Get involved in our research work

Become a Young Champion

As a Young Champion you will meet like-minded people, develop skills for the future and take part in fun activities. We provide all our Young Champions with access to training and support (including helping with expenses). The Young Champion role is for young people, 14–25, with personal experience of mental health problems. This can be direct experience (you have struggled/still do struggle with your mental health) or indirect (you are an ally of a friend, colleague or family member that struggles, or has struggled, with their mental health).

Please email us at Participation@annafreud.org to express your interest.

Find out more

Take part in our free learning opportunities  

The "So What?" seminar series aims to build the bridge between evidence and practice in child mental health by asking "So what does this mean?" in response to research findings, project outcomes, and the work of our collaborators. “So What?” seminars are free to attend and take place online.

The Transformation Seminar series This ground-breaking series brings together some of the world’s most eminent thinkers in child and family mental health. Chaired by Professor Peter Fonagy, Chief Executive of Anna Freud, these multidisciplinary talks cover a wide variety of subjects, such as social prescribing; belonging and our sense of place; and how neurocognitive and genetic research can improve our understanding of environmental risk. 

To keep informed about upcoming seminars, join the Anna Freud Learning Network.

You can sign up to the Anna Freud Learning Network, where we share the latest research, resources and learning opportunities on a monthly basis.

If you are interested in working for Anna Freud, you can view and apply to our vacancies on our careers page. Due to the high volume of enquiries we receive about internships, we are unable to respond to speculative applications and advise that you check our vacancies page regularly for available internships or register an account with us to receive job alert emails. 

The majority of our research participation opportunities are offered remotely and online, for example, taking part in online focus groups and filling out online surveys.

We offer an annual Researcher Internship Scheme. Placements benefit from flexibility and involve home working. Interns have the option to work 100% remotely or to spend 40% of their time working onsite at our London or Manchester offices.

If you are interested in becoming a Young Champion by sharing your experiences and ideas by participating in research or joining the team as a volunteer for a minimum of two hours each month, you can do so from home. However, you can also participate in onsite events, such as our regular Youth Panels in our London office. We cover travel expenses up to £30.

At Anna Freud we have made a commitment to equity, diversity and taking an anti-racist stance. This is in recognition that there is more we could be doing to improve equity and stand against all forms of racism and discrimination.  

We commit to pursuing research opportunities that allow us to prioritise the voice of people from marginalised and minoritised communities through participation, co-production, peer research and qualitative research methods.  

We understand that language can shape thought. Taking a sensitive and thoughtful approach to language is fundamental in our everyday interactions and the way we communicate our research.  

The annual Anna Freud Researcher Internship Scheme aims to make research careers more accessible and inclusive for individuals who may experience additional barriers in pursuing research careers, or who are underrepresented in the field of mental health research. We encourage individuals from minoritised ethnic groups and individuals with lived experience of mental health difficulties to apply for this scheme.  

We recognise that equity and diversity does not stop at race and ethnicity. Further work needs to be done in considering other groups who may not feel well represented by our research. This includes, but is not limited to, young people who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, people from lower socio-economic groups and people with physical or mental health problems.