Student Research.

We believe that to really understand student mental health, we need to work with students; students need to be part of the network, part of the management team and part of our research team. We have recruited a student research team to be at the heart of our activity. In addition, our network has worked with Student Minds, the student mental health charity, from the very start of the proposal development process and we will continue to work with Student Minds throughout the project to seek support and advice on engaging the student voice effectively. This is a central component of our aim for the network.
Applications for the 2018/19 Student team are now closed. We will recruit for our 2019/20 Student team from September 2019.
​Check back here for details, or subscribe to our newsletter 

A Student Led Research Team

Details of this year's student team will be published here in the week of 26th November. The  Student Led Research Team to support the network's activities and help ensure that the student voice is fully represented across our work. The Student Team will be involved in research projects to support the network, as well as providing advice and insight for the network and network events. 

How will the Student Team be supported?​

We want to make sure that all students participating as part of the research team have the skills and confidence to take part in the research activities. To this end, we have planned for annual training to help new members of the Student-Led Research Team get up to speed. In addition to this, the team meetings will provide opportunity for additional training. In all research projects, the team will be supported by an expert researcher with skills and experience in that specific area of research. The team will also be supported by the SMaRteN research project manager, who works full time to support the network and the Student-Led Research Team. 
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Training will take place over two days annually in December (2018, 2019 and 2020). This training will be organised to take place shortly after the end of the academic term. 

What will the Student-Led Research Team do?

Over the initial four years of the network, the Student-Led Research Team will be supported to:
  • Co-deliver 4 small research projects,
  • Organise and lead two national student mental health research conferences, bringing together students and researchers.
  • Co-develop and lead a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) to identify the student perspective on the research for student mental health.The PSP will work with students to identify their priorities for future research into student mental health. ​
  • Participate in other network activities, including workshops.
In the details below, we set out a rough outline of dates for projects and events to provide you with an idea of how the scheduling might work.

​These dates are provisional and may be subject to change. 

Research Questions & Projects.

​The UKRI funding was provided to establish a network and encourage further research. The network will provide a platform to support collaboration - enabling ideas and data to be shared across the sector. In addition to this, we have funding to support a few small research projects to be co-delivered with the Student-Led Research Team. These will be developed with members of the research management team who have relevant expertise, but are to be led by the Student-Led Research Team. These projects will span several years, so it is likely that any individual member of the Student-Led Research Team will be involved in only one of these projects during their engagement with the network. 
Project 1. 
Student Ethnographic Case Studies: December 2018 - June 2019
​Dr Neil Armstrong will support the team to develop ethnographic case studies of student mental health. The aim is to consider how two separate factors are influencing student mental health:
  1. Mental health literacy. We want to build up a picture of students' understanding of everyday emotional distress and the distinction between this and mental health difficulties.
  2. Structural barriers to good mental health. We want to understand students' perception and experience of structural barriers that create challenges for good mental health.
Ethnographic case studies use anthropological methods sensitive to how health experiences relate to personal, biological and social context to produce nuanced, experience-near accounts of health. This project will draw on extended interviews with students, online research of social media use and life-writing by students describing experience of good and bad mental health and of mental health care.
Students participating in this project will receive training in: 
  • Ethnographic fieldwork
  • Interview technique
  • Qualitative data analysis.

​Neil will be on hand throughout the project to provide advice and guidance. 
Project 2.
Co-Development of a Measurement Framework: December 2018 - August 2019
Dr Alyson Dodd will support the team to review measures of mental health and wellbeing to develop a consensus recommendation on suitable measures to be used to assess student mental health and wellbeing within the Higher Education context. The Team will support wider consultation to ensure that the recommended measures meet the requirements of researchers, stakeholders and clinicians, as well as students.

We are aware that currently many different measures are used in research into student mental health. This creates challenges for comparing findings across studies or considering differences between universities. Our preliminary work with students indicates that some students feel that some of the measures routinely used don’t accurately capture students' experiences. This is a barrier to investigating student mental health and wellbeing, and evaluating strategies for supporting students at both individual and university level. We would like to bridge this gap by learning what is important for student mental health and wellbeing, and how this can be appropriately measured, in collaboration with students themselves.
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Students participating in this project will receive training in:
  • How to conduct a literature review,​
  • How to develop and evaluate measures of mental health and wellbeing using quantitative data analysis.
Alyson will provide support throughout the project.
Project 3.
Complete a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) to Identify Research Priorities for Student Mental Health: September 2019 - September 2020
Rachel Piper will support the team to launch a PSP for student mental health. Our aim is to identify priority research questions for future work in student mental health. The PSP will engage students, student service providers, educators and clinicians. Our work with this project will be supported by Lauren Evans from the McPin foundation and Professor Dame Til Wykes, who all have experience working with stakeholder groups to establish research priorities.
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Students participating in this project will receive training in survey development and qualitative and quantitative data analysis. 
Project 4.
What are the barriers and facilitators for student engagement in a large cohort study using remote data collection and data linkage: May 2020 - May 2021
Dr Nicola Byrom will support the team to explore the barriers and facilitators to engagement with a large-scale cohort study. A large-scale cohort study could help us answer lots of questions about the complex and interacting factors that influence student mental health. Our aim in this network is to complete the ground work to support the development of a large-scale cohort study that makes use of new technology such as RADAR-CNS which employs continuous remote assessment using smartphone and wearable devices. To help establish this study, we want to answer the following questions: (1) what factors do you think should be a priority for measurement? (2) What are the barriers and facilitators to student engagement? (3) What are the ethical issues in collecting, storing and analysing such data? This project will be supported by Professor Matthew Hotopf, co-director of the RADAR-CNS project and Professor Dame Til Wykes.
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Students taking part in this project will receive training in research ethics and big data. 

