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.
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
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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.
Publications and Research
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Daniel Eisenberg is a Professor of Health Policy of Management in Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. 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.
Publications and Research |
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. Katie will discuss some of the findings from the SMaRteN study, in partnership with Vitae, investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the working lives of doctoral researchers and research staff. Katie worked alongside Dr Nicola Byrom and a group of ECR and PhD students to analyse qualitative responses from over 900 participants, and will discuss the findings and implications for universities.
Research and Publications |
Chloe Casey is a PhD student from Bournemouth University. Her research focuses on the mental wellbeing of postgraduate research students (PGRs). Her PhD study uses a mixed methods approach to explore the wellbeing of PGRs in order to coproduce and trial pilot interventions that are tailored to the students' specific needs. The aims of the interventions are to promote adaptive coping, wellbeing, self-efficacy, and resilience specifically through encouraging peer support and belongingness. Her training is in psychology (BSc) and the interplay between nutrition and behaviour (MSc). Chloe is a member of the British Psychological Society (MBPsS) and the Association for Nutrition (ANutr). She has also been a member of SMaRteN’s student team since 2019, assisting with conference planning, funding panels and student mental health research.
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Dr Emma Broglia is a postdoctoral research associate and policy coordinator at the University of Sheffield and working closely with student support services on a series of projects concerning student mental health, clinical interventions, and policy. These projects include an Office for Students funded project exploring referral pathways between university counselling services and the NHS. Emma is part of the SMaRteN leadership team overseeing a project that aims to develop a longitudinal data set on student mental health. In Emma’s other roles, she works as a senior research fellow at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy where she leads a project that aims to develop a national data set of student counselling outcomes. Prior to these projects, Emma led the evaluation of an OfS funded project exploring the role of personal tutoring in remedying attainment gaps for BAME students and students from low-socio-economic backgrounds. Emma’s completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield and was supervised by Professor Michael Barkham. Her doctoral research explored student mental health profiles and the effectiveness of university counselling. Emma is a guest co-Editor on a special section on student mental health for the Counselling and Psychotherapy Research Journal, which is due to come out in the new year.
Research and Publications |
Caoimhe Ward graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in Biomedical Sciences with Diploma in Professional Practice from Ulster University in 2019. She is currently a second year PhD researcher on the Student Psychological Intervention Trial, a cross-border EU funded student mental health study at Ulster University and Letterkenny Institute of Technology. The study aims to investigate the risk and resilience factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting student wellbeing and will test the efficacy of an online CBT-based intervention in alleviating the symptoms of mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression in students. Caoimhe’s PhD research is particularly focused on understanding the biological changes, in particular epigenetic modifications associated with mental health problems in young adults.
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