Across our project lifecycle we were proud to fund impactful projects that shaped the understanding of student mental health and wellbeing and developed frameworks for conceptualising and supporting student mental health moving forwards.
Please use the drop down menu below to find overviews of the projects from each funding cycle.
Please use the drop down menu below to find overviews of the projects from each funding cycle.
2019 projects
"Accommodation environments and student mental health in the UK: the role of relational spaces" was a project led by Joanna Worsley at the University of Liverpool. It aimed at exploring the role of accommodation environments in the mental health and well-being of first-year university students. Conducted at two universities in North West England, the study utilised a cross-sectional survey and focus groups. The findings highlighted a correlation between a low sense of belonging, discomfort in university accommodation, and elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and loneliness. Furthermore, poor relations with fellow residents and underutilisation of communal areas were also linked to heightened depression and loneliness. The research emphasised the necessity for accommodation providers and teams to prioritise relational well-being and foster environments that promote a sense of belonging.
The project "Things and the mind: students’ graphic memoir of material things that mediate their mental health experiences" was a unique, art-based exploration of student mental health experiences, developed by Natasha Laconic at Lancaster University.. This participatory project had students co-creating their own graphic memoir, centred around narratives on the role of materiality - animate and inanimate matter - in their mental health experiences. As a result, the project developed an understanding of the role of material culture in student mental health, which had not been explored in previous graphic memoirs. Natasa was interviewed as part of the SMaRteN podcast series, where she talks more about this work.
"Assessing the mental health of Widening Participation Students across their journeys into and through elite Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)", led by Michelle O'Toole at the university of Edinburgh aimed to comprehend the unique experiences of mental health, disclosure, and help-seeking among Asian students in the UK's higher education environment. The project recognized the psychosocial, academic, and financial challenges Asian international students face, often overlooked by most studies. This research aimed to gain a deeper understanding of Asian international students' mental health concerns, factors influencing disclosure of mental health issues, and help-seeking behaviour within the higher education context.
"The understandings of distinctive experiences of mental health, disclosures and help seeking among Asian students"
This project's PI was Nicola Logan at the University of Strathclyde. With her team, she aimed to look at the distinct concerns Asian international students experience in terms of their mental health, issues in disclosing mental health problems and in seeking help for mental health within one HE institution (University of Strathclyde). One of her CO-Is, Xi Liu, went on to successfully apply for funding for a project to build on learnings with SMaRteN's 2021 cycle.
"Identifying risk and protective factors to help support student mental health" was, led by Aja Murray at the University of Edinburgh, centred on understanding the factors influencing student mental health. By utilising the UK Household Longitudinal Study, the project sought to compare mental health symptoms prevalent among students and non-students of the same age and background, identify predictors of student mental health, and uncover trajectories of mental health over a student's time at university. This research provided valuable insights into the distinctive aspects of student mental health and helped identify risk and protective factors to support student mental health and prevention strategies.
The project "Things and the mind: students’ graphic memoir of material things that mediate their mental health experiences" was a unique, art-based exploration of student mental health experiences, developed by Natasha Laconic at Lancaster University.. This participatory project had students co-creating their own graphic memoir, centred around narratives on the role of materiality - animate and inanimate matter - in their mental health experiences. As a result, the project developed an understanding of the role of material culture in student mental health, which had not been explored in previous graphic memoirs. Natasa was interviewed as part of the SMaRteN podcast series, where she talks more about this work.
"Assessing the mental health of Widening Participation Students across their journeys into and through elite Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)", led by Michelle O'Toole at the university of Edinburgh aimed to comprehend the unique experiences of mental health, disclosure, and help-seeking among Asian students in the UK's higher education environment. The project recognized the psychosocial, academic, and financial challenges Asian international students face, often overlooked by most studies. This research aimed to gain a deeper understanding of Asian international students' mental health concerns, factors influencing disclosure of mental health issues, and help-seeking behaviour within the higher education context.
