Dr Sarah-Jane Hannah Fenton BSc(Hons); PGCert; PGCert ; MPhil; PhD

• 2019-2020 PGCert, Higher Education, University of Birmingham 
• 2012 – 2016 PhD, University of Birmingham (awarded December 2016) & University of Melbourne (awarded August 2017)
• 2015 PGCert Advanced Research Methods and Skills, University of Birmingham (Excellent)
• 2009-2011 PGCert, Psychodynamic Approaches to Working with Adolescents, Tavistock & Portman Clinic (Distinction)
• 2005-2007 MPhil, Comparative Social Policy, University of Oxford
• 2001-2004 BSc (Hons), Geography, University of Exeter (1st)

Sarah-Jane completed her Doctoral Research in 2016, graduating with a dual award degree from the University of Birmingham (2016) and the University of Melbourne (2017). This research explored mental health policy and service delivery for adolescents and young people aged 16-25 years of age. It was a comparative study exploring policy and systems in the UK with those in Australia; and delivery of services to people experiencing mental ill health aged between 16-25 years old. 

Sarah-Jane held a post-doctoral Research Fellow post on an NIHR funded study evaluating the use of patient experience data to improve the quality of inpatient mental health care (EURIPIDES). 

Sarah-Jane re-joined the University of Birmingham as a lecturer in mental health policy in 2018 based in the School of Social Policy and Society and the Institute for Mental Health (IMH). Sarah-Jane was the Post-Graduate taught co-lead for IMH and led on the development of the Masters in Mental Health (MSc). 

Sarah-Jane currently co-leads the Innovation in Policy Systems and Services (IPSS) research theme within the IMH.

Sarah-Jane has taught across a range of modules in the Institute for Mental Health, the Department of Social Policy Sociology and Criminology and the Department of Social Work and Social Care at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level. Sarah-Jane currently co-leads the 3^rd year undergraduate module – Mental Health and Society.

Sarah-Jane is interested in supervising PhD work related to youth mental health; mental health policy and practice; qualitative research involving realist methodologies; and research into health and social care involving young people.

Completed students:

• 2022 Saul Schrom, An ecological understanding of the Junior-to-Senior transition in professional tennis, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham.

Current students:

• Started 2020 Rebecca Lee, Developing and validating outcome prediction models for people with first episode psychosis using supervised machine learning (Precision Medicine)
• Started 2021 Maria Whitley-Gronborg, What role can semi-independent living offer in improving coping mechanisms and outcomes for children in care? Can semi-independent living support alter the internal working models for children with adverse life experiences?
• Started 2021 Sukhwinder Kaur, PhotoVoice in Schwartz: Does the NHS Have an Organisational Silence Culture Around Employee Mental Health Problems and Absenteeism
• Started 2022 Muhammed Yusuf Ozdemir, Mental health investment decision making in Education and Workplaces
• Started 2022 Verity Jones, Models of co-production in Youth Mental Health service delivery
• Started 2023 Jara Weinkauf Understanding how everyday life issues impact on adults with a Fontan circulation: a qualitative study

PhD title

Mental health service delivery for adolescents and young people: a comparative study between Australia and the UK

Current research:

2023-2026 Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper Programme Evaluation

2025-2026 NIHR Three NIHR Research Schools' Mental Health Programme – ATTUNE: the role and the contribution of the voluntAry secTor to the prevenTion of sUicide among youNg pEople

 Recently completed projects:

2020-2024 UKRI/ESRC Research Grant, ODA, Colombia – Mapping Mental Health Resources for Young People Living in a Conflict Context at The Colombian Pacific Region

2019-2022 NIHR HS&DR – Early evaluation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Trailblazer programme, University of Birmingham

2016 –2018 Research Fellow – Evaluating the Use of Patient Experience Data to Improve the Quality of Inpatient Mental Health Care (EURIPIDES) study, University of Warwick Medical School