The entrance to the university marks a period of transition for young people. Through this transition higher education students face new challenges, such as making independent decisions about their lives and studies, adjusting to the academic demands of a challenging learning environment, and interacting with a diverse range of new people. In addition, many students must, sometimes for the first time, leave their homes and distance themselves from their support network.

These challenges can affect mental health and well-being of early career researchers. Indeed, there is evidence that a strain on mental health is placed on students once they start at the university, and although it decreases throughout their studies (Macaskill, 2013; Mey and Yind, 2015), it does not return to pre-university level.

The ECR team at the Faculty of Psychology and the VDS CoBeNe invited Dr. Markus Boeckle, a senior postdoc at the Karl Landsteiner University for Health Sciences and psychotherapist, to give us an overview on the current research on mental health and well-being in science, and possible ways to approach and implement support services. More information in the announcement here.