Dr. Lucy Foulkes

Biography

Lucy Foulkes is a researcher at the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. Her work focuses on mental health and social development during adolescence. She is particularly interested in efforts aimed at reducing mental health problems, including awareness-raising campaigns and school initiatives that may inadvertently increase issues for individuals. Current research projects include understanding the impact of school-based mental health interventions, assessing how adolescents report symptoms of mental health problems, and exploring the relationship between self-diagnosis and identity development. She utilizes a range of methods in her work, including experimental designs, scale development, longitudinal analysis, and systematic reviews/meta-analyses. Foulkes is increasingly interested in employing qualitative approaches to address questions that quantitative methods cannot effectively answer. She has extensive experience in public science communication and has published a book titled 'Mental Illness (…and isn’t)' in 2021, with another book on the coming of age in adolescence set to be published in 2024. She regularly gives public talks on mental health and has contributed to various media platforms.

Research Interests