"The understandings of distinctive experiences of mental health, disclosures and help seeking among Asian students"
This project's PI was Nicola Logan at the University of Strathclyde. With her team, she aimed to look at the distinct concerns Asian international students experience in terms of their mental health, issues in disclosing mental health problems and in seeking help for mental health within one HE institution (University of Strathclyde). One of her CO-Is, Xi Liu, went on to successfully apply for funding for a project to build on learnings with SMaRteN's 2021 cycle.
"Identifying risk and protective factors to help support student mental health" was, led by Aja Murray at the University of Edinburgh, centred on understanding the factors influencing student mental health. By utilising the UK Household Longitudinal Study, the project sought to compare mental health symptoms prevalent among students and non-students of the same age and background, identify predictors of student mental health, and uncover trajectories of mental health over a student's time at university. This research provided valuable insights into the distinctive aspects of student mental health and helped identify risk and protective factors to support student mental health and prevention strategies.
2020 projects
"Imagining Wellness: Helping Students to Connect, Create, and Collaborate in their Own Wellbeing" was an interdisciplinary project led by Dr. Georgia Walker Churchman at the University of East Anglia. It centred around the therapeutic effects of art and culture engagement on students' mental health. The project utilised literature, film studies, and psychology to create a short course where students could explore films, literary texts, and asylum archives relating to mental health. The students, in turn, produced short films to reflect their insights, hosted online and screened by the East Anglian Film Archive. The research's goal was to enhance student wellbeing through creative and collaborative experiences, enabling them to reflect on their mental health in a safe environment. The project drew inspiration from previous studies, such as the "Change Minds" project, and explored the potential of these methodologies on university students. You can find the videos created by searching for "Imagining Wellness" on the East Anglian Film Archive website.
The "Pilot Study of a Student-led Peer Support Wellbeing Programme" was a research project at Ulster University, headed by Dr. Margaret McLafferty. It aimed to introduce a student-centric mental health and wellbeing strategy through a curriculum-based approach. The project involved integrating wellbeing materials into a well-established peer mentoring programme known as PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions). The goal of the research was to design, implement, and evaluate a 12-week student-led peer support programme, aiming to enhance first-year undergraduates' wellbeing and resilience. The study hoped to expand the PASS programme to address mental health issues explicitly, leveraging surveys and focus groups to tailor the program to students' needs and interests.
The "SUpervisory role in Postgraduate ExpeRience: a mental health perspective" (SUPER) project was conducted at the University of Glasgow under the leadership of Dr. Maria Gardani. It addressed the mental health vulnerabilities of postgraduate research students (PGRs), focusing on the crucial role of the supervisory relationship in PGR wellbeing. The project sought to bridge the communication gap between PGRs and their supervisors regarding mental health, as well as equip supervisors with the necessary training and information to provide relevant support and guidance. Using existing findings and a collaborative approach with students and staff, the project aimed to enhance the Supervisor Training Hub platform's capabilities, focusing on reducing student distress in a non-stigmatising manner.
The "Developing a Student-Led Induction Package: Getting Off to a Mentally Healthy Start in Doctoral Study" project was led by Dr. Patricia Jackman at the University of Lincoln. Recognising the importance of mental health in doctoral students, the research identified that the transition into doctoral study could be an opportunity to equip students with tools to maintain and improve their mental health. To shift from procedurally-focused inductions towards student-centred induction models, the project developed an induction package, created by students for students, to promote mental health and reduce the risk of poor mental health later on. Further to this, the team have published a number of outputs including a systematic review and two journal articles on their work - which can be found here and here
"MAPPing Social Connectedness: Stakeholder-led Pilot Research Supporting the Development of a Campus App to Promote Wellbeing Through Increasing Social Connectedness" took place at the University of Plymouth, led by Dr. Sophie Homer. This project addressed the issue of student isolation by developing a blueprint for a social campus app designed by and for students (MAPP). Through a range of focus groups a large scale student surveys the team researchers experiences of loneliness and social connectedness at university and then explored ideas for the functional specification and user interference of a campus support app. The hope is that, in future, the resulting blueprint could be used to support the design, development, and deployment of such a tool. Sophie now also works with SMaRteN's Network Lead, Nicola Byrom, on the U-Belong project to build on explorations of student loneliness and isolation.
