Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grants

The Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grant was founded in 2019, in memory of RCVS Council member Sarah Brown who passed away in 2017.

Applications are now open for 2023!

We are delighted to announce the launch of our fifth year of the Sarah Brown Mental Health Research Grants. We will once more be awarding a grant of £20,000 for research into veterinary mental health and wellbeing. The prize will be awarded at the Mind Matters Symposium in November 2023, where the winner will also be invited to present their work.

To apply, please complete our application form which is available to download below. Please send applications to Lisa Quigley L.Quigley@rcvs.org.uk by 5pm Thursday 15 June.

Application Form (PDF version) Application Form (MS Word version)

Application guidance

Applications on an any topic relevant to veterinary mental health are welcome. However, in line with the original aim of the Sarah Brown grants and the strategic aims of MMI, particular interest will be shown to projects surrounding the following themes and topics:

  • veterinary suicide
  • those with a strong focus on mental health, rather than wellbeing/wellness
  • veterinary nurses, veterinary nursing students, and non-veterinary member of the practice team (e.g. receptionists)
  • understanding experiences of minoritised groups within the veterinary team
  • projects led by those who typically receive fewer opportunities in academia (e.g. student, minoritised groups, those with lived experience of mental health problems)

The application form will allow applicants to tell us about the following:

  • Their chosen topic and how it is relevant to the veterinary professions
  • How their research will fill a knowledge gap, and the contribution it will make
  • Their chosen methodology, including any challenges that are foreseen and how these might be managed
  • Their approach to ethics, participant safety and confidentiality
  • The potential for real impact, in practice as well as theory
  • How the project aligns with MMI’s values of equity, diversity and inclusion

Key dates

Closing date – 15 June 2023

Mind Matters Symposium – November 2023

For more information please contact Mind Matters Initiative Manager, Lisa Quigley on L.Quigley@rcvs.org.uk

Sarah Brown Grant graphic

Learn more about our past winning projects below…

  • 2022

    An online compassionate imagery intervention to improve psychological wellbeing for
    veterinarians: A randomised control trial – Dr Katherine Wakelin (University of Surrey)

  • 2021

    Identifying and addressing workplace stressors for autistic veterinary professionals – Dr Kirstie Pickles and Dr Brad Hill (University of Nottingham)

  • 2020

    Experiences of racism and its impacts on mental wellbeing in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people working and studying in the UK veterinary profession – Victoria Crossley (Royal Veterinary College), and Navaratnam Partheeban (British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society)

  • 2020

    Experiences and impact of moral injury in UK veterinary professional wellbeing – Dr Victoria Williamson and Dr Neil Greenberg (King’s College London)

  • 2019

    How farm vets cope: An exploration of how vets cope with the daily challenges of farm animal practice and how best these coping mechanisms might be developed into tools which can be easily accessed by the livestock veterinary community – Dr Kate Stephen (Scotland’s Rural College)