Richard Meiser-Stedman completed his PhD and trained as a clinical psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, KCL. Between these periods of study he was a Peggy Pollak Fellow in Developmental Psychiatry, also at the Institute. From 2009-2014 he was an MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge. While there he led the ASPECTS study, looking at the early natural course of traumatic stress reactions, and an early treatment for PTSD in children and adolescents. From 2016 to 2020 he was an NIHR Career Development Fellow, through which he led the DECRYPT trial. This trial evaluated cognitive therapy as a treatment for PTSD in NHS child and adolescent mental health services.