Professor Damien Ridge

Damien is Professor of Health Studies, and a practicing psychotherapist. Initially studying medicine, he transferred to the social sciences, to become a leading qualitative research expert on the lived experience of health conditions. He previously worked in the Health Experiences Research Group (HERG) at the University of Oxford, where he fleshed out for the first time what recovery from depression actually entailed for patients. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) subsequently adopted Ridge & Ziebland's (2006) research on recovery extensively in their guidance on the treatment and management of depression in adults in the UK (2010). He is currently funded to investigate a new NHS-based psychological treatment approach for those living with and beyond cancer, long-Covid and racialised minorities, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and sexual health, and caring for people living with Alzheimers in times of Covid. With a h-index of 33 and an i10-index of 67, Damien has published two books and over 100 peer-reviewed academic journal papers/book chapters. His key areas of study are depression and recovery; suicide and men; men and mental health; chronic health conditions; HIV and sexuality. His work has been funded by the MRC/ESRC, NIHR, Department of Health, NHS, NIHR, Wellcome Trust, Make My Day Better (MMDB), Quintin Hogg Trust (QHT) and various other charities. His approach to psychotherapy draws from psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive and mindfulness traditions.

• Mental health and recovery
• Chronic a health conditions, e.g. HIV, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Long-Covid
• Masculinities and health
• Patient centred care and experiences
• Sexual health
• Sensitive qualitative research methods
• Complex evaluations of health and social services

Recent funding

£240,838 for 'Assessing acceptability, Utilisation and Disclosure of health Information to an automated chatbot for advice about sexually Transmitted infections in minoritisED ethnic populations – AUDITED.'  NIHR. Nadarzynski, T., Ridge, D., Buchanan, T., Husbands, D., et al. 2021-2023.

£120,000 for “Hearing from the unheard: impact of long-COVID in minority ethnic groups in the UK (Hi-COVE)”, NIHR. Smyth, N., Ridge, D., et al. 2022-2023.

£125,000 for ‘Investigating how carers cope, access and use support services – Lessons from Covid-19’, Roche. Cartwright, T., Ridge, D., & Loveday, C. 2021-2023.

£427,347 for ‘The Health Innovation Ecosystem’. Chaussalet, T., Bell, J., Ridge, D., Peters, D. & Polley, M. QHT, 2018-2021.

£2.5 million for ‘ SUrvivors' Rehabilitation Evaluation after CANcer (SURECAN), NIHR PGfAR, with Queen Mary, University of London leading, 2018-2022.

£75,000 for 'The impact of GP burnout and resilience on patient care'. Funded by the Quintin Hogg Trust (QHT). Ridge, D. & Peters, D. 2017-2019.

£26,000 for ‘Understanding the support needs of people with chronic fatigue syndrome/ myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME): A qualitative meta-synthesis’ (NIHR, Lewith, Pilkington, Ridge, Chew-Graham), 2017-2018.

£90,000 for ‘Is Green Exercise an effective tool for combatting stress in children?’. Wood, C., Clow, A., & Ridge, DT. FST UoW PhD scholarship, 4 years. 2016-2020.

£40,739 for ‘Graded Exercise Therapy guided Self-help Treatment (GETSET) for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: a nested qualitative investigation.’ Ridge, D. (PI), Cheshire, A., and White, P. NIHR, 2014 -2015.

£32,000 for ‘Electroconvulsive therapy: a qualitative study of the experiences of patients and their carers, as part of healthtalk.org.' Ridge, D.T. NIHR funding, 2014.

£140,000 for ‘Proposal to evaluate the role of a health facilitator to support diabetic and pre-diabetic patients in making healthy lifestyle changes’. Polley, M., Ridge, D. & Pilkington, K. Funded by MMDB Charity, 2013-2015.

£142,000 for 'Men's stress and distress clinic'. Funded by Nelson's. Ridge, D. & Peters, D 2012-2014.

£221,004 for 'HIV and Later Life (HALL)'. Funded by the Medical Research Council/Economic and Social Research Council's Life Long Health and Wellbeing scheme. Rosenfeld, D., Ridge, D., Anderson, J., and Catalan, J. 2011-2013

For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.