The future of student mental health research is ever-changing and adapting evermore with the changes in the world. COVID-19 implicates new measures to testing students but also opens new avenues for where research is necessary. By exploring in what new ways students seek and require support, we look to aid researchers but also improve the status quo of mental health in our society. The significance of this session essentially then, relies upon our efforts to provide transparency but also plausible solutions. What can we do? What will we do?

 Overall, this session looks to highlight what still is an issue for students but also what is upcoming and all in all where we all hope to be in the future based on these circumstances.  To consider the student and their hopes and dreams for their own future, this panel will outline and act as a platform for all students. So that they can evaluate the current mental health landscape, but with this panel go further and explore what they prioritise for their future in the mental health landscape and achieve it.

Meet the Speakers

Dr Nicola Byrom's research focuses on university student mental health. She is currently directing SMaRteN, the UKRI funded Student Mental Health Research Network. Her research here is inspired by my personal experiences and my work in the charity sector. Following her own
personal experiences with mental health difficulties, she founded Student Minds in 2009 with the ambition to change the way we talk about mental health in higher education. She wants all students to feel confident talking about mental health. She hopes we can build and support better formal and informal networks of peer support to normalise conversations around mental health.

​John de Pury is Assistant Director of Policy at Universities UK. John currently leads policy programmes on Mental Health and Health Research and Education. He is responsible for the development of the StepChange framework and directs a programme of continuing work on new models of partnership between the NHS and universities to improve mental health outcomes for students and staff.
 
Prior to this, he led the Research & Innovation desk at NHS Confederation. He has a background in consultancy in east, south east and central Asia.  

Dr Ellie Dommett is a Reader in Neuroscience and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy based at King’s College London. She has studied and worked at a range of universities across the UK and most recently completed an MA in Education at the Open University to support her work at King’s. Her research interests include her neuroscience research examining Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and her pedagogic research focusing on digital education. She is a passionate educator who believes that carefully designed and delivered education which includes explicit development of key skills can result a high quality learning experience for all students and develop graduate attributes. She is particularly interested in the role curriculum design and digital education have in student and staff mental health.

Dr Juliet Foster is Dean of Education at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, and Academic Lead for student mental health and wellbeing at King’s, as well as co-chair of the King’s Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Steering Group. She is a social psychologist specialising in qualitative research, whose research includes studies into public understanding of mental health problems.  

Dr Neil Armstrong is a medical anthropologist based at Oxford University, who uses anthropological techniques to understand patient experiences. He is particularly interested in mental health and the culture of mental health care. 

Connor Gayle is a member of the SMaRteN Student Research Team and studies BSc Psychology (Educational and Developmental Psychology).