The "Student Wellbeing and Experiential Learning Spaces (SWELS)" project was conducted at University College London, led by Thomas Kador. The project focused on the importance of the spaces in which learning activities take place from a wellbeing perspective. It built on research concerning the wellbeing benefits of engaging with cultural spaces and applied this to experiential learning environments in higher education. The project investigated programmes from three different universities and proposed a model that promotes the use of alternative learning spaces to enhance student wellbeing.
The "Evaluation of a Study Groups Social Intervention to Support the Mental Health and Wellbeing of MSc Students" project took place at University College London, led by Dr. Jo Billings and Tayla McLoud. They recognised the increased risk of loneliness among young people, especially university students, and designed an intervention where students were placed into study groups to provide opportunities for social cohesion and reduced loneliness. The team evaluated the impact and outcomes of this intervention on students' loneliness, social cohesion, wellbeing, and mental health using a mixed methods approach. The team have submitted a paper based on their research, which will hopefully be published towards the end of 2023.
The "Coordinating Longitudinal Studies into Student Mental Health", led by Dean McMillan and Paul Heron at the University of York emerged as a response to the lack of long-term, large scale data on the mental health and psychological wellbeing of university students. In collaboration with the universities of Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Sheffield and York, the team investigated the running of longitudinal student cohort studies across the university sector. The project aimed to provide a starting point for the building up of evidence concerning the rates of student health problems, identify risks and protective factors and how to intervene to prevent and detect difficulties.
By using cross-sector consensus groups, including student representatives, to learn more about challenges and priorities, the team have generated guidance for universities looking to undertake longitudinal studies. A big part of this has been around establishing agreement across the sector about procedures for collecting data including which standardised measures to use and explore the opportunities for data-linkage across universities.
You can access the published guidance on the resources page of this site and can also watch the online 'launch' for the toolkit on our YouTube.
The "Pilot Study of a Student-led Peer Support Wellbeing Programme" was a research project at Ulster University, headed by Dr. Margaret McLafferty. It aimed to introduce a student-centric mental health and wellbeing strategy through a curriculum-based approach. The project involved integrating wellbeing materials into a well-established peer mentoring programme known as PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions). The goal of the research was to design, implement, and evaluate a 12-week student-led peer support programme, aiming to enhance first-year undergraduates' wellbeing and resilience. The study hoped to expand the PASS programme to address mental health issues explicitly, leveraging surveys and focus groups to tailor the program to students' needs and interests.
The "SUpervisory role in Postgraduate ExpeRience: a mental health perspective" (SUPER) project was conducted at the University of Glasgow under the leadership of Dr. Maria Gardani. It addressed the mental health vulnerabilities of postgraduate research students (PGRs), focusing on the crucial role of the supervisory relationship in PGR wellbeing. The project sought to bridge the communication gap between PGRs and their supervisors regarding mental health, as well as equip supervisors with the necessary training and information to provide relevant support and guidance. Using existing findings and a collaborative approach with students and staff, the project aimed to enhance the Supervisor Training Hub platform's capabilities, focusing on reducing student distress in a non-stigmatising manner.
The "Developing a Student-Led Induction Package: Getting Off to a Mentally Healthy Start in Doctoral Study" project was led by Dr. Patricia Jackman at the University of Lincoln. Recognising the importance of mental health in doctoral students, the research identified that the transition into doctoral study could be an opportunity to equip students with tools to maintain and improve their mental health. To shift from procedurally-focused inductions towards student-centred induction models, the project developed an induction package, created by students for students, to promote mental health and reduce the risk of poor mental health later on. Further to this, the team have published a number of outputs including a systematic review and two journal articles on their work - which can be found here and here
"MAPPing Social Connectedness: Stakeholder-led Pilot Research Supporting the Development of a Campus App to Promote Wellbeing Through Increasing Social Connectedness" took place at the University of Plymouth, led by Dr. Sophie Homer. This project addressed the issue of student isolation by developing a blueprint for a social campus app designed by and for students (MAPP). Through a range of focus groups a large scale student surveys the team researchers experiences of loneliness and social connectedness at university and then explored ideas for the functional specification and user interference of a campus support app. The hope is that, in future, the resulting blueprint could be used to support the design, development, and deployment of such a tool. Sophie now also works with SMaRteN's Network Lead, Nicola Byrom, on the U-Belong project to build on explorations of student loneliness and isolation.
