VIRTUAL EVENT: Doctoral students' educational stress and mental health

During the COVID-19 pandemic, both undergraduate students and doctoral students have reported elevated levels of anxiety and depression. Why this is the case has been less explored. What are some of the potential risk and promotive factors that may hinder or improve student mental health problems?

We will discuss how doctoral student mental health compares with that of undergraduates, postgraduates and non-student populations, across two periods of the pandemic: April to July 2020 and October 2020 to January 2021.

We will share our findings on doctoral students' experiences during the pandemic, focusing on the role of cumulative stressful educational experiences, including those related to academic, personal and financial difficulties, in poorer mental health. We will also consider how positive coping strategies may promote good mental health among doctoral students.

These findings have important implications for educational policy, ongoing and future mental health support for students and job prospects post-PhD. We invite university students, education leaders, parents and policymakers to share their experiences and thoughts on how best to support our university students as we approach a new academic year.

Speakers

• Chair: Dr Maria Kambouri, Associate Professor, UCL Institute of Education
• Theodora Kokosi, PhD Candidate, UCL Institute of Education
• Jana Brinkert, PhD Candidate, UCL Institute of Education
• Vassilis Sideropoulos, Research Technician, UCL Institute of Education
• Discussant: Dr Tara Béteille, Senior Economist, The World Bank

UCL-Penn Global COVID Study webinar series

The UCL-Penn Global COVID Study is hosting a virtual webinar series, ‘Lessons from COVID-19: Reflections, Resilience and Recovery‘, sponsored by UCL Global Engagement. 

The five webinars will cover a range of topics including COVID’s impact on mental health in the general population across different countries, family relationships and social trust in others, postgraduate student wellbeing in higher education and the type of support we need to recover. 

Links

• Tweet with #GlobalCOVIDStudy
• COVID-19: Global social trust and mental health
• Department of Psychology and Human Development

Image: Hamish Duncan via Unsplash