What we've supported: Co-production Scheme

Co-production Scheme

‘Co-production’ in mental health research acknowledges the valuable knowledge and expertise of people with lived experience of psychiatric illness or neurodiversity. It champions the production of joint research between experts by experience and academics/clinicians, who will contribute their insights equally (we recognise that clinicians and academics themselves may have lived experience of mental ill health, and those with lived experience may have existing clinical/academic skills). 

Through our co-production scheme, experts by experience would be linked with one or more researchers from our international network, with the aim of co-producing a piece of work on the theme of renewing phenomenological psychopathology. This work may involve, for instance, a renewing of the methodology used in phenomenological psychopathology, or drawing out aspects of the lived experience of psychiatric illness that have previously been obscured. 

Beyond the co-production of research, this scheme facilitated a mutual, two-way mentorship. All members of a collaborative team equally contribute with their knowledge and skillset (whether from perspective of their expertise from experience or academic expertise) towards the production of research. Researchers and clinicians have the opportunity to gain valuable insight from experts by experience, and experts by experience will learn about, or develop their knowledge, of research methodology, philosophy, phenomenology and academic practices.  

Through this scheme, we have encouraged co-production in research, and to amplify the voices of people with lived experience in the field of phenomenological psychopathology.  

Some of the award winners include:

Valeria Bizarri & Janko Nesick

A phenomenology of autism 

During her time in the Co-Production Scheme, Valeria undertook a research visit to Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and published the following publications:

Phenomenological Psychopathology: Who, What and How? An analysis of key figures, advancements and challenges, Special Issue of Frontiers in Psychology (forthcoming)

Which Kind of Body in “Mental” Pathologies? Phenomenological Insights on the Nature of the Disrupted Self, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, Volume 48, Issue 2, April 2023, pp.116–127, (2023)

The Ontological and Ethical Value of Vulnerability: A Reflection Between Phenomenology and Psychopathology in The Vulnerability of the Human World. Philosophy and Medicine, Boublil, E., Ferrarello, S. (eds), vol 148, Springer, (2023)

Les «phénomènes-limites» dans l’existence humaine. Réflexions phénoménologiques sur la liminalité in Husserl. Arete 8/2023, pp. 69-83, (2023)

Pierrick Simon, Francesca Brencio, Susi Ferrarello

A phenomenology of OCD 

We created a project called “Stuck on the puzzle. A philosophical inquiry on OCD”. The aim of this project is to increase the philosophical understanding of compulsions, obsessions and intense uncertainty (what is commonly referred to as “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”). We sought to do that by establishing a philosophical dialogue with people who experience such phenomena. A dialogue inspired by phenomenological interviews, bracketing assumptions about the phenomenon and exploring the lived experience of people. The dialogue was a way to discover how philosophy can illuminate those experiences and vice-versa. You can find those interviews on our YouTube Channel,  Spotify Podcast and blog. If you are interested in talking with us, please contact us at ocdproject23@gmail.com

Our Co-production Scheme Partners and Topics of Interest 

• Professor Giovanni Stanghellini (University of Florence, Italy): anomalies of embodiment in psychopathology; meetings with experts by experience as speakers and researchers/academics as discussants. 
• Dr Roxana Baiasu (University of Birmingham and University of Oxford, U.K.):sense-making in mental illness; existential wellbeing; mental health ethics and politics; youth mental health.  
• Dr Elodie Boublil (Université Paris Est Créteil, France): trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder; depression and burn-out; secondary PTSD among caregivers or health practitioners; psychological effects of psychological abuses including bullying, harrassment, gaslighting, mobbing and narcissistic abuse.  
• Dr Francesca Brencio (the PhenoLab and the University of Seville, Spain): phenomenologically informed interviews with mental health users; phenomenology and mental health; attention disorders; depression; care and ethics. 
• Dr Roy Dings (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany): self-illness ambiguity: identity issues in the context of psychopathology, difficulties in differentiating oneself from one's illness; experiential knowledge and expertise. 
• Dr Robert Dudas (University of Cambridge, U.K.): autism/ neurodiversity.  
• Dr Susi Ferrarello (California State University, U.S.A.):  young adults' suicidal attempts and ideations; mental health generally.  
• Dr Jasper Feyaerts (Ghent University, Belgium): the phenomenology of psychosis and/or autism.  
• Professor Bill Fulford (Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice, the University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K.): shared clinical decision-making and diagnostic assessment; recovery in mental health. 
• Dr Nashwa Ibrahim (Mansoura University, Egypt): the lived experiences of women with bipolar disorder and, in particular, their roles as parents and their identity as women.  
• Dr Sofia Jeppsson (Umeå University, Sweden): meta-fear of madness; meetings with experts by experience. 
• Dr Wouter Kusters (The Foundation for Psychiatry and Philosophy, Netherlands): psychosis/schizophrenia, mania, schizoaffectivity; investigations into how to connect philosophical analyses, psychotic thoughts and experiences with issues of care, and from a psychiatric or psychological perspective. 
• Professor Paul Lodge (University of Oxford, U.K.): mania and the therapeutic possibilities of ‘philosophical’ thinking. 
• Dr Anke Maatz (University of Zurich, Switzerland): language and communication in psychopathology, addiction; design and implementation of institutional structures to support co-production in psychiatric research; mental health generally.  
• Professor Guilherme Messas (Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences, Brazil): from psychopathology to clinical care; how the lived experience can guide psychiatric treatment. 
• Professor Marcin Moskalewicz, Ms Anna Sterna and Mr Maciek Wodzinski (Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland): the lived experience of time in autism and borderline personality disorder. 
• Dr Janko Nešić(Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia): ecological-enactive approach to autism spectrum disorder.  
• Dr Danielle Petherbridge (University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland): mental health generally. 
• Professor Lubomira Radoilska (University of Kent, U.K.): “Meaningful Voices: Identifying and Overcoming Epistemic Injustice in Health and Social Care”; the central role of lived experiences within epistemic justice; the initiation of new, more inclusive and interconnected communities of inquiry. 
• Professor Matthew Ratcliffe (University of York, U.K.):  the phenomenology of grief, loss, trauma, and loneliness. 
• Dr Zümrüt Duygu Sen (Jena University Hospital, Germany): moods, cognitive states and vegetative changes.  
• Mr Kevin Martens Wong(Merlionsman Coaching & Consulting, Singapore): non-Western approaches to psychology, accessible /ground-up psychology, the Osura Pesuasang / Individuation Theory, and/or creole/indigenous approaches to psychology and psychopathology.