SIRS Awards the 2023 Research Harmonisation Award
The Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) has awarded the 2023 Research Harmonisation Award: To produce methods for sharing and/or comparing data across countries to increase the creative drive of schizophrenia research internationally.
The 2023 RHA Topic:
To produce methods for sharing and/or comparing data across countries to increase the creative drive of schizophrenia research internationally.
A Message from Nicolas Crossley and Sinan Guloksuz, Awardees
- Nicolas Crossley, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Facultad de Medicina, P. Universidad Catolica de Chile
- Sinan Guloksuz, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University Medical Center
We are delighted to receive this important award. Environment has a significant impact on the risk and trajectories of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. However, characterizations of the exposome in psychosis research are still limited to studies exclusively examining environment, as studies wishing to incorporate environmental exposures must focus on specific aspects or incorporate lengthy and detailed questionnaires. This is hindering progress in the field.
With MINDSET project, we aim to set minimum standards for the characterization of the exposome in psychosis for researchers whose main research interest is not the environment, and could collect environmental information as potential moderators, mediators or confounders. For this purpose, we have gathered a diverse group including more than 50 researchers at different career stages and lived experience experts from 20 countries across 5 continents. We will use a sequential methodology including experts’ opinions of specific measurements, which will be rated according to its acceptability by people with lived experience, and finally trimmed down and consolidated in a Delphi process by experts in schizophrenia whose main area of research is not the environment. By delivering an accessible guideline for researchers in psychosis whose main research interest is not the environment, we hope to catalyze the field and lay the groundwork to facilitate large-scale consortia establishments in the future.
A Message from Cheryl Corcoran, Awards Committee Chair
The Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS) has awarded its Research Harmonisation Award (RHA) 2024 to a consortium headed by Drs. Sinan Guloksuz and Nicolas Crossley, which includes members from at least sixteen countries on five continents as well as individuals with lived experience. Their project will address the need for a standard measurement of the “exposome”, which comprises the environmental factors that contribute to the development and expression of schizophrenia. The team aims to develop a minimum standard list of easy to measure environmental factors that can be used in all studies – a list that is brief, comprehensive , easy to learn, inexpensive, acceptable to individuals with lived experience, appropriate for different cultures and languages, and developmentally sensitive. The team will use a sequential methodology that includes 1) early career investigators interviewing “exposome” experts’ about their opinions on specific measures, 2) ratings of acceptability by people with lived experience, and then 3) a winnowing and finalization of the measure through a two-stage Delphi process by schizophrenia experts who do not focus their research on the environment. Guidelines will be disseminated at SIRS 2025 and through a website. This minimum standard list will be of great use for considering the role of the environment across all types of clinical research in schizophrenia.
To learn more about the SIRS RHA award, please click here.
