Dr Emma 膶ernis BA, MSc, DClinPsy, DPhil

Dr Emma 膶ernis

School of Psychology
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology

Contact details

Telephone
0121 414 7221
Email
e.cernis@bham.ac.uk
Twitter

Dr Emma Černis is a clinical psychologist with expertise in complex mental health difficulties. Her research focuses on understanding dissociative experiences from a cognitive-behavioural perspective.

Pronunciation: “Chur-niss”.

Qualifications

DPhil Biomedical & Clinical Sciences, Oriel College, University of Oxford

DClinPsy Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford

MSc Mental Health Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London

BA Experimental Psychology, St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford

Biography

Before taking up the post of Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University 麻豆精选, Dr Emma Černis spent ten years in various roles in Professor Daniel Freeman’s ‘Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis’ research team at the University of Oxford. As a result, Emma has experience of translational and applied psychological research including co-ordinating clinical trials, and delivering trial-standard therapy, including cutting edge CBT interventions for adults with psychosis and young people with At Risk Mental State. 

Emma’s research focuses on dissociation: chronic subjective sensations of ‘strangeness’ or detachment that can cause significant distress and impairment, but which remain largely under-recognised in clinical settings. In her Wellcome Trust-funded Clinical Doctoral Fellowship programme of research, Emma defined a discrete subset of dissociative experiences (‘felt sense of anomaly’ (FSA) dissociation), demonstrated its links with common mental health problems and psychotic experiences, and began identifying its underlying psychological factors. Emma intends to build on this work by developing a cognitive model of FSA-dissociation and piloting a psychological intervention. She is also interested in exploring dissociation transdiagnostically, within adolescents, and determining the role dissociation may play in emerging mental health problems.

Clinically, Emma’s practice and supervision style is primarily influenced by CBT and related ‘third-wave’ approaches. She has expertise in working with psychotic symptoms across the lifespan, and with children, young people and families affected by sexual harm.

Teaching

Dr Černis contributes to teaching and supervision across the undergraduate and postgraduate, and applied doctoral courses within the School of Psychology and Centre for Applied Psychology.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Černis is open to co-supervising PhD research that falls within the areas of her expertise and research interests.

Please enquire by contacting the Postgraduate Research (PGR) Programme Administrator at the School of Psychology, or the Institute Operations Officer at the Institute of Mental Health.

Research

I am currently undertaking an online survey study of the causes of dissociation in young people (aged 16 to 25 years): The “Sources of Stress” (SOS) Study. This will be advertised via social media in late 2022 and early 2023. Please email dissociation@contacts.bham.ac.uk for more information.

PRIMARY

  • Dissociation:
    • Psychosocial causal and maintenance factors
    • Dissociative experiences in adolescence
    • Transdiagnostically
    • As a risk factor for other mental health problems
    • Evaluation of plausible intervention techniques
    • Experimental paradigms and methods related to elucidating its mechanisms

SECONDARY

  • Complex mental health, particularly psychosis and trauma.
  • Preventative interventions and early intervention.

Other activities

Committees, networks & advisory groups:

  • National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Mental Health Incubator for careers in mental health research: member of advisory group (2020 – 2023)
  • DIS.connected: international network for early careers researchers in the field of dissociation: co-founder (2019 – 2023); Chair (2023 – present)

Public engagement and non-academic writing:

Please see entries on UoB Pure:

Publications

Highlight publications

膶ernis, E, Ehlers, A & Freeman, D 2022, '', Journal of Psychiatric Research, vol. 148, pp. 165-173.

膶ernis, E, Molodynski, A, Ehlers, A & Freeman, D 2022, '', Schizophrenia Research, vol. 239, pp. 11-18.

膶ernis, E, Evans, R, Ehlers, A & Freeman, D 2021, '', Journal of Psychiatric Research, vol. 136, pp. 460-467.

膶ernis, E, Beierl, E, Molodynski, A, Ehlers, A & Freeman, D 2021, '', PLOS One, vol. 16, no. 2, e0247037.

膶ernis, E, Freeman, D & Ehlers, A 2020, '', PLOS One.

Recent publications

Article

McGuinness, R, Herring, D, Wu, X, Almandi, M, Bhangu, D, Collinson, L, Shang, X & 膶ernis, E 2025, '', Early Intervention in Psychiatry, vol. 19, no. 2, e70015.

Waite, F, 膶ernis, E, Kabir, T, Iredale, E, Johns, L, Maughan, D, Diamond, R, Seddon, R, Williams, N, Yu, L & Freeman, D 2023, '', The Lancet Psychiatry.

Lofthouse, MK, Waite, P & 膶ernis, E 2023, '', Psychiatry Research, vol. 324, 115219.

McPin Hearing Voices Lived Experience Advisory Panel 2023, '', Schizophrenia bulletin, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 151-160.

膶ernis, E, Loe, BS, Lofthouse, K, Waite, P, Molodynski, A, Ehlers, A & Freeman, D 2023, '', Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, pp. 1-15.

WIN Handbook Team 2023, '', eLife, vol. 12, e88853.

Fung, HW, 膶ernis, E & Shum, MHY 2023, '', European Journal of Psychotraumatology, vol. 14, no. 2, 2251778.

Shipp, L, Musatova, A, 膶ernis, E & Waite, P 2023, '', JCPP Advances.

Rosebrock, L, 膶ernis, E, Lambe, S, Waite, F, Rek, S, Petit, A, Ehlers, A, Clark, DM & Freeman, D 2021, '', Psychological Medicine.

膶ernis, E, Bird, JC, Molodynski, A, Ehlers, A & Freeman, D 2021, '', Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 472-484.

Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis Trial Study Group & 膶ernis, E 2021, '', The Lancet Psychiatry, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 696-707.

Preprint

The Transdiagnostic DPDR Lived Experience Advisory Panel 2024 '' PsyArXiv.

McGuinness, R, Herring, D, Wu, X, Almandi, M, Bhangu, D, Collinson, L, Shang, X & 膶ernis, E 2023 '' PsyArXiv.

Shipp, L, Musatova, A, 膶ernis, E & Polly Waite 2022 '' PsyArXiv.

Review article

膶ernis, E, Antonovic, M, Kamvar, R, Perkins, J & The Transdiagnostic DPDR Project Lived Experience 2025, '', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 16.