![Amy Lynham BSc (Hons), PhD](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/5332?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Amy Lynham
BSc (Hons), PhD
Teams and roles for Amy Lynham
HCRW Advanced Research Fellow
Overview
My research investigates how cognitive functions are impacted in patients with a history of mental health problems. I lead on the development of an online cognitive assessment battery (Cardiff ONline Cognitive Assessment, CONCA), which has been specifically designed to measure cognition in psychiatric research. This work includes conducting research to:
- Examine the nature and severity of cognitive impairments across diagnostic groups.
- Identify the demographic, clinical, premorbid and genetic factors associated with their presence.
- Evaluate the impact of these impairments on patient outcomes.
I have a special interest in how health technologies can be used to support delivery of clinical care in psychiatric services. I lead on the development of a clinical version of CONCA, working with patient representatives and clinicians to create a tool that will support the assessment of patients with psychosis in the clinic. I am also interested in how cognition is more broadly related to health in the general population, and how we can use digital technology, data linkage and large datasets to examine this.
Publication
2026
- Lynham, A. J. et al. 2026. Acceptability of the Cardiff Online Cognitive Assessment for clinical screening of patients with psychosis: Protocol for a mixed methods study. JMIR Research Protocols 15 e84218. (10.2196/84218)
2025
- Smart, S. E. et al. 2025. The role of SLC39A8.p.( Ala391Thr ) in schizophrenia symptom severity and cognitive ability: cross‐sectional studies of schizophrenia and the general UK population. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 198 (7), pp.135-146. (10.1002/ajmg.b.33037)
2024
- Owen, D. et al. 2024. AI for analyzing mental health disorders among social media users: Quarter-century narrative review of progress and challenges. Journal of Medical Internet Research 26 e59225. (10.2196/59225)
2023
- Lynham, A. , Jones, I. and Walters, J. 2023. Cardiff online cognitive assessment in a national sample: cross-sectional web-based study. Journal of Medical Internet Research 25 e46675. (10.2196/46675)
- Lynham, A. J. et al. 2023. DRAGON-Data: A platform and protocol for integrating genomic and phenotypic data across large psychiatric cohorts. BJPsych Open 9 (2) e32. (10.1192/bjo.2022.636)
2022
- Woolway, G. et al. 2022. Schizophrenia polygenic risk and experiences of childhood adversity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin 48 (5), pp.967-980. (10.1093/schbul/sbac049)
- Trubetskoy, V. et al., 2022. Mapping genomic loci prioritises genes and implicates synaptic biology in schizophrenia. Nature 604 , pp.502-508. (10.1038/s41586-022-04434-5)
- Lynham, A. J. , Jones, I. R. and Walters, J. T. R. 2022. Web-based cognitive testing in psychiatric research: validation and usability study. Journal of Medical Internet Research 24 (2) e28233. (10.2196/28233)
- Lynham, A. J. et al. 2022. A meta-analysis comparing cognitive function across the mood/psychosis diagnostic spectrum. Psychological Medicine 52 (2), pp.323-331. (10.1017/S0033291720002020)
- Pardinas, A. et al. 2022. Interaction testing and polygenic risk scoring to estimate the contribution of common genetic variants to treatment resistance in schizophrenia. JAMA Psychiatry 79 (3), pp.260-269. (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.3799)
2021
- Dennison, C. et al. 2021. Risk factors, clinical features, and polygenic risk scores in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder depressive-type. Schizophrenia Bulletin 47 (5), pp.1375-1384. (10.1093/schbul/sbab036)
- Hubbard, L. et al. 2021. Rare copy number variations are associated with poorer cognition in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 90 (1), pp.28-34. (10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.11.025)
2020
- Legge, S. et al. 2020. Clinical indicators of treatment-resistant psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry 216 (5), pp.259-266. (10.1192/bjp.2019.120)
- Richards, A. et al. 2020. The relationship between polygenic risk scores and cognition in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 46 (2), pp.-. (10.1093/schbul/sbz061)
2019
- Kendall, K. M. et al. 2019. Cognitive performance and functional outcomes of carriers of pathogenic copy number variants: analysis of the UK Biobank. British Journal of Psychiatry 214 (05), pp.297-304. (10.1192/bjp.2018.301)
2018
- Lynham, A. et al. 2018. Examining cognition across the bipolar / schizophrenia diagnostic spectrum. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience 43 (3) 170076. (10.1503/jpn.170076)
- Pardinas, A. F. et al. 2018. Common schizophrenia alleles are enriched in mutation-intolerant genes and in regions under strong background selection. Nature Genetics 50 , pp.381-389. (10.1038/s41588-018-0059-2)
- Lynham, A. 2018. Measuring cognition across mood and psychotic disorders. PhD Thesis , Cardiff University.
