The PGR Well bee-ing Project are extremely pleased to announce the University of Manchester has recently signed a statement of principles and practical actions supporting Postgraduate Researcher mental health and wellbeing. The statement was agreed when University Leaders from 16 countries met at the 13^th Annual Global Summit on Graduate Education, co-hosted by the University of Manchester. This year’s Global Summit theme- ‘Cultural Contexts of Health and Well-being in Graduate Education’, was chosen by an international steering committee and recognises the importance of addressing graduate student mental health and wellbeing in countries across the world.

University Leaders at the Summit shared examples from their own institutions of the distinct set of challenges which PGRs face such as; expectations of high achievement, supervisory relationships and career insecurity. During the Global Summit, it was agreed that supporting mental health and wellbeing of Postgraduate researchers is a priority for the international graduate education community. The principals and actions aim to promote creation of spaces and communities which support wellbeing and allow PGRs to work productively and fruitfully.

Many of the actions agreed are central to the work of the PGR Well bee-ing Project and through signing the statement, the University of Manchester has demonstrated a continued commitment to improving PGR wellbeing and mental health.

Practical actions agreed at the Global Summit:

• Focus on prevention and resilience by building communities and offering resources and training.
• Contribute to a culture of inclusion that supports mental health and wellbeing for all members of the university community.
• Adopt a consistent terminology to distinguish between mental health, mental illness, and mental wellbeing.
• Situate the student voice at the centre of mental health and wellbeing initiatives.
• Coordinate programs and practices supportive of mental wellbeing.
• Develop and implement strategies to identify students in need of support and establish clear pathways to available services.
• Delineate between the roles of supervisors and mental health professionals by clarifying expectations and responsibilities for supervisors.
• Provide training and resources to support supervisors.
• Identify and address the causes of excessive stress, such as institutional policies and practices, meeting high expectations, career uncertainty, supervisor relationships, and financial constraints.
• Develop plans for responding to the mental health consequences of traumatic events.
• Evaluate in a consistent and comparable way the impact of measures taken to promote better graduate student mental wellbeing.

More information can be found on the following links:

https://cgsnet.org/university-leaders-issue-statement-principles-and-practical-actions-promote-graduate-student-mental

https://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/2019%20Global%20Summit%20Practical%20Actions_Final(1).pdf

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