Lived-Experience Research Lead and Centre Co-Director Professor Michelle Banfield leads this national project. The project is a flagship of the Lived-Experience Research Collective that has more than 250 members who self-identity as lived-experience researchers living with mental ill-health, ongoing trauma, or as carer, family and kinship group members of someone living with mental ill-health. A proportion of the Lived-Experience Research Collective members are people who are employed in research roles within government, non-government organisations or other non-university based settings.

TLC maps the who, what, where and how of lived-experience research nationally and stems from conversations held at the start of Centre establishment. Data collected within the project will also inform the Centre’s strategic initiative to develop A National Strategy for Lived-Experience in Mental Health Research to support capabilities development for lived-experience research to grow, and to foster career pathways and integration. More than 100 people with lived experience working in research roles participated in our survey and interviews, with analysis in progress to inform further research in 2025, including creative submissions such as mad poetry. Watch this space!