The "Student Wellbeing and Experiential Learning Spaces (SWELS)" project was conducted at University College London, led by Thomas Kador. The project focused on the importance of the spaces in which learning activities take place from a wellbeing perspective. It built on research concerning the wellbeing benefits of engaging with cultural spaces and applied this to experiential learning environments in higher education. The project investigated programmes from three different universities and proposed a model that promotes the use of alternative learning spaces to enhance student wellbeing.
The "Evaluation of a Study Groups Social Intervention to Support the Mental Health and Wellbeing of MSc Students" project took place at University College London, led by Dr. Jo Billings and Tayla McLoud. They recognised the increased risk of loneliness among young people, especially university students, and designed an intervention where students were placed into study groups to provide opportunities for social cohesion and reduced loneliness. The team evaluated the impact and outcomes of this intervention on students' loneliness, social cohesion, wellbeing, and mental health using a mixed methods approach. The team have submitted a paper based on their research, which will hopefully be published towards the end of 2023.
The "Coordinating Longitudinal Studies into Student Mental Health", led by Dean McMillan and Paul Heron at the University of York emerged as a response to the lack of long-term, large scale data on the mental health and psychological wellbeing of university students. In collaboration with the universities of Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Sheffield and York, the team investigated the running of longitudinal student cohort studies across the university sector. The project aimed to provide a starting point for the building up of evidence concerning the rates of student health problems, identify risks and protective factors and how to intervene to prevent and detect difficulties.
By using cross-sector consensus groups, including student representatives, to learn more about challenges and priorities, the team have generated guidance for universities looking to undertake longitudinal studies. A big part of this has been around establishing agreement across the sector about procedures for collecting data including which standardised measures to use and explore the opportunities for data-linkage across universities.
You can access the published guidance on the resources page of this site and can also watch the online 'launch' for the toolkit on our YouTube.
2021 projects
At the time of SMaRteN's conclusion (August 2023) many of these more recent research projects had submitted articles to journals awaiting publication. This means there may be some additional outputs not referenced below, so you may wish to look further into any subsequent work related to the below.
"Emotional Educations: Students’ Views of the History of Belonging and the Lessons that can be Learned from the History of Student Mental Health" was led by Sarah Crook at Swansea University. It explored student perspectives on historical belonging within universities and its impact on present mental health. Through a series of workshops, students delved into the history of belonging, examining experiences of past generations through various resources. Students co-created an online exhibition reflecting the evolution of university cultures, fostering understanding of how current expectations and experiences of university life had been shaped by historical changes.
The "Pilot Study of a Student-led Peer Support Wellbeing Programme" at Birmingham City University, led by Dr. Dionne Taylor, established a student-focused, culturally-tailored mental wellness initiative for students of African and Caribbean descent. The project was designed to develop coping skills, stress management, and positive identity, among others, while addressing racial trauma. A significant component of the project was the recruitment and training of student facilitators, aiming to lead Emotional Emancipation Circles™ and Healing Circles, contributing to community healing from historical and current psychological oppression.
