Thomas Ward

Dr. Thomas Ward is a Clinical Psychologist Lecturer at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), Department of Psychology. He holds dual roles as Honorary Consultant Clinical Psychologist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Clinical Lead for AVATAR therapy and SloMo therapy teams. His research focuses on scalable digital interventions for severe mental health conditions, particularly targeting distressing voices and paranoia. He leads large-scale trials like AVATAR2 and has pioneered therapies such as AVATAR for voice hearing and SloMo for paranoia. He is also EDI Theme Representative at NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre.

Dr. Ward’s research spans clinical psychology, digital health, and psychosis treatment. He has coordinated studies like the UNIQUE study investigating the psychosis continuum. His work emphasizes translating research into clinical practice, evidenced by NICE recommendations for AVATAR/SloMo therapies. He collaborates with interdisciplinary teams, including the IoPPN Virtual Reality Lab for innovative treatment development.

Key contributions include advancing virtual reality applications in therapy and developing tools like the Voice Characterisation Checklist. His research addresses adverse event reporting in digital interventions and user engagement challenges in mental health tech. Funding includes a £1.3M Wellcome award for scaling SloMo therapy. His work bridges clinical practice, technology, and patient-centered care.