Dr. Helene Seaward is a clinical psychologist and experienced researcher in mental health ethics. She is currently an SNSF Postdoc.Mobility Research Fellow at the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, and a researcher at the Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel. Her research examines ethical challenges in mental health care, with a particular focus on therapeutic relationships, coercion, autonomy, dual loyalty, and care for vulnerable populations in forensic, correctional, and clinical settings.

Her work combines empirical psychology, biomedical ethics, and clinical experience. She has extensive expertise in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, including interviews, focus groups, survey methods, psychometric assessment, and ethical analysis. As principal investigator and project lead, she has obtained competitive funding from the SNSF, SAMW, and other bodies, and has led interdisciplinary projects on disagreement in therapeutic relationships, value conflicts in psychotherapy, dual loyalty in clinical settings, loneliness during pandemic crises, and the mental health care of older incarcerated persons. 

Dr. Seaward has published widely in mental health, forensic psychiatry, psychology, public health, and bioethics. Her research is strongly practice-oriented and aims to improve ethically grounded, evidence-informed mental health care for people in complex and constrained care contexts.