Student Wellbeing at Oxford: Waves of Evidence

Published in the journal Access, co-authors Dr Kevin Matlock, from the Department of Psychiatry, Dr Joris de Henau, from Graduate Admissions and Recruitment, and Dr Elizabeth Rahman, from Education Policy Support, discuss their latest study on University of Oxford student experiences and wellbeing.

What is the current picture on student mental health and why did you decide to focus on this particular area?

Kevin Matlock (KM): I’m involved with a national research project called Nurture-U, and our goal is to find better ways to support university students with their wellbeing. Survey data from this project reveals that 1 in 7 Oxford students rate their mental health as poor or very poor, and 1 in 3 report worrying levels of anxiety or depression. This picture is supported by data from University Student Welfare and Support Services, which show 1 in 9 students access the counselling service each year. Similar figures have emerged at other universities, and yet when researchers try to work together to come up with solutions to help students, they often encounter difficulties with sharing data or using incompatible methods for conducting research that delay timely responses to student needs. With that in mind, we set out to design a new approach that enables rapid, real-time collaboration across different kinds of research projects in a way that isn’t limited by data sharing or using a particular research design.

What were you aiming to do with this study?

Joris de Henau (JDH): This paper introduces a new methodology we call "diffractive collaborative enquiry" – a way of bringing together different ongoing research projects to generate insights in real time, rather than waiting years for completed studies to inform practice. We brought together three distinct projects at Oxford – my own work on the Academic Skills Development Project, the Diversity of Student Experience Research Project, and a multi-site mental health study called Nurture-U – and examined how they interact and illuminate each other. The focus is on demonstrating that when you read different forms of evidence through one another, patterns about student experience are revealed that would remain invisible within any single project. We wanted to show that universities can respond to student needs more rapidly by placing existing research in dialogue, particularly around equity and supporting underrepresented students.

How does Oxford’s collegiate structure affect students’ mental health?

Elizabeth Rahman (ER): Oxford’s collegiate structure can be a real asset for supporting students’ mental health, offering close communities and personalised academic and pastoral support. However, our research shows that it can also feel complex and fragmented, particularly for students under pressure or from underrepresented backgrounds, who may be unsure where to turn or worry about burdening staff. Existing programmes already do important work to address this through college-based provision and whole-university mental health initiatives. Current strategy development is building on this by focusing on better coordination, clearer pathways, and embedding wellbeing into everyday academic life rather than treating it as crisis support alone.

Read the full story on the Department of Psychiatry's website.