Priyanka Suneja

Priyanka is working as a researcher at the Kent Medical and Medway School, a collaboration between the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University. She is currently working on a Wellcome Trust funded project ‘Chip-D’ which aims to study the impact of sleep and circadian disturbances on emotional and cognitive well-being in different population groups including shift-workers and clinical populations. 

Priyanka is a psychologist and a public health researcher with a focus on global mental health specifically intervention design and implementation; advocacy and outreach; and health economics. She has been working in the field for over 7 years now and has worked in the areas of adolescent and youth mental health, severe mental health challenges, neurodevelopmental disorder, caregiver burden amongst others. During her research career, she has been involved in several projects globally which focus on increasing accessibility, feasibility and acceptance of novel interventions that bridge the gap between community members and care, particularly in low resource settings. Her research efforts are also aimed towards developing a more holistic understanding of the complexities in mental health by drawing from the work in other disciplines. 

She has an interdisciplinary academic background with my undergraduate degree in Sociology and Economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai followed by two postgraduate degrees in psychology from The University of Edinburgh and King's College London. Before moving to the UK, Priyanka worked as a project lead at Sangath for several projects. Her work involves principles of participatory research, community engagement and involvement and use of digital technology to increase access to services and psychoeducation materials. She uses both qualitative and quantitative data to capture the integrities of the problem but relies extensively on qualitative primary data to bring in the personal voice of the stakeholders.

Priyanka has also worked as lecturer in Delhi where she led modules for Human Psychology and Research Methods for graduate and post-graduate design students. She used innovative methods to align principles of psychology with human perception in design and delivery. 

Through CHaI, Priyanka aims to encourage dialogue with other researchers globally who are working on various social, cultural, political, economic as well as psychological research and enhance her understanding of the complex issues in communities as well as stimulate meaningful partnerships. Her enthusiasm for investigation on critical issues and collaborative efforts to bring viable solutions is best nurtured in such a diverse, driven and talented global community. 

Email: priyanka.suneja@kmms.ac.uk 

Affiliation: Kent Medical and Medway School, United Kingdom