Urvita Bhatia

Urvita Bhatia is a psychologist and clinical researcher. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Oxford Brookes University, UK through a Global Challenges Research Fund Award. Her PhD is focussed on the development of a sports-based adolescent substance use prevention program in India. 

She trained in Clinical Psychology in India before completing her MSc in Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and King's College London, UK. Urvita has been working in India in a mental health research NGO called Sangath, India, and has focused her efforts on interventional research since less than a decade. Her research and clinical interests span community-based prevention and treatment approaches for substance use-related problems, for both, individuals and families, and the development and evaluation of such interventions. She is also interested in culturally appropriate treatments for addictions, gender-based violence, particularly intimate partner violence and common mental disorders.

She is a part of the NIHR Global Health Research Group focused on developing a package of care for the mental health of survivors of violence in South Asia. She was previously awarded a Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance Research Training Fellowship, to work on the adaptation of an evidence-based intervention for family members affected by a relative’s alcohol use.