At 12:30 on October 22, 2020, hosted by the Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, the Nursing Branch of the Association of Young Technologists of Central South University, and the Graduate Student Association of Xiangya School of Nursing, a special lecture on psychological research in the postgraduate forum-“Opportunities and Challenges in mental health research” was successfully held online and offline.The lecture was hosted by Professor Li Xianhong, deputy Dean of Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University, and delivered by Maritta Välimäki, foreign professor of Xiangya School of Nursing, Central South University and academician of Finnish Academy of Sciences.

Maritta took the opportunities and challenges of psychological research as the topic. Through her personal experience and research results, she introduced to the students what scientific research nurses can do in the field of psychology. She emphasized that in the process of scientific research, we must have critical thinking, discover problems in clinical work, and solve problems through thinking and research.

Regarding the field of psychological research, Professor Maritta said that since not all researchers are interested in this aspect, there are many opportunities for researchers and there is also a lot of room for research. At the same time, there are also some challenges in the field of psychology. Although we can find many problems in this field, not all problems can be solved easily. Therefore, she emphasized that in scientific research, all researchers are not alone. Only by focusing on teamwork, the road of scientific research will go further and further.

At the end of the lecture, Professor Li Xianhong made a summary of Professor Maritta’s lecture. She summarized the spirit of Professor Maritta’s lecture into eight aspects: critical thinking, perseverance, team spirit, innovation, problem-based, evidence-based, progressive and passionate, and explained it respectively.