Mental Health GoalsNational Programme

Industry Engagement Forum launch meeting

A strategic dialogue between MHG and global CROs, pharmaceutical and digital industry partners, biotech organisations, ABPI, and ABHI. The Forum launches with this one-day meeting on 8 October 2026 at King’s Venues at London Bridge.

The Mental Health Goals ridge drawn in amber — contour lines rising to a twin summit on a deep petrol ground

Getting there

The Industry Engagement Forum (IEF) is established to promote impactful collaboration between industry partners and the programmes, initiatives and workstreams of the Mental Health Goals Programme (MHG) — alongside trade associations ABPI and ABHI. This launch meeting will establish a strategic dialogue with industry, demonstrate the strengths of the UK mental health research ecosystem, identify barriers to collaboration, and provide input for a roadmap for accelerating novel therapeutics in mental health and neurodegeneration.

Applications to join the ongoing Industry Engagement Forum will open in mid-October 2026. The 8 October launch meeting has a separate registration process.

The forum is convened by DIGIT, the Data and Digital Industry Alliance Team, which delivers three of the programme’s six workstreams.

Getting there

King’s Venues at London Bridge is in Boland House (formerly Science Gallery London) on King’s College London’s Guy’s Campus, opposite the Shard (Great Maze Pond, SE1 9GU). The meeting is in the Studio, on the first floor. London Bridge station (Jubilee and Northern lines, and National Rail) is a couple of minutes’ walk: take the Guy’s Hospital exit. Borough (Northern line) is about ten minutes’ walk, and many bus routes stop at London Bridge station. The entrance on Great Maze Pond is step-free. See the venue’s page and map.

Date
8 October 2026
Venue
King’s Venues at London Bridge, Boland House, Great Maze Pond, London SE1 9GU
Audience
Global CROs, pharmaceutical and digital industry partners, biotech organisations, ABPI, and ABHI
Timing
10:00–16:20 (business breakfast from 09:30)

Agenda

  1. 09:30Business breakfast
  2. 10:00Session 1: Introductions and UK Landscape (10:00–11:15). Prof. Mitul Mehta — introductions and meeting objectives (10 min).
  3. 10:10Prof. Husseini Manji — UK landscape: strengths and challenges (15 min). UK strengths in mental health research, early-phase trials, trial-ready cohorts and delivery; MHG’s coordinated UK-wide infrastructure connecting research, NHS delivery, industry, lived experience and policy to accelerate translation from discovery to patient benefit.
  4. 10:25Dr Joanna Jenkinson, MBE (Director of R&D Policy, ABPI) — State of the Nation: opportunities and challenges facing industry in considering the UK as a destination for research and clinical trials (15 min).
  5. 10:40Emma Maher (Senior Director, Therapeutic Networks Lead, IQVIA) — State of the Nation: an IQVIA perspective on the evolving healthcare landscape (15 min).
  6. 10:55Q&A (10:55–11:15).
  7. 11:15Coffee / tea break (11:15–11:30).
  8. 11:30Session 2: MHG Programme Overview — the new UK opportunity (11:30–13:00; Chair: Prof. Kathryn Abel). Workstream leads introduce their areas and how they contribute to MHG, with 10 minutes per talk:
  9. Industry Alliance Management Team (AMT) — Prof. Mitul Mehta (10 min).
  10. Innovative Clinical Trials Hub (ITH) — Prof. Richard Emsley (10 min).
  11. Lived Experience Industry Partnership (LEIP) — Dr Siân Rees (10 min).
  12. GLAD MHG Workstream — Prof. Gerome Breen (10 min).
  13. Omics–Psychosis — Prof. Graham Murray (10 min).
  14. Digital Innovations — Dr Trina Histon (10 min).
  15. DATAMIND TRE — Prof. Ann John (10 min).
  16. DATAMIND Observatory — Dr Matthias Pierce (10 min).
  17. 13:00Lunch (13:00–13:40).
  18. 13:40Rebecca Parkin (Associate Director, Digital Health, ABHI) — Driving Adoption Across the NHS (13:40–13:50).
  19. 13:50Session 3: Industry roundtable (13:50–14:40; Chair: Prof. Vaibhav Narayan). Strengths and weaknesses of conducting Phase I–III studies in severe mental illness (SMI) and neurodegeneration, and the opportunity for the UK to strengthen its position globally given the increasingly challenging trials environment in parts of the world.
  20. Key questions for CROs and industry: What attracts industry to the UK? What are the major barriers? How can we enhance the impact of lived experience involvement? Why do studies go elsewhere? What would make MHG a preferred partner? How can we add value earlier in the development cycle? Output: a prioritised SWOT analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
  21. 14:40Session 4: Building earlier strategic partnerships — breakout discussion (14:40–15:30; Chairs: Prof. Richard Emsley and Dr Siân Rees). Navigating from service provider to strategic partnership with global pharma and digital health, drawing on the UK’s data, digital and R&D landscape. Exploring new methodologies and co-development opportunities from the MHG programme.
  22. Facilitators: Emma Maher, Mitul Mehta, Eric Lynch, Husseini Manji and Kathryn Abel.
  23. Potential areas for exploration: engaging industry at the experimental medicine/proof-of-concept stage; co-development opportunities; joint funding bids; lived experience opportunities; synthetic trials; real-world analytics; biomarker and platform studies; target validation; industry engagement models.
  24. Key question: What do we need to put in place to develop the partnerships between the goals programme and industry to address the challenges we have identified?
  25. Prompts for discussion: Who should we be speaking to — inside and outside companies? How should we engage? What activities should we prioritise to develop partnerships?
  26. 15:30Industry Engagement Forum launch (15:30–15:50) — Prof. Vaibhav Narayan and Prof. Mitul Mehta: review whether the meeting’s objectives have been covered; refine initial next steps and priority actions with live input from attendees via Mentimeter; launch the Industry Engagement Forum.
  27. 15:50Next steps (15:50–16:05).
  28. 16:05Closing remarks and reflections — Prof. Trevor Jones (16:05–16:20).

Outputs from this meeting

  • An agreed SWOT analysis

    A shared view of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of conducting Phase I–III studies in severe mental illness and neurodegeneration in the UK.

  • Top 10 industry barriers and solutions

    A prioritised list of what blocks collaboration — and how to fix it.

  • Agreed priority actions and next steps

    Immediate actions, ownership and follow-up working groups, refined with live input from attendees.

Looking ahead

Looking ahead

Later forum meetings will build on this launch day to develop a one-page UK mental health value proposition, an industry engagement strategy for 2027–2029, a communication and stakeholder engagement plan, named leads for CRO, pharma and biotech engagement, and a 90-day action plan with owners.

Launch meeting registration is closed

Launch meeting registration is closed

Registration for the Industry Engagement Forum launch meeting on 8 October 2026 is now closed. If you have already registered, the Alliance Management Team will contact you about your place.

Applications to join the ongoing Industry Engagement Forum will open in mid-October.

Questions about the Forum?

The Alliance Management Team can talk through the agenda, the audience or how your organisation might take part.

Contact us

Funded by

Delivered by