UKRI funding for SMaRteN included ‘plus-funding’ to pump prime new research into student mental health. Over the life of the network, we will be running four funding calls. The total funding available through these calls is £400,000, with approximately £100,000 allocated to each call.

SMaRteN's first funding call, focused on addressing 'What is distinctive about student mental health?' has now closed. You can read about the funded projects here.

Upcoming funding call
SMaRteN's next funding call will ask: 'What can non-clinical approaches to student mental health achieve?'

Applications will open in autumn of 2019. Watch this space for more details on how to apply in the coming months.

It is expected that projects will focus on pilot or preliminary work to support larger, subsequent grant applications. Applications from Early Career Researchers are particularly welcome. We aim to encourage stronger research into student mental health and to build a cross-disciplinary research capacity in the field of student mental health. The Higher Education sector does not simply need more data, we need better data. By better, we mean research that:

• Is based on robust and clear methodology,
• Is stakeholder informed and has strong student engagement,
• Makes good use of existing data,
• Is collaborative,
• Is generalisable and reproducible.

SMaRteN will be looking to fund projects that set a new standard for research around mental health in Higher Education. Researchers should have a clear plan for how they will ensure transparency in their work, including where appropriate, sharing data and/or pre-registering studies.