - Rebecca Lee, Priestly PhD Scholar

2022 - Obajide Alademerin, ClinPsyD 

Dr Griffiths is open to considering applications or expressions of interest from doctoral students, MRES, MSci, and Intercalated BMedSci students in areas related to her research interests. Students interested in working with Dr Griffiths should contact her in first instance on s.l.griffiths@bham.ac.uk 

Research

Mental health equity; Mental health outcomes, psychosis, youth mental health, social determinants, real-world outcomes, co-production, clinical trials and complex interventions, biopsychosocial approaches, neuroinflammation.

Other activities

  • Children and Young People’s Theme Co-Lead for the Mental Health Mission, Midlands Translational Centre
  • Associate Editor, Early Intervention in Psychiatry
  • People and Culture Committee Member, School of Psychology, UoB
  • Member of the Health Equity Network
  • Member of the International Early Psychosis Association
  • EU PRONIA Consortium (Personalised Prognostic Tools for Early Psychosis Management)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Quinton, ML, Shepherd, KL, Cumming, J, Tidmarsh, G, Dauvermann, M, Griffiths, SL, Reynard, S, Skeate, A, Fernandes, A, Choucair, T, Downs, J, Harrison Dening, K, McDonough, M, Mitchell, L, Rhind, D & Tresadern, C 2025, 'Best practices for supporting researchers’ mental health in emotionally demanding research across academic and non-academic contexts', International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, vol. 20, no. 1, 2464380. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2025.2464380

Corsi-Zuelli, F, Donohoe, G, Griffiths, S, Del-Ben, CM, Watson, AJ, Burke, T, Lalousis, PA, McKernan, D, Morris, D, Kelly, JP, McDonald, C, Patlola, SR, Pariante, CM, Barnes, N, Khandaker, GM, Suckling, J, Deakin, B, Upthegrove, R & Dauvermann, M 2025, 'Depressive and negative symptoms in the early and established stages of schizophrenia: integrating structural brain alterations, cognitive performance, and plasma interleukin-6 levels', Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, vol. 5, no. 2, 100429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100429

Street-Mattox, C, Broome, MR, Ng, F, Griffiths, L & Jordan, G 2025, 'How does stigma impact acts of compassion among people with borderline personality disorder', Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2024.72

Lalousis, PA, Malaviya, A, Khatibi, A, Saberi, M, Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L, Haas, SS, Wood, SJ, Barnes, NM, Rogers, J, Chisholm, K, Bertolino, A, Borgwardt, S, Brambilla, P, Kambeitz, J, Lencer, R, Pantelis, C, Ruhrmann, S, Salokangas, RKR, Schultze-Lutter, F, Schmidt, A, Meisenzahl, E, Dwyer, D, Koutsouleris, N, Upthegrove, R, Griffiths, SL & PRONIA Consortium 2024, 'Anhedonia as a potential transdiagnostic phenotype with immune-related changes in recent onset mental health disorders', Biological Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.05.019

Bhui, K, Joseph, D, Khan, N, Morrey, T, Mooney, R, Zahid, U, Mackay, T, Larkin, M, Keating, F, McCrone, P, Upthegrove, R, Griffiths, SL, Edge, D, Coventry, PA, Arday, J & Hosang, GM 2024, 'Experience-based Investigation and Co-design of Psychosis Centred Integrated Care Services for Ethnically Diverse People with Multimorbidity (CoPICS): study protocol', BMJ open, vol. 14, no. 2, e084121. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-084121

Griffiths, SL, Murray, GK, Logeswaran, Y, Ainsworth, J, Allan, SM, Campbell, N, Drake, RJ, Katshu, MZUH, Machin, M, Pope, MA, Sullivan, SA, Waring, J, Bogatsu, T, Kane, J, Weetman, T, Johnson, S, Kirkbride, JB & Upthegrove, R 2024, 'Implementing and Evaluating a National Integrated Digital Registry and Clinical Decision Support System in Early Intervention in Psychosis Services (Early Psychosis Informatics Into Care): Co-Designed Protocol', JMIR Research Protocols, vol. 13, e50177. https://doi.org/10.2196/50177

