Dr Samuel J Swidzinski
From patient to researcher to founder.
I have bipolar disorder. I went from suicidal and unable to function to becoming a doctor and founding a government-backed company — driven by one belief: relevance is essential to mental-health innovation.
PhD in cognition & bipolar disorder, King’s College London. Founder of Schologists. Creator of the concept of patient relevance.
By the numbers
Schologists revenue & grant funding
Grant-funded research programmes
Peer-reviewed papers
of Innovate UK Smart Grant applicants
UKRI-backed · EPO patent pending
Highlights
- SchologistsFounder & Chief Innovation Officer — turning psychological research into products; UKRI-backed, EPO patent pending
- ResearchPhD in cognition & bipolar disorder — Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London · 4 peer-reviewed papers
- GrantsLead applicant, co-applicant and patient-relevance advisor — Wellcome, UKRI, Maudsley Charity
- The bookWinning the War with Bipolar — reviewed by Prof Wendy Burn & Prof Ahmed Hankir · read by Sir Robin Murray
- RecognitionVisiting Lecturer, Imperial College London · Reviewer, The Lancet Psychiatry · Session chair, Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Supported bythe NHS Innovation Service · collaboration with Imperial College London
01 · The idea
Patient relevance
An engineer engineers. A researcher researches. But when someone with lived experience joins mental-health research, their role is vague: to “be involved.” Involvement becomes a process rather than a purpose.
I call that purpose patient relevance: keeping research anchored to the outcomes that matter to the people it is meant to help. Not kinder at the edges — more valid at the centre. When patients shape what a study asks and what success is measured against, we build things that change lives.
“I have been the participant ticking the boxes and the contributor helping to redraw them. The difference between the two is not effort or sincerity. It is purpose.”
I arrived as a participant. Diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in 2013, I took part in CRiB, a cognitive remediation trial. I could pass its timed tasks — but I could not hold down a job. The trial measured something real, but not what separates an illness contained from a life regained. When CRiB grew into CRiB2, lived-experience input — including mine — helped shift the primary outcome to psychosocial functioning: the things that make up a life.
From being measured to deciding what gets measured. I went on to a PhD at King’s, a book, and Schologists — building the tools I wished had existed.
Read the full Personal View →The second idea · The AND thesis
AI and AAA game design are becoming active clinical ingredients in mental-health treatment — not decorative additions. Rigour without engagement is ignored; engagement without rigour is empty. Veyra is built to hold both.
From my BFX Festival talk →02 · Built
Schologists
I founded Schologists to build the support I once needed — turning psychological research into things people can actually use.
Veyra
Built on clinical science. Made to feel like a game.
Veyra is an adaptive cognitive assessment and remediation platform for adolescents with ADHD — meaningful support while young people sit on NHS waiting lists. Backed by UKRI, patent-pending with the EPO, developed with Imperial College London and the NHS Innovation Service. Patient relevance as a product.
Educational programmes — metacognition
Schologists also delivers British Accreditation Council–accredited programmes in metacognition — “thinking about thinking” — with universities and schools, plus 1:1 executive-function coaching grounded in cognitive remediation research. Cognitive science handed directly to the people who need it.
£1M+ revenue & grant funding · UKRI-backed (top 3%) · EPO patent pending
Visit Schologists →03 · Track record
Funded research
£30M+ in grant-funded research informed — as a patient-relevance contributor and advisor.
Combined value of grant-funded research programmes I’ve contributed to in a patient-relevance capacity — not funding personally raised.
Wellcome · UKRI · Maudsley Charity
Grants funded by Wellcome, UKRI and the Maudsley Charity — as lead or co-applicant on several, and patient-relevance advisor on others.
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Innovate UK Smart Grant — UKRI
Awardee · Schologists / Veyra
Awarded to roughly the top 3% of applicants — government backing to turn research into products.
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Maudsley Charity — patient-centred care of bipolar disorder
Co-applicant
Care designed around the outcomes patients prioritise — patient relevance applied to clinical services.
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CRiB2 — Cognitive Remediation in Bipolar — multi-site RCT, ~£1.9M, King’s College London
Patient-relevance researcher · on the team from application stage
Lived-experience input shifted the primary outcome to psychosocial functioning — where patient relevance began.
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Doctoral research — ESRC LISS DTP (UKRI), IoPPN, King’s College London
Awardee / PhD researcher
The evidence base: cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder, studied from inside the field and the condition.
AdvisoryKing’s College London × TU Dresden research collaboration in cognition — patient-relevance consultant.
04 · Published
Peer-reviewed research
- Catalán A, Swidzinski S, McCutcheon RA, … Young AH, Murray RM, Jauhar S. The proportion of people with primary affective disorders presenting to early intervention services: systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2026. doi:10.1192/bjp.2026.10602
- Swidzinski S, et al. Domain-specific cognitive function in euthymic bipolar disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 2025. First author · DOI to follow
- Tsapekos D, … Swidzinski S, … Burdick KE, Young AH. Estimating cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder: should we account for premorbid IQ? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2025. doi:10.1111/acps.70000
- Tsapekos D, Strawbridge R, Cella M, … Swidzinski S, … Young AH. Cognitive Remediation in Bipolar (CRiB2): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry, 2023. doi:10.1186/s12888-023-05327-1
05 · Writing
Winning the War with Bipolar
Winning the War with Bipolar (with George Dee, 2020) is the personal companion to the research — for anyone living with bipolar, anyone who loves someone who is, and the professionals who support them.
Reviewed by Prof Wendy Burn and Prof Ahmed Hankir — read by Sir Robin Murray.
“I would recommend this both for people with bipolar and those caring for them… As an experienced psychiatrist it gave me a new insight into what it is like to be a patient with bipolar.” Prof Wendy Burn — former President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
“Sam is the author of the masterpiece, ‘Winning the War with Bipolar’ — my favourite mental health book.” Prof Ahmed Hankir — psychiatrist & author
ISBN 9798680138632
06 · Speaking
Talks & workshops
I speak on patient relevance, cognitive-support design, and lived experience as a research method — to academic, clinical, and public audiences.
Making Research Relevant Through Lived Experience (Bipolar Disorder) — Dr Samuel J Swidzinski
- Technische Universität Dresden — “Patient Relevance: The Future of Lived Experience Research” King’s College London × TU Dresden collaboration.
- South London & Maudsley NHS — London Early Intervention Network — “Improving Access to Early Intervention Services” Workshop with Dr Sameer Jauhar — June 2026.
- Mental Health Mission — “Where Art Thou, Affective Psychoses?” With Dr Sameer Jauhar — to EI services across the UK.
- Conference talk, Switzerland — “Affective Disorder Prevalence in First-Episode Psychosis”
- BFX Festival, Bournemouth University — “Environments Building Cognitive Support” Arts and science as a clinical necessity.
- Royal College of Psychiatrists Chaired sessions.
07 · In the media
As heard on
- Bipolar UK — Let’s Talk BipolarAuthor of Winning the War with Bipolar & psychological researcher · 2021
- Before You Kill YourselfLived experience & psychological research on bipolar · 2024
- PTSD and BeyondWinning the War Within · 2021
- Stories of Hope — David Susman PhD“I finally feel like I belong somewhere” · interview, 2021
Get in touch
Building something that should measure what matters? Let’s talk.
Open to investment, collaboration, and speaking.