Jagadeesan Settu

Research Assistant and Psychologist

Hi there! I’m Jagadeesan Settu (yes, it’s a mouthful – most people just call me Jagan), and I’m a Research Assistant and Psychologist with an MSc in Applied Psychology, specialising in clinical, counselling, educational, and child psychology. With over six years of dedicated experience in youth mental health, my passion lies in working directly with young people aged 10 to 25 years and advancing early intervention strategies that can make a meaningful difference during these critical developmental years.
My day job involves a lot of implementation science (which is just a nerdy way of saying “how do we actually make research work in real life?”), developing behavioural interventions and creating behavioural manuals that hopefully don’t put people to sleep.
Here’s the thing I’m really passionate about: I don’t believe in creating interventions for people without creating them with people. That’s why I’m all about co-design and working alongside folks with lived experience as research collaborators. Because let’s be honest – who better to tell us what works than the people who’ve actually been there? It’s like asking someone who’s never ridden a bike to design a bicycle manual. Not ideal.
When I’m not busy trying to save the world one intervention at a time, you’ll probably find me trekking up some mountain or cruising around on my motorcycle. There’s something about being outdoors that keeps me grounded and reminds me that sometimes the best therapy is just fresh air and a good adventure. Plus, it gives me great stories to share with the young people I work with – turns out they’re way more impressed by motorcycle tales than my research publications!