The Child and Adolescent Research Network (CARN) was established in March 2019 with the aim of increasing collaboration between child and adolescent mental health researchers and clinicians.
CARN’s mission is to improve the mental health of infants, children and adolescents in New Zealand through research by :
- supporting and funding interested clinicians and established researchers to develop and instigate research projects relevant to the mental health needs of New Zealand infants, children and adolescents;
- fostering collaboration between mental health clinicians and researchers in New Zealand;
- organising and funding conferences, meetings and other events to promote mental health research and encourage collaboration between mental health clinicians and researchers; and
- promoting local research within New Zealand and internationally in order to enhance the capacity of clinical research in infant, child and adolescent mental health;
CARN is supported by the Werry Centre for Infant, Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Auckland and the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, New Zealand.
The current directors are Dr Hiran Thabrew, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Paediatrician (Auckland, NZ) and Dr Katherine Donovan, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist (Christchurch, NZ).
Professor Sally Merry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, ex-Cure Kids Chair and ex-Head of Department at the University of Auckland (Auckland, NZ) is Patron of the Network.