We are looking to support the national development of an open access shared data set capturing longitudinal data for student mental health. We believe that a large data set, collating data across multiple universities, is necessary to really build understanding of the complex factors that influence student mental health.
SMaRteN recognises that several institutions have already done fantastic work setting up longitudinal studies at their own institutions. Further there are some really promising examples of inter-institutional collaboration. As a network we are keen to:
SMaRteN recognises that several institutions have already done fantastic work setting up longitudinal studies at their own institutions. Further there are some really promising examples of inter-institutional collaboration. As a network we are keen to:
- Facilitate the sharing of ideas and practice examples to support new universities to get involved with establishing longitudinal studies,
- Assist with coordination between universities and different longitudinal studies,
- Enable open access data sharing.
How can the network help?

Dr Emma Broglia is joining SMaRteN for the next two years to support this work. Emma will be working on the project for half a day a week and is available to help with coordination. Through her PhD and ongoing research, Emma has worked with student support services across many universities and is familiar with the challenges of collecting and linking student mental health data. She hopes to offer this expertise to support collaborative working across student cohort studies.
SMaRteN is keen to run a number of virtual events, to support discussion between researchers involved in longitudinal studies. Between meetings, we are hosting a Special Interest Group via Microsoft Teams to enable further discussion.
SMaRteN have a small pot of research funding that can be directed towards supporting collaborative work and open access data sharing around longitudinal studies for student mental health.
SMaRteN is keen to run a number of virtual events, to support discussion between researchers involved in longitudinal studies. Between meetings, we are hosting a Special Interest Group via Microsoft Teams to enable further discussion.
SMaRteN have a small pot of research funding that can be directed towards supporting collaborative work and open access data sharing around longitudinal studies for student mental health.
Initial workshop

SMaRteN are organizing a workshop to take place on the 30th of June – this will be organized via Teams to ensure it can go ahead whatever the state of national lockdown! This is a preliminary discussion day to support researchers working on longitudinal studies to share ideas and learning.
The day will be structured to facilitate discussion. We are looking to create an opportunity to discuss the following themes:
To ensure that we have a productive conversation on the day, we are only extending the invitation to this event to researchers who are currently running longitudinal studies or are in the process of setting up a longitudinal study.
If you would like to attend the workshop day, please contact Emma Broglia (e.l.broglia@sheffield.ac.uk)
The day will be structured to facilitate discussion. We are looking to create an opportunity to discuss the following themes:
- How to identify and engage assistance with recruitment across your university, including how to get students into the study before they arrive at university
- Selecting the mental health measures to include in the study. We are keen to explore the existing overlap between studies and any opportunity to increase this.
- The other data – collecting demographic information effectively to link with institutional data.
- Ethics and student consent to access and link with institutional data
- Optimizing your response rate and when to follow-up
- The big picture: what is the point of collecting this data and how can we maximise the impact of these datasets.
To ensure that we have a productive conversation on the day, we are only extending the invitation to this event to researchers who are currently running longitudinal studies or are in the process of setting up a longitudinal study.
If you would like to attend the workshop day, please contact Emma Broglia (e.l.broglia@sheffield.ac.uk)