​Team meetings.

To help coordinate engagement and provide additional training, we will organise specific team meetings to bring the whole team together. There may be additional, smaller meetings, organised on an ad hoc basis for students working on specific projects.

Approximate dates for team meetings:
  • February 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2020
  • May 2020
  • February 2021
  • April 2021
  • October 2021
  • February 2022

​These will be one-day meetings and we will organise these to work as best as possible around academic commitments. 

A National Student Mental Health Conference.

We have funding in place for two two-day conferences to bring together students and researchers interested in student mental health. The network's ambition for these conferences is to create opportunity for students to engage with and influence researchers and to encourage researchers to collaborate with students. The conferences should further be a learning opportunity for students to learn more about mental health in higher education and for researchers to better understand the student perspective.
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Approximate dates for student conferences:
  • December 2019
  • October 2020

Participate in Workshops and Activities.

As part of the network we are organising a set of workshop activities to facilitate knowledge exchange and discuss research questions and findings. The aim of our workshops is to bring together people with diverse perspectives to try to develop new ways of looking at old problems. We hope that members of the Student-Led Research Team will participate in these activities.

What are the benefits in participating?

As a member of the Student-Led Research Team, you will be able to work with internationally recognised researchers and contribute directly to research projects. Other benefits:
  • You will receive training throughout, enabling you to develop and use new research skills.
  • All expenses to attend and engage with training and network events will be covered. 
  • This experience will be a valuable addition to your C.V.
  • Students will be paid for contributions to the governance of the wider network, including participating management meetings, funding panel decision meetings and network workshops will be paid, with a standard honorarium rate of £50 per day. 

If I get involved, what is the time commitment? 

We expect students joining the network to join for one year (from December to December). Within that year you will be expected to take part in a few set events spanning over 7 days in total, these have all been mentioned above already:
  • Two-day training in December,
  • Team meeting days (one day each), usually with two in a year in February and May.
  • In the first two years, the Student-Led Conference. This will require three days of your time (one training day prior to two conference days).

In addition to these core events and depending on what you would like to get involved in, you may want to factor in up to an approximate time commitment of 3 to 4 hours a week.  This will include:  
  • Engaging with a research project.
  • Planing and preparing for the student-led conference.
  • Helping plan a researcher focused workshop. There will be many of these workshops. If you are interested in helping to plan a workshop, you may want to pick one workshop to focus on. 
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All events will take place in London.

Who can get involved?

We invite applications from any students who think that they will be able to make the time commitments outlined above. We are keen to work with students with lived experience of mental health difficulties, as well as those who have an interest in mental health but no lived experience.
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Given the time commitment, we recommend that participation in this network may be particularly suitable for second year undergraduate students (starting in December of your second year at University).

This opportunity will not be suitable for final year students, as events and research commitments will run through your final exams and continue beyond the end of your degree.

We are keen to work with students from a diverse range of backgrounds and from different subjects of study and different universities.
Most events will be held in London. Travel expenses will be covered. For students living outside of London, accommodation will be provided for events that run over multiple days. 

Selection criteria & application process.

Our focus is to bring together a diverse range of students with different perspectives and life experience. We want to recruit a team who can help us understand the range of different student experiences.

We do not expect the Student-Led Research Team to have pre-existing research skills or experience and will provide training and support as necessary. We will not be selecting students on the basis of research ability or merit.

We do not expect all of the Student-Led Research Team to have lived experience of mental health difficulties - our aim is to work with students with a range of different experience. While we strongly welcome applications from students with lived experience, this is not a requirement for joining the Team.

We will be looking for commitment to the aims and objectives of the network and an enthusiasm to participate and learn.

As there is a substantive time commitment, you may want to discuss your application with your personal tutor and ask for their opinion on whether you are able to engage with this project without jeopardising your own academic studies. 

Applications to join the student research team must be made online. An application form can be completed here: https://tinyurl.com/StudentLedResearch

The deadline for applications is Thursday the 8th of November 2018. Telephone interviews to join the Student Led Research Team will take place during the week of the 12th of November 2018.