Lee, R, Griffiths, SL, Gkoutos, GV, Wood, SJ, Bravo Merodio, L, Lalousis, PA, Everard, L, Jones, PB, Fowler, D, Hodgekins, J, Amos, T, Freemantle, N, Singh, SP, Birchwood, M & Upthegrove, R 2024, 'Predicting treatment resistance in positive and negative symptom domains from first episode psychosis: Development of a clinical prediction model', Schizophrenia Research, vol. 274, pp. 66-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2024.09.010

Palmer, ER, Griffiths, SL, Watkins, B, Weetman, T, Ottridge, R, Patel, S, Woolley, R, Tearne, S, Au, P, Taylor, E, Sadiq, Z, Al-Janabi, H, Major, B, Marriott, C, Husain, N, Katshu, MZUH, Giacco, D, Barnes, NM, Walters, JTR, Barnes, TRE, Birchwood, M, Drake, R & Upthegrove, R 2023, 'Antidepressants for the prevention of depression following first-episode psychosis (ADEPP): study protocol for a multi-centre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial', Trials, vol. 24, no. 1, 646. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-023-07499-3

Griffiths, SL, Bogatsu, T, Longhi, M, Butler, E, Alexander, B, Bandawar, M, Everard, L, Jones, PB, Fowler, D, Hodgekins, J, Amos, T, Freemantle, N, McCrone, P, Singh, SP, Birchwood, M & Upthegrove, R 2023, 'Five-year illness trajectories across racial groups in the UK following a first episode psychosis', Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 569-579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02428-w

Foley, EM, Griffiths, L, Murray, A, Rogers, J, Corsi-Zuelli, F, Hickinbotham, H, Warwick, E, Wilson, M, Kaser, M, Murray , GK, Deakin, B, Jadon, D, Suckling, J, Barnes, N, Upthegrove, R & Khandaker, GM 2023, 'Protocol for the Psychosis Immune Mechanism Stratified Medicine (PIMS) trial: a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of single-dose tocilizumab in patients with psychosis', BMJ open, vol. 13, no. 3, e067944. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067944

PIMS collaboration 2022, 'Inflammation and brain structure in schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders: A Mendelian randomization study', JAMA psychiatry, vol. 2022, no. 5, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0407

PRONIA Consortium, Lalousis, PA, Schmaal, L, Wood, S, Reniers, R, Barnes, N, Chisholm, K, Griffiths, L, Stainton, A, Wen, J, Hwang, G, Davatzikos, C, Wenzel, J, Kambeitz-Ilankovic, L, Andreou, C, Bonivento, C, Dannlowski, U, Ferro, A, Liechtenstein, T, Riecher-Rössler, A, Romer, G, Rosen, M, Bertolino, A, Borgwardt, S, Brambilla, P, Kambeitz, J, Lencer, R, Pantelis, C, Ruhrmann, S, Salokangas, RKR, Schultze-Lutter, F, Schmidt, A, Meisenzahl, EM, Koutsouleris, N, Dwyer, D & Upthegrove, R 2022, 'Neurobiologically based stratification of recent-onset depression and psychosis: identification of two distinct transdiagnostic phenotypes', Biological Psychiatry, vol. 92, no. 7, pp. 552-562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.03.021

Paper

Quinton, M, Shepherd, K, Cumming, J, Tidmarsh, G, Dauvermann, M, Griffiths, L, Reynard, S, Chandra, A, Choucair, T, Downs, J, Harrison-Dening, K, McDonough, M, Mitchell, L, Rhind, D & Tresadern, C 2024, '“I think the first thing we can do is acknowledge that mental health can be made vulnerable by being researchers, as well as by the topics we're looking at”: Co-designed guidelines for supporting the mental health of researchers in sport and exercise science.', Paper presented at International Conference on Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, Bath, United Kingdom, 29/07/24 - 1/08/24.

Review article

Oliver, D, Arribas, M, Perry, BI, Whiting, D, Blackman, G, Krakowski, K, Seyedsalehi, A, Osimo, EF, Griffiths, SL, Stahl, D, Cipriani, A, Fazel, S, Fusar-Poli, P & McGuire, P 2024, 'Using Electronic Health Records to Facilitate Precision Psychiatry', Biological Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.02.1006

Griffiths, SL, Lalousis, PA, Wood, SJ & Upthegrove, R 2022, 'Heterogeneity in treatment outcomes and incomplete recovery in first episode psychosis: does one size fit all?', Translational Psychiatry, vol. 12, no. 1, 485. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-02256-7

View all publications in research portal