17 Mar 2025
Congratulations to Dr Tom Osborn, whose PhD research – funded and supported by the NIHR ARC North Thames – has been shortlisted for an NIHR Impact Prize!
The research
Dr Osborn’s research set out to understand the vulnerabilities and opportunities in higher education students' access to mental health care.
This is a pressing issue given that, over the past decade, the number of students reporting mental health conditions to universities has risen more than five-fold.
As a result, higher education institutions are struggling to meet the increasing demand, complexity, and severity of mental health presentations. This has created significant challenges for service provision.
This PhD research sought to explore how mental health care for students in higher education could be improved, including through greater collaboration between universities and the NHS.
The impact
The project’s findings have shaped UCL's new organisational wellbeing and mental health principles, which affect more than 50,000 students and staff. These principles have set a foundation for creating a healthier and more supportive environment for the entire university community.
Furthermore, the research results played a vital role in the establishment of UCL's NHS University Clinic, which now serves hundreds of students annually, bridging the gap between university mental health services and the NHS, offering a service tailored by student preferences made easily accessible care to students in need a reality.
The study was also instrumental in shaping the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's (LSHTM) ‘Pentacell’ wellbeing strategy. This strategy benefits more than 250 students each year and has been recognised for its success, receiving multiple awards, including two CASE Circle of Excellence Awards for volunteer and student engagement.
At a national level, the research has informed the forthcoming guidance from the Government's Higher Education Mental Health Implementation Taskforce.
By contributing to this high-level policy work, the research has had a direct impact on the development of strategies that could reshape how mental health services are delivered across the UK higher education sector.
The real-world application of the research has created long-lasting benefits, improving both policy and practice in student mental health care.
The awards
Through the Impact Prizes, NIHR is celebrating researchers and teams who have had a major impact on the health and wealth of the nation, as well as globally.
Winners will be announced at an in-person award ceremony on 20 March 2025, hosted by Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Department of Health and Social Care and CEO of the NIHR.
See the finalists and learn more about NIHR Impact Prizes.
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