BU Research Blog

The wellbeing of students and the safeguarding of their mental health is a high priority for universities across the UK.

The HEFCE Catalyst Fund provided £1.5 million for 17 projects across the HE sector to improve support for the mental health and wellbeing of postgraduate research students. Across the sector, the 17 projects developed new practice for pastoral support and training materials for students, supervisors, and other staff.

At Bournemouth University, the Doctoral College collaborated with FHSS and Student Services on a project focussing on supporting PGRs through the transitions from UG/PGT to PGR and between each stages of their research degree.

Durham University focussed on “Online mental health training resources for PGR students and supervisors” and have made their training materials available for all HE institutions. We encourage all parties involved in postgraduate research to undertake the training modules found here.

The aims of the training are to:

• Identify and address mental health needs within the supervisory relationship to promote early intervention
• Recognise the specific role of supervisors in supporting mental health and wellbeing, and identify the limits of that relationship for resolving wider mental health difficulties
• Prevent the development or exacerbation of mental health symptoms by identifying the helpful and unhelpful relationship patterns that can emerge in supervision.

We would like to remind you of the University’s student wellbeing support, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you are looking for some support or are worried about a peer.