"Time, Space, Belonging and Mental Health: Participatory Explorations of Black and Minority Ethnic Doctoral Student Experiences" was led by Dr. Kavita Ramakrishnan at the University of East Anglia and explored expressions of belonging amongst Black and minority ethnic PhD students. Kavita was supported by an interdisciplinary team across geography and education, based at the University of East Anglia, and a multidisciplinary advisory board, including PGRs and key stakeholders from across the university representing different academic and student support backgrounds.. Drawing upon co-production, the researchers worked together with a group of doctoral students as partners to create a print and online version of a zine, titled Degrees of Belonging. The zine used a flip format to explore students' current experiences as well as ways of creating inclusive futures. and used creative/arts-based methods, written expression and collaborative discussions. The zine was launched at a public event for a range of stakeholders, which emphasised conversation and connection rather than purely dissemination.
It is available for free online here.
"Academic (un)belonging and the Neoliberal University: A Comparative Institutional Case Study" was led by Dr. Lydia Lewis from University of Wolverhampton and University of Birmingham. It investigated the experiences of academic (un)belonging among doctoral students in the context of the competitive, individualistic neoliberal university culture. The project aimed to understand the experiences of a diverse group of doctoral students from different types of institutions, with a specific focus on minority ethnic and international students. The project was designed to be action-oriented, aimed at informing policy and practice to support doctoral students.
As part of the project a website was developed which can be accessed here.
"Who Cares? Identifying, Understanding and Supporting the Work-Life Balance of Students with Caring Responsibilities" was led by Dr. Rachel Spacey, supported by Rebecca Saunders and Amy Zile at the University of East Anglia. It aimed to understand and support students with caring responsibilities, a “hidden” minority group with little empirical data available. The project focused on conflicts of identity and stresses arising from their dual roles, which impacted their engagement, experience, sense of belonging, and wellbeing. Using a cross-disciplinary, mixed-methods approach, this project aimed to develop a comprehensive understanding of these students' challenges and identified practical ways for universities to support them.
"Exploring Chinese International Students’ Understanding of Loneliness to Inform Cultural Adaptation of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): A Participatory Action Research Study" was led by Xi Liu at the University of Strathclyde. It focused on the mental health challenges faced by Chinese international students, particularly loneliness. The project sought to understand how this group perceived loneliness and adapted Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to meet their unique needs. This culturally specific approach to therapy was expected to be more effective and beneficial for this student group.
The "Pilot Study of a Student-led Peer Support Wellbeing Programme" at Birmingham City University, led by Dr. Dionne Taylor, established a student-focused, culturally-tailored mental wellness initiative for students of African and Caribbean descent. The project was designed to develop coping skills, stress management, and positive identity, among others, while addressing racial trauma. A significant component of the project was the recruitment and training of student facilitators, aiming to lead Emotional Emancipation Circles™ and Healing Circles, contributing to community healing from historical and current psychological oppression.
"Time, Space, Belonging and Mental Health: Participatory Explorations of Black and Minority Ethnic Doctoral Student Experiences" was led by Dr. Kavita Ramakrishnan at the University of East Anglia and explored expressions of belonging amongst Black and minority ethnic PhD students. Kavita was supported by an interdisciplinary team across geography and education, based at the University of East Anglia, and a multidisciplinary advisory board, including PGRs and key stakeholders from across the university representing different academic and student support backgrounds.. Drawing upon co-production, the researchers worked together with a group of doctoral students as partners to create a print and online version of a zine, titled Degrees of Belonging. The zine used a flip format to explore students' current experiences as well as ways of creating inclusive futures. and used creative/arts-based methods, written expression and collaborative discussions. The zine was launched at a public event for a range of stakeholders, which emphasised conversation and connection rather than purely dissemination.
It is available for free online here.
"Academic (un)belonging and the Neoliberal University: A Comparative Institutional Case Study" was led by Dr. Lydia Lewis from University of Wolverhampton and University of Birmingham. It investigated the experiences of academic (un)belonging among doctoral students in the context of the competitive, individualistic neoliberal university culture. The project aimed to understand the experiences of a diverse group of doctoral students from different types of institutions, with a specific focus on minority ethnic and international students. The project was designed to be action-oriented, aimed at informing policy and practice to support doctoral students.
As part of the project a website was developed which can be accessed here.
