The University of Exeter has been allocated £250,000 in government funding to design and test an artificial intelligence-supported intervention to treat depression and anxiety in female veterans.

The research is in collaboration with the artificial intelligence platform, Iona Mind.
The funding is a part of the £5 million awarded by the government to 22 projects that aim to use new treatments and technology to support veterans’ healthcare.

Leader of the project, Professor Paul Farrand at the University of Exeter, said: “Support services for veterans have historically been designed for men, yet increasing numbers of women are facing ever more adversity in the armed forces. Despite that, take-up of mental health support services by female veterans is about half of what we would expect. In this project, we’ll work with female veterans to enhance the acceptability of new mental health technologies that we know can be effective at a scale that can support all of our female veterans in need of help.”

In this project, we’ll work with female veterans to enhance the acceptability of new mental health technologies

Professor Paul Farrand

Jonathon Baker, CEO of Iona Mind said: “Our team is committed to delivering evidence-based mental healthcare at scale and we’re thrilled to be partnering with the University of Exeter. The government’s support for this work emphasises the urgent need to support the mental health of our female veterans”.