Researchers from Imperial College London are collaborating with Indian and UK partners on a £5.3 million international project to adapt, test and scale an artificial intelligence-enabled digital mental health programme for adolescent girls living in rural India.
Funded by Wellcome Trust, the initiative will culturally adapt and expand a clinically validated AI tool delivered through the digital mental health platform Wysa.
The platform provides AI-powered chat-based self-help tools and directs users to appropriate healthcare resources, combining conversational technology with structured psychological techniques.
The study will focus on girls experiencing anxiety and low mood in low-resource settings. Researchers aim to determine whether AI-enabled interventions can help address mental health inequalities affecting adolescent girls, who face some of the most significant barriers to care globally. These barriers include limited personal autonomy, restricted access to digital devices, lower literacy levels, stigma around mental health and family gatekeeping.
The project brings together partners from the UK and India, including Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Milaan Foundation and the University of Cambridge, alongside community organisations working directly with girls in rural regions. The Imperial team will provide scientific leadership on artificial intelligence, data and digital health research, overseeing study design, evaluation frameworks and implementation. The researchers will assess clinical effectiveness, ethical integrity, real-world data responsiveness and scalability within low-resource environments.
The announcement coincides with global leaders, researchers and technology executives gathering in New Delhi for the India AI Impact Summit 2026, where Imperial representatives are participating at the UK government’s pavilion to highlight the institution’s work in artificial intelligence and global health.
Digital mental health interventions are typically app-based programmes designed to support users in managing anxiety and depression through guided exercises, cognitive behavioural strategies and interactive AI chat systems. When rigorously evaluated, these tools can extend access to evidence-based care in areas where conventional mental health services are limited, overstretched or geographically inaccessible.
India is home to more than 253 million adolescents aged 10 to 19, the largest adolescent population worldwide. Around half of all mental health conditions emerge before the age of 14, and suicide remains among the leading causes of death in young people. Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable, experiencing higher rates of anxiety and depression alongside social and structural barriers that reduce access to care.
The study will begin with detailed mapping of cultural, social, technological and practical factors shaping rural girls’ access to digital mental health support. Insights from this phase will inform adaptation of Wysa’s AI content and delivery model to ensure it reflects the lived experiences of girls, their families and communities. The adapted intervention will then be evaluated for effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility in real-world low-to-middle-income settings.
Wysa currently supports more than seven million users across 105 countries and works with healthcare providers, employers and governments, including the UK’s National Health Service, Singapore’s Ministry of Health and public health programmes in India. The company’s hybrid “phygital” model integrates AI chat support with human coaching and referral pathways.
The new initiative builds on previous clinical evaluations led by Imperial researchers examining Wysa’s integration within NHS mental health services. That earlier work helped establish evidence for deploying AI-enabled tools responsibly within formal healthcare pathways.
Implementation science expertise will also support the project, focusing on usability, user engagement, data quality and integration within existing community and health systems. The broader goal is to co-design a culturally grounded, clinically tested digital intervention capable of operating at scale while maintaining ethical safeguards and measurable impact.
The project forms part of Imperial’s broader “Imperial Global India” strategy to strengthen academic, industrial and innovation partnerships between the UK and India, using collaborative research to address large-scale public health challenges.
