Professor Clara Strauss

Professor Clara Strauss is a mental health researcher with extensive experience in knowledge mobilisation and implementation. She is employed as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Sussex and as Deputy Director of Research at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT).

Clara brings over 20 years of experience as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and clinical academic and has successfully led NHS teams responsible for implementing research evidence into practice. This includes co-leading Sussex Mindfulness Centre at SPFT which has pioneered implementation of evidence-based, NICE-recommended mindfulness approaches for depression and staff wellbeing in NHS and other settings. She also leads the Obsesive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic in SPFT, where National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)-recommended research evidence is translated into patient care, with the guidance of a Lived Experience Advisory Panel.

Clara has 45 peer-reviewed journal articles, published in the past five years, and has been as Chief Investigator or co-applicant on 22 funded studies, generating £8 million in research income. Clara is passionate about supporting the next generation of researchers and leads Early Career Researcher development for mental health PhD students and clinical academics in the Sussex Mental Health Research Centre in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex.