Mental health and well-being

Advice on effective mental health support for students and staff to create a happier, healthier campus. Find out how universities and academics can promote well-being, protect their campus community from spiralling stress, minimise the risk of burnout and build resilience - from institutional practices that create a culture of care to personal self-care tips and healthy habits for overworked academics and students.

A student on a field trip in the forest taking notes

The power of place to spark learning and belonging

Four place-based learning practices that can connect students to community, nature and a sense of hope for the future

Douglas Haynes

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Build supervisory relationships that inspire, not just correct

The supervisory relationship can make the difference between a doctoral student thriving – or simply surviving. Here’s how to build productive, respectful relationships, grounded in mentoring principles

Elmeida Effendy

Universitas Sumatera Utara

Being a beginner is hard. Let’s make it easier for our students

Tips and strategies for helping students move beyond the fear of making a mistake – and feel more willing to try

Kate Sansome

Adelaide University

Woman talking into smartphone, AI as student support

‘AI should support student services, not impersonate them’

Are universities ready for GenAI in student support? When chatbots seem to offer a scalable, cost-effective way to meet rising demand for student support, universities need to consider how to shape their use without outsourcing care or increasing risk

Michael Cowling, Joseph Crawford

RMIT University, University of Tasmania

A research supervisor sitting at her desk smiling to camera

Five things supervisors can do for struggling PhD students

Doctoral students can find the slow and often uncertain nature of research challenging. Supervisors can ease distress by rethinking how the doctorate is framed, structured and experienced

Peng Cheng, Jie Zhang

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

A struggling student works late at her desk

Are your students disengaging – or is it their personality type?

Students who seem lazy or like late starters may simply be wired differently. Find out how to meet them where they are

Chathura Sooriya-Arachchi

University of Westminster

One mountain climber helps another over a ridge

Find the courage to teach collaboratively

Teaching has never been a solitary endeavour, but it can be lonely. Here’s how to nurture collaborations with your fellow educators that will help everyone grow

Mark Young, Melissa Jane Megan

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Four ways to strengthen the PGR community and sense of belonging

The doctoral experience doesn’t have to be isolated. Here, Maisha Islam and Natasha Palmer share four recommendations to enable an inclusive, collaborative research culture and communities for postgraduate researchers

Maisha Islam , Natasha Palmer

University of Southampton

Encourage, don’t shame: rethinking writing feedback

Shame around writing ability can be a real problem for new students, so let’s make sure feedback encourages their development. Find out how here

Isabelle Parkinson

Royal Holloway, University of London

A PhD supervisor speaking to her student in her office

Recognise the human side of doctoral study

By listening with compassion, normalising uncertainty and helping students break down large tasks into small steps, supervisors can support PhD students with both the academic and emotional demands of their studies, says Bhawana Shrestha

Bhawana Shrestha

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

A female academic at her desk with her head in her hand

Start with men: universities must do more on menopause education

Universities have the research capacity, the educational mission and the moral obligation to lead on menopause education. It is time for men in academia to step up, drive the conversation and share the burden, writes Mark Butterick

Mark Butterick

Independent academic

A university student painting a blank canvas

Help students disconnect from their tech

How a ‘digital fast’ can give students time and mental clarity – and how to support them through the process

Multiple authors

The University of East Anglia

Help your students develop their own career compass

In an age when the job market is rapidly changing, equip students with the skill to understand how their personality can shape their career

Natalie Feng, Randford Joseph Tay

Singapore Institute of Technology

Lessons from being academic chair of a complex department

Being a department head takes both emotional and cognitive energy to juggle people, programmes, contracts and institutional demands. But digging into skills such as trust-building and communication will bear fruit, writes Ben K. Daniel

Ben Kei Daniel

University of Northern British Columbia

Black male student looking downcast in university corridor

Whose vulnerabilities get seen? Whose get missed?

When student circumstances fall outside standard support categories, their difficulties can deepen. This means hardship of groups such as caregivers or international students grows quietly, until it becomes much harder to address

Sorush Sepehr, David Waller, Ranjit Voola, Subhasis Ray

University of Technology Sydney, University of Sydney, XLRI Xavier School of Management

red paper airplane leaving line of white paper airplanes

Academia can never be ‘just a job’ (and why that is OK)

The uncomfortable truth is that academia doesn’t conform to the regular nine-to-five, and pretending otherwise will not fix working conditions that are broken, argues Sorin Krammer

Sorin M. S. Krammer

University of Southampton

An illustration of a man celebrating an achievement while his shadow despairs behind him

The human side of the practitioner-to-academic pipeline

Higher education wants to hire academics with real-world experience – yet the identity shift required often goes unnoticed. Here’s how to improve support

Asrif Yusoff

University of Greenwich

Students laugh together in front of a blue wall

Build student and community partnerships for safer campuses

Employ the local community and nearby institutions to address student safety issues in a collaborative way. Here’s how

Simon Merrywest

The University of Manchester

Three ways to build an engaged student community from the ground up

Here’s how to bring students together to create a community on campus and encourage their active participation in university life from governance to volunteering

Denisa-Georgiana Nistor

Valahia University of Târgoviște

A group of smiling university students outside a campus building

Welcome new university students with inclusive events

Five ways to make welcome activities more inclusive, helping students engage at their own pace, build connections and feel a sense of belonging from the start

Megan Jones

The University of East Anglia

Black female student looking thoughtful writing

The benefits of positive affect journaling for university students and staff

This low-effort, high-impact practice can enhance the start of a class, and helps both students and staff develop emotional resilience

Lesley Black, Glenn Fosbraey

University of Winchester

Illustration of man climbing a mountain of books

What does it mean to ‘make it’ in academia?

The arrival fallacy can eat into scholars’ sense of achievement, reducing milestones to prerequisites for the next step. Here, Rachel Hagan shares ways to redefine success and acknowledge even quiet wins

Rachel Hagan

Liverpool John Moores University

What the Baftas incident teaches us about psychological safety in universities

How universities can take a proactive, compassionate approach to psychological safety that supports all students

Nicola Martin

London South Bank University

A pedagogy of grief: dealing with loss in higher education

What happens when a university educator is grieving a loved one? Here’s how collective loss can shape an institution

Rachelle McKay

Dalhousie University

Be the warrior students want to see at the front of their class

What do your students want from their university educators? Nail these ingredients and effective teaching will follow

David Kirby

Florida State University

The five emotional types of learners on online courses

Online learning is still growing. But to offer personalised support, educators need to understand their students’ emotional type. Find out more here

Panu Erästö

Aalto University School of Business

Spotlight guide: Duty of care, making university safe for all

Duty of care: making university safe for all

Safeguarding advice to help universities look after students and staff, both on campus and online

Campus team

Campus

A group of students interacting happily around a laptop

‘Joy doesn’t dilute academic rigour. It sustains it’

By weaving playfulness, humour and authenticity into teaching, research and departmental culture, academics can spark curiosity, strengthen collaboration and tackle difficult conversations, say Alice Wilson and Madeleine Steeds

Alice Wilson, Madeleine Steeds

Manchester Metropolitan University, University College Dublin

More than singing: a university choir as a cultural hub

Flexibility, pedagogical sensitivity, community and well-being – far more than artistic perfection – emerge as strong notes in the process of establishing a university choir

László Matos

Semmelweis University

A teacher helping a student with mental health issues

I’m a well-being adviser: here’s how to support students with mental health issues

As students arrive at university with increasingly complex mental health needs, academics are often keen to help but unsure where to start. Tessa Warinner shares practical tips

Tessa Warinner

The University of Edinburgh

A book with heart-shaped pages in front of a stacked bookcase

Has your relationship with your PhD lost its spark?

Make sure you and your PhD aren’t drifting into a toxic relationship. Here’s how to recapture the magic

Lucia Juarez

Independent academic

Use social media to create a digital community for international students

Students are already relying on social media to help them settle in when studying abroad, so why not harness its power for support services? Here are six ways to do so

Liubov Darzhinova

The Education University of Hong Kong

Young Asian woman concentrating working at laptop

Advice for protecting writing time and motivation

Social media, reading and the fragmented schedules of academia can all eat into precious writing time. Based on her experience supervising PhD students, Zhen Sun offers advice for supporting doctoral candidates to set and stick to a plan

Zhen Sun

Macau University of Science and Technology

Find purpose and identity in the ‘near-end’ season of an academic career

As careers near their later stages, familiar markers of achievement fade and professional identity shifts. Wendy Cowan and Bridgette Walker explore how academics can move from proving value to mentoring, shaping legacy and finding renewed purpose

Wendy Cowan, Bridgette Walker

Athens State University

Young black male students working outside on laptop

Using technology to support international students

From scalable email systems to database management, universities can leverage specialised technology to support the academic success and career readiness of their international students

Kate Kirk

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

Young university student in online meeting

Use early engagement to build belonging for international students

Connecting with international students well before they arrive on campus – and maintaining contact across joint and transnational programmes – helps universities to transform anxious newcomers into confident global citizens

Jennifer Clevenger

Virginia Tech

Young man looking stressed as his inbox explodes out of his screen

How to turn your most aggravating student emails into a chance to spread joy

Faced with a flurry of grade complaints at the end of each semester, Danny Oppenheimer found a way to respond that generated positivity for students and himself. Read on to find out what he did

Danny Oppenheimer

Carnegie Mellon University

Spotlight How to factor family into higher education

How to factor family into higher education

Practical advice for universities to support staff, faculty and students with parenting and caring responsibilities

Campus contributors, Eliza Compton

Campus

Maximise student satisfaction in creative education: part two

In the second part of this guide to achieving 100 per cent student satisfaction results in the National Student Survey, here’s why creating community and centring mental well-being made a difference

Kate Cotter , Elizabeth McLaughlin

University of the West of Scotland

Group of young people holding jigsaw pieces, belonging concept

Strategies to promote belonging from the first day of term – and beyond

Create a supportive learning environment for a sense of community among your students, by deploying strategies to lay the foundations and build on them

Multiple authors

Adelaide University

Connected classrooms: building belonging, trust and well-being

Learning communities that are grounded in trust, psychological safety and holistic support give students space to explore and share their talents

Christie Stewart

Georgia Tech’s Center for 21st Century Universities

Why trauma-informed education could be a university’s smartest investment

Responding to struggling students with empathy and flexibility can benefit the whole campus. Here’s how to create a culture of compassion

Hind Lebdaoui

Al Akhawayn University

A teacher smiles as students raise their hands en masse

Maximise student satisfaction in creative education: part one

Disappointed with your National Student Survey satisfaction results? One teaching team turned theirs around with reflection and collaboration – here’s how

Kate Cotter , Elizabeth McLaughlin

University of the West of Scotland

Campus Talks: How to turn vulnerability into a teaching superpower

Authenticity and connection are key to supporting students in the classroom. This means it is important for educators to develop the skills to show up as their whole selves but also understand how to protect their boundaries

Marissa Edwards, Eliza Compton

The University of Queensland

How vertical tutoring builds community

Students on joint or interdisciplinary degrees often struggle to feel they truly belong. Vertical tutoring – a structured, cross-year peer support model – offers a solution

Owen Tomlinson, Mary O’Leary

The University of Exeter

A young man admiring a view from a bridge in Stockholm

How can we revive the popularity of exchanges and study trips? Make students feel safe

In the first of a five-part series on outbound student mobility, Lucas Lixinski looks at what care is due to students travelling overseas as part of their studies, and how this can incentivise or deter them from spending time in other countries

Lucas Lixinski

UNSW Sydney

A young academic plays a game on his phone while his co-worker naps on the desk

Don’t cry for me, academia: gamifying the early career experience

Wajeehah Aayeshah created the online card game Academic Tears to boost empathy for early career academics, and explored a new way of communicating research. Here’s how she did it

Wajeehah Aayeshah

University of Melbourne

How teachers become students’ growth partners in learning

Simple habits can transform students’ silence and hesitation into conversation and curiosity, making the university classroom a dynamic space for learning and growth

Yongjia Lin

Macau University of Science and Technology

An audience watching a man on stage in a theatre

Beyond overexposure: how academics can reclaim agency on LinkedIn

As LinkedIn shifts from online CV to personal branding stage, Jasmine Mohsen explores how scholars can reclaim agency, set boundaries and build sustainable digital identities without succumbing to overexposure

Jasmine Mohsen

SP Jain London School of Management

A guide to arts-based methods in medical research

Achieve a deeper understanding of human experiences by deploying the creative practices in research. Here’s how

Heather Spooner

University of Florida

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