"Who Cares? Identifying, Understanding and Supporting the Work-Life Balance of Students with Caring Responsibilities" was led by Dr. Rachel Spacey, supported by Rebecca Saunders and Amy Zile at the University of East Anglia. It aimed to understand and support students with caring responsibilities, a “hidden” minority group with little empirical data available. The project focused on conflicts of identity and stresses arising from their dual roles, which impacted their engagement, experience, sense of belonging, and wellbeing. Using a cross-disciplinary, mixed-methods approach, this project aimed to develop a comprehensive understanding of these students' challenges and identified practical ways for universities to support them.
"Exploring Chinese International Students’ Understanding of Loneliness to Inform Cultural Adaptation of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): A Participatory Action Research Study" was led by Xi Liu at the University of Strathclyde. It focused on the mental health challenges faced by Chinese international students, particularly loneliness. The project sought to understand how this group perceived loneliness and adapted Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to meet their unique needs. This culturally specific approach to therapy was expected to be more effective and beneficial for this student group.
In support of our End of Project Showcase, a face to face academic conference held in London at the end of 2022, we asked all our funded researchers to create an academic poster to be featured in an 'Online Poster Exhibition'. This created an accessible way to meaningfully engage the projects and their findings, but is also a great legacy resource which captures our work.
You can still access the exhibition online and explore all of our research in more depth, as well as see additional posters from other guest speakers who took part in our conference day.
You can still access the exhibition online and explore all of our research in more depth, as well as see additional posters from other guest speakers who took part in our conference day.
Reflections on research findings.
Across our funded work, we were able to support a diverse range of important topics, emerging research approaches, and novel interventions related to student mental health and wellbeing. The overviews above and links to subsequent published works detail the individual outcomes from each project. Across collective research findings some strong themes can been identified and we hope this will go on to shape future work.
A key finding has been in relation to the actual campus environment and study and living spaces for university students, showing how physical attributes of place can prevent or support social cohesion and impact feelings of loneliness. For students to flourish in their new homes, accommodation providers and teams must consider relational wellbeing, making places that foster a sense of belonging where students feel sufficiently connected to others. As well as accommodation and living spaces, the campus environment and physical learning spaces can have an impact on student wellbeing. Findings indicate, whilst student wellbeing is most significantly influenced my curriculum structure, there is potential for physical learning space to enhance student learning and for cultural spaces and experiential learning to interact to further support positive wellbeing.
A number of SMaRteN funded research projects have worked with student groups underrepresented within current studies and those marginalised within HE. This has yielded important findings related to the need for culturally aware mental health provision and as well as the need for changes within HE to create more inclusive, supportive communities. Findings support the need for improved mental health literacy provision for international students but the need for a service level improved understanding of cultural context overlapping with mental health and help-seeking. As well as more culturally astute support for international students, our research indicate that many 'Home' students groups feel racialized or minoritised within the university community, and experience barriers relating to help-seeking and microaggressions in academic environment which significantly impact their wellbeing.
By funding innovative and less 'traditional' research models, we were able to support new, interdisciplinary ways of working and projects found strong benefits in engaging students in creative, arts-based therapeutic activities and the positive role of creative expression in wellbeing. The more 'creative' approaches to interventions, were successful in engaging a broad range of students and providing a creative ‘space’ for a conceptualising wellbeing and student identity outside the scope of traditional student services and mental health support.
Across our research projects, we have funded a significant amount of work with postgraduate students, and findings show that this group face real challenges to their mental health and wellbeing. A strong theme was around a lack of appropriate support for postgraduates, with students recognising that their supervisors were not in a position to offer wellbeing centred support but then struggling to find support and community elsewhere within the university environment or student services provision. Across our research with postgraduates, findings indicate that they are conscious of a ‘duality’ to their position within HE as ‘not quite’ staff but ‘not quite’ students and this not only creates a sense of un-belonging within broader university communities, but can also be a barrier to help-seeking due to a concern about blurring boundaries of ‘professionality’. This is further compounded by stress related to pressurised academic environments, financial instability, and additional roles of responsibility within the personal lives. Overall, our findings demonstrate the need for more robust support for postgraduate students but also the need for careful consideration of the intersections of identity for such a diverse group, to create more person centred, clearly signposted, accessible provision.