2016
Articles
- Lynham, A. J. et al. 2026. Acceptability of the Cardiff Online Cognitive Assessment for clinical screening of patients with psychosis: Protocol for a mixed methods study. JMIR Research Protocols 15 e84218. (10.2196/84218)
- Smart, S. E. et al. 2025. The role of SLC39A8.p.( Ala391Thr ) in schizophrenia symptom severity and cognitive ability: cross‐sectional studies of schizophrenia and the general UK population. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 198 (7), pp.135-146. (10.1002/ajmg.b.33037)
- Owen, D. et al. 2024. AI for analyzing mental health disorders among social media users: Quarter-century narrative review of progress and challenges. Journal of Medical Internet Research 26 e59225. (10.2196/59225)
- Lynham, A. , Jones, I. and Walters, J. 2023. Cardiff online cognitive assessment in a national sample: cross-sectional web-based study. Journal of Medical Internet Research 25 e46675. (10.2196/46675)
- Lynham, A. J. et al. 2023. DRAGON-Data: A platform and protocol for integrating genomic and phenotypic data across large psychiatric cohorts. BJPsych Open 9 (2) e32. (10.1192/bjo.2022.636)
- Woolway, G. et al. 2022. Schizophrenia polygenic risk and experiences of childhood adversity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin 48 (5), pp.967-980. (10.1093/schbul/sbac049)
- Trubetskoy, V. et al., 2022. Mapping genomic loci prioritises genes and implicates synaptic biology in schizophrenia. Nature 604 , pp.502-508. (10.1038/s41586-022-04434-5)
- Lynham, A. J. , Jones, I. R. and Walters, J. T. R. 2022. Web-based cognitive testing in psychiatric research: validation and usability study. Journal of Medical Internet Research 24 (2) e28233. (10.2196/28233)
- Lynham, A. J. et al. 2022. A meta-analysis comparing cognitive function across the mood/psychosis diagnostic spectrum. Psychological Medicine 52 (2), pp.323-331. (10.1017/S0033291720002020)
- Pardinas, A. et al. 2022. Interaction testing and polygenic risk scoring to estimate the contribution of common genetic variants to treatment resistance in schizophrenia. JAMA Psychiatry 79 (3), pp.260-269. (10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.3799)
- Dennison, C. et al. 2021. Risk factors, clinical features, and polygenic risk scores in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder depressive-type. Schizophrenia Bulletin 47 (5), pp.1375-1384. (10.1093/schbul/sbab036)
- Hubbard, L. et al. 2021. Rare copy number variations are associated with poorer cognition in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 90 (1), pp.28-34. (10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.11.025)
- Legge, S. et al. 2020. Clinical indicators of treatment-resistant psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry 216 (5), pp.259-266. (10.1192/bjp.2019.120)
- Richards, A. et al. 2020. The relationship between polygenic risk scores and cognition in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 46 (2), pp.-. (10.1093/schbul/sbz061)
- Kendall, K. M. et al. 2019. Cognitive performance and functional outcomes of carriers of pathogenic copy number variants: analysis of the UK Biobank. British Journal of Psychiatry 214 (05), pp.297-304. (10.1192/bjp.2018.301)
- Lynham, A. et al. 2018. Examining cognition across the bipolar / schizophrenia diagnostic spectrum. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience 43 (3) 170076. (10.1503/jpn.170076)
- Pardinas, A. F. et al. 2018. Common schizophrenia alleles are enriched in mutation-intolerant genes and in regions under strong background selection. Nature Genetics 50 , pp.381-389. (10.1038/s41588-018-0059-2)
- Pardinas, A. et al. 2016. Common schizophrenia alleles are enriched in mutation-intolerant genes and maintained by background selection. bioRxiv (10.1101/068593)
Thesis
- Lynham, A. 2018. Measuring cognition across mood and psychotic disorders. PhD Thesis , Cardiff University.
Biography
Academic Qualifications
PhD Medicine, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University (2018)
Thesis title: "Measuring cognition across mood and psychotic disorders"
BSc(Hons) Psychology with Professional Placement, 1st Class Honours, Cardiff University (2013)
Career History
HCRW Advanced Research Fellow (2024-Present)
I lead a mixed-methods research project piloting an online tool for clinical monitoring of cognition in patients with psychosis (Cardiff ONline Cognitive Assessment, CONCA).
Research Associate, National Centre for Mental Health (2020-2024)
I examined how cognitive function is affected in people with diagnosed mental health problems. I led on the development of an online cognitive assessment battery (Cardiff ONline Cognitive Assessment, CONCA), which has been specifically designed to measure cognition in psychiatric research. This work included conducting research to: 1) examine the nature and severity of cognitive impairments across diagnostic groups, 2) identify the demographic, clinical, premorbid and genetic factors associated with their presence, and 3) evaluate the impact of these impairments on patient outcomes. In addition, I worked with HealthWise Wales to examine how cognition is more broadly related to health in the general population. Finally, I worked with patient representatives and clinicians to create a clinical version of CONCA that will support the assessment of patients with psychosis in the clinic.
Research Associate, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences (2018-2020)
I undertook postdoctoral research on the MRC-funded project entitled, "Integrating genetic, clinical and phenotypic data to advance stratification, prediction and treatment in mental health". My role involved amalgamating data from large clinical cohorts with the department and linking this data with e-health data resources to create a cross-disorder resource for mental health research.
Psychology Assistant, National Centre for Mental Health (2017-2018)
I led on the recruitment, design and data analysis for an online study, which used a web-based cognitive battery. The research investigated the nature and degree of cognitive impairments in a large sample of participants with psychiatric disorders.
Psychology Assistant, Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences (2013-2014)
I administered clinical and cognitive assessments for participants with schizophrenia and psychosis and conducted clinical ratings for the study ("Cardiff Cognition in Schizophrenia, CardiffCOGS").
Research Funding and Awards
| Date | Scheme / Award | Amount |
| October 2024 - September 2027 | Advanced Research Fellow, Health and Care Research Wales | £489,116 |
| July 2023 - September 2023 | Lead supervisor, Cardiff University On-Campus Internship Scheme | £2,505 |
| May 2023 - July 2023 | Selected for the Welsh Crucible 2023 | Travel, accommodation & subsistence |
| August 2022 - December 2022 | Principal Investigator, Wellcome Trust ITPA Access to Expertise | £9,855 |
| September 2018 - August 2019 | Co-investigator, MRC Confidence in Concept | £47,000 |
| September 2018 | MQ Travel Award | £300 |
| October 2014 - September 2017 | MRC Doctoral studentship (50%) | 50% fees & stipend |
Professional memberships
Associate Fellow of the AdvanceHE
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- Cognition
- Psychiatry
- Digital health
- Psychosis