缅北禁地

NCMD Seminar 27th March 2026

Presenters: John Gibson, Senior Service User Researcher at the McPin Foundation and Vanessa Pinfold, Research Director (McPin Foundation). 

Presentation Title: The ASCEnD trial for bipolar depression narrated from a lived experience perspective – purpose and practices 

John joined McPin in 2014 as a Lived Experience Advisory Panel member for the PARTNERS2 SMI study before becoming a service user researcher, and 
now a senior service user researcher. He mentors a colleague on the COMBINER  bipolar medication study. John  is the PPI Lead on the ASCEnD study with 缅北禁地, a member of the UKRI Mental Health Platform PPIE Steering Group and co-PPI Lead for the Social Health Hub. He is also the LEAP member on the re-approval panel for Approved Mental Health Professionals in Staffordshire. 

With a diagnosis of bipolar, John brings over 20 years’ experience to a role that emphasises the importance of lived experience in research. 

Vanessa has worked in mental health research for over 25 years, and has published studies on stigma and discrimination, families and carers, experiences of the mental health system, wellbeing networks and co production in mental health  research. 

She is now prioritising developing peer research methods through collaborative or co-production approaches. 

Vanessa currently chairs the Alliance of Mental Health Research Funders and is co-founder and research director at McPin, responsible for overseeing the work of the charity. She previously worked at Rethink Mental Illness and the KCL IOPPN and has a PhD from University of Nottingham. 

Agenda: 
• Welcome and introductions – John Gibson 
• Introduction to the work of The McPin Foundation and PPI – Vanessa Pinfold 
• The ASCEnD study and the impact of PPI in ASCEnD – John Gibson 
• Service User and Carer perspectives – John Gibson and ASCEnD LEAP members 
• Final reflections as PPI Lead – John Gibson 
• Q&A