Concerns about university student mental health have been raised in recent years, with a high prevalence of mental health problems among university students. To address the general question about the causes of mental health problems among university students in the UK there is a need for more robust prevalence estimates and further investigation of the trends and risk factors.
 
The presentations and discussions in this panel aim to explore what we currently know about student mental health internationally and begin to identify the key characteristics or experiences that leave students more vulnerable to mental health problems.

Meet the Speakers

​Randy P. Auerbach, Ph.D., ABPP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and Division of Clinical Developmental Neuroscience, Sackler Institute. Additionally, he serves as Co-Director of the Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression at Columbia University and Co-Director for the WHO, World Mental Health International College Student Initiative. Dr. Auerbach received his B.A. from Cornell University (2000) and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from McGill University (2010). Dr. Auerbach’s research is committed to improving our understanding of depression and suicide. His research is multidisciplinary and utilizes a multimodal approach for assessment (e.g., laboratory-based experiments, passive sensor monitoring, electrophysiology, and neuroimaging) to determine why depressive symptoms unfold, how self-injurious and suicidal behaviors develop, and what changes in the brain during treatment. As a whole, the research aims to better understand the putative mechanisms that may improve early identification of and treatment for adolescent depression and suicidal behaviors. This work is funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, the Dana Foundation, and several private foundations, and to date, it has resulted in over 160 published scientific papers and book chapters. Dr. Auerbach is the recipient of a number of awards including the David Shakow Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions in Clinical Psychology, the Richard Abidin Early Career Award, and the Theodore Blau Early Career Award.

​Daniel Eisenberg is Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. Previously he was a faculty member at University of Michigan
from 2004-2020. His training is in economics (BA and PhD, Stanford University) and mental health services research (NIMH postdoc, UC Berkeley). His broad research goal is to improve understanding of how to invest effectively in the mental health of young people. He directs the  Healthy Minds Network (HMN) for Research on Adolescent and Young Adult Mental Health (www.healthymindsnetwork.org). This research network administers the Healthy Minds Study, a national survey study of student mental health and related factors, and facilitates the development, testing, and dissemination of innovative programs and interventions for student mental health. He is currently writing a book about investments in children’s mental health, in collaboration with Ramesh Raghavan.

Katie Tyrell is a Research Associate at the University of Suffolk. Her research interests centre around online safeguarding, mental health and wellbeing of children and young people, as well as education policy and practice. Katie has a multitude of experience working on various research and evaluation projects, including an Office for Students funded initiative to raise awareness of online abuse and improve student safety online. She was a member of the first SMaRteN student team and is a current co-facilitator of the SMaRteN PhD and ECR virtual lab group. Katie is undertaking a PhD investigating young people’s use of digital technologies in their intimate relationships.