Early findings within our range of funded research projects do demonstrate the positive impact of peer support based interventions in student mental health. Alongside quantitative measured improvements related to wellbeing, across a range of metrics, through qualitative interviews teams identified benefits for the student mentees (improved wellbeing and positive response to peer based networking) but also found mentors themselves responded positively (reporting gaining skills including increased self-efficacy and experiencing a positive impact on their own wellbeing).
Across all projects, researchers saw tremendous benefits to a co-creative approach with students. Not only did this help to develop more robust and relevant projects, students responded positively to the collaborative experiences and group working. Through being involved, students reported that they felt better seen, supported and understood which had a positive impact on the wellbeing of peer researchers themselves.
A key finding has been in relation to the actual campus environment and study and living spaces for university students, showing how physical attributes of place can prevent or support social cohesion and impact feelings of loneliness. For students to flourish in their new homes, accommodation providers and teams must consider relational wellbeing, making places that foster a sense of belonging where students feel sufficiently connected to others. As well as accommodation and living spaces, the campus environment and physical learning spaces can have an impact on student wellbeing. Findings indicate, whilst student wellbeing is most significantly influenced my curriculum structure, there is potential for physical learning space to enhance student learning and for cultural spaces and experiential learning to interact to further support positive wellbeing.
A number of SMaRteN funded research projects have worked with student groups underrepresented within current studies and those marginalised within HE. This has yielded important findings related to the need for culturally aware mental health provision and as well as the need for changes within HE to create more inclusive, supportive communities. Findings support the need for improved mental health literacy provision for international students but the need for a service level improved understanding of cultural context overlapping with mental health and help-seeking. As well as more culturally astute support for international students, our research indicate that many 'Home' students groups feel racialized or minoritised within the university community, and experience barriers relating to help-seeking and microaggressions in academic environment which significantly impact their wellbeing.
By funding innovative and less 'traditional' research models, we were able to support new, interdisciplinary ways of working and projects found strong benefits in engaging students in creative, arts-based therapeutic activities and the positive role of creative expression in wellbeing. The more 'creative' approaches to interventions, were successful in engaging a broad range of students and providing a creative ‘space’ for a conceptualising wellbeing and student identity outside the scope of traditional student services and mental health support.
Across our research projects, we have funded a significant amount of work with postgraduate students, and findings show that this group face real challenges to their mental health and wellbeing. A strong theme was around a lack of appropriate support for postgraduates, with students recognising that their supervisors were not in a position to offer wellbeing centred support but then struggling to find support and community elsewhere within the university environment or student services provision. Across our research with postgraduates, findings indicate that they are conscious of a ‘duality’ to their position within HE as ‘not quite’ staff but ‘not quite’ students and this not only creates a sense of un-belonging within broader university communities, but can also be a barrier to help-seeking due to a concern about blurring boundaries of ‘professionality’. This is further compounded by stress related to pressurised academic environments, financial instability, and additional roles of responsibility within the personal lives. Overall, our findings demonstrate the need for more robust support for postgraduate students but also the need for careful consideration of the intersections of identity for such a diverse group, to create more person centred, clearly signposted, accessible provision.
Early findings within our range of funded research projects do demonstrate the positive impact of peer support based interventions in student mental health. Alongside quantitative measured improvements related to wellbeing, across a range of metrics, through qualitative interviews teams identified benefits for the student mentees (improved wellbeing and positive response to peer based networking) but also found mentors themselves responded positively (reporting gaining skills including increased self-efficacy and experiencing a positive impact on their own wellbeing).
Across all projects, researchers saw tremendous benefits to a co-creative approach with students. Not only did this help to develop more robust and relevant projects, students responded positively to the collaborative experiences and group working. Through being involved, students reported that they felt better seen, supported and understood which had a positive impact on the wellbeing of peer researchers themselves.