WP7 - Understanding the Mental Health of Doctoral Researchers

The Understanding the Mental Health of Doctoral Researchers (U-DOC) project at the University of Sussex is one of 17 PGR Catalyst projects funded by the Office for Students and Research England. It aims to develop an evidence-based sustainable best practice model for the Higher Education sector to address the challenge of doctoral researcher mental health.

This poster showcases the main achievements of the project one year on. With all project outputs informed by a rigorous mixed-methods systematic review, focus groups and a national survey exploring the factors that influence and are influenced by doctoral researcher mental health, this poster describes:

- The development of training courses for PhD supervisors, professional services staff and doctoral researchers

- Doctoral researcher-led mental health and wellbeing initiatives and interventions

- Events and online resources for doctoral researchers to increase awareness and access to support

- Improved liaison between University and NHS services.