Dr Mat Lucassen

Overview

Mathijs (Mat) joined the School of Health and Medical Sciences at City St George's, University of London in January 2024. Immediately prior to starting at City St George's he was a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health at The Open University (OU), where he was also an OU Open Media Fellow supporting BBC-OU co-productions and free learning via OpenLearn (https://www.open.edu/openlearn/). He originally trained as an occupational therapist and he has worked clinically in mental health services for a number of years in both England and New Zealand, primarily in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. 

Mat's research is designed to help inform others about the mental health needs of under-served populations (e.g., LGBTQ+ people), and to contribute towards enhancing the mental wellbeing of young people, past work has included:

- Various research projects with the University of Auckland's Adolescent Health Research Group (AHRG), where Mat is an AHRG member. The AHRG have conducted the Youth'2000 survey series, which consist of population-based surveys of the health and wellbeing of over 27,000 New Zealand secondary school students, conducted to date in 2001, 2007, 2012 and 2019. Mat's work has involved co-authoring government commissioned reports and authoring peer-reviewed journal articles together with the AHRG team.

- Mat is part of the core team that created SPARX (which has primarily been funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Health). SPARX is a serious game-based form of cognitive behavioural therapy for the treatment of adolescent depression. It was originally developed in New Zealand and it has been tested and enhanced for use in diverse communities and populations. Following clinical trials, it was made freely available in New Zealand in 2014 (https://landing.sparx.org.nz/). Since its launch in New Zealand Mat has been involved in SPARX-related studies in a range of countries including for completed trials in Canada and the Netherlands and for studies currently underway in Australia and the UK (SPARX: Developing precision digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for young people with depression - Digital Youth).

- The TrACY Study (funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand). Mat was the study manager and a post-doctoral research fellow for the TrACY study, which was an exciting collaboration between the University of Auckland and Harvard University and consisted of a rigorous real world clinical trial to test whether training in MATCH-ADTC (Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma or Conduct problems) results in the delivery of more evidence-based therapy and better mental health outcomes for children and adolescents than usual care. He continues to work with colleagues from this project, including with Dr Ana Ugueto (Baylor College of Medicine, Texas) for work such as the Reasons for Living Study (see What suicidal teens say matters most to them).

- The PRIDE Project (funded by the UK's Medical Research Council) involved co-creating a prototype novel online resource to support the mental wellbeing of LGBTQ+ adolescents. Mat led this study which was completed in December 2023.

Mat is an experienced supervisor of postgraduate research students, in addition to MSc students he has supervised the following PhD students to completion:

• Dr Szu Ying (Xavier) Chiang, University of Auckland (University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship) - graduated 2019.
• Dr Sakura Bryne, The Open University (Grand Union DTP, UKRI funded PhD Studentship) - graduated 2024.
• Dr Rochelle Mallet, The Open University (Open University PhD Scholarship) - graduated 2025.

Current PhD students include:

• Susan Wall, Victoria University of Wellington (Victoria University of Wellington Doctoral Scholarship).
• Emma Chubb, University of Bath (GW4 BioMed MRC DTP, UKRI funded PhD Studentship).   
• Brad Begley, City St George's, University of London (HARP PhD Studentship).

In addition to supervision, he has delivered training and support sessions (e.g., on working together with minoritised groups) as part of DTPs in the UK (e.g., for the Grand Union DTP).

Mat has been an internal PhD examiner at The Open University and at City St George's as well as an external examiner for doctorates in the UK (e.g., at University College London, King's College London, and Newcastle University) and overseas (e.g., at The University of Queensland). 

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2012
• MHSc (Hons 1st), The University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2005
• PGDipHSc (Child and Adolescent Mental Health), University of Auckland, New Zealand, 2004
• BOccTher (Distinction), Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand, 1997
• Senior Fellow (Reference PR163319), Higher Education Academy, United Kingdom
• Certificate in Tertiary Teaching, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

Employment

• Co-Director - Centre for Mental Health Research, City St George's, University of London, United Kingdom, November 2025 - present
• Honorary Academic, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, September 2024 - present
• Reader in Mental Health, City St George's, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2024 - present
• Senior Lecturer in Mental Health, The Open University, United Kingdom, August 2018 - December 2023
• Lecturer in Mental Health, The Open University, United Kingdom, August 2015 - July 2018
• Honorary Academic, University of Auckland, New Zealand, July 2015 - present
• Lecturer & Research Fellow, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, August 2011 - June 2015
• Tutor & PhD Student, The University of Auckland, New Zealand, March 2008 - July 2011
• Service Coordinator & Intern Supervisor, Auckland District Health Board, New Zealand, September 2007 - February 2008
• Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, January 2005 - August 2007
• Occupational Therapist, (Various Trusts in London and Auckland District Health Board, New Zealand), New Zealand & UK, January 1997 - December 2003

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