A prize designed to highlight influence
Wellcome, in partnership with Nature, has introduced the Wellcome Prize for Psychological Well being Science with Nature. The prize will award US$1 million to a successful workforce whose work reveals clear, measurable enhancements in psychological well being outcomes. Three additional finalists will every obtain US$250,000. The winner will likely be introduced subsequent yr.
What makes this prize completely different is its focus. It isn’t about polished, late stage merchandise or headline grabbing applied sciences. As an alternative, it goals to recognise early stage, proof based mostly interventions that already exhibit actual profit and have the potential to be adopted extra extensively.
Eligible entries might embody new remedies, digital instruments, college or office programmes, coverage modifications or neighborhood led fashions of care. What issues most just isn’t the class, however the end result. The judges are in search of clear proof that folks’s lives are enhancing because of this.
Why visibility issues
Psychological well being has a protracted historical past of stigma and neglect. Because the Nature editorial notes, many previous approaches to psychological sickness have been formed extra by social management than by care or compassion. Folks with critical psychological well being situations have been typically feared, excluded or subjected to dangerous practices, leaving a legacy that also impacts attitudes and funding immediately.
Prizes can’t repair these deep rooted issues on their very own. However they might help change the story we inform about psychological well being analysis. By drawing public consideration to credible, top quality science, a prize of this scale sends a strong message. Psychological well being analysis is rigorous. It’s revolutionary. And it may result in actual, significant change.
