12 March 202610:30–15:30
Rethinking student wellbeing support
TASO Offices, 58 Victoria Embankment, Blackfriars, London EC4
Sold out – join the waitlist
In an era of rising demand for student support around mental health and wellbeing, evaluation and finding out what works – and what doesn’t work – is essential.
Join us on 12 March (10:30–15:30) for an in-person interactive session to explore what’s helping or hindering student wellbeing and mental health, and to examine findings from recent TASO-commissioned research on the evaluation and impact of wellbeing interventions on student outcomes.
The session includes a lunch and networking session, and will be held at TASO’s offices in Blackfriars, London EC4.
Who should attend?
- Higher education practitioners working to directly support wellbeing and mental health in higher education
- Organisations and charities directly involved in supporting wellbeing and mental health initiatives in higher education
- Evaluation professionals focusing on causal evidence around wellbeing and mental health interventions in higher education
- Policymakers and widening-participation leads focusing on closing equality gaps in student access, success and progression.
Why attend?
- Analytics and student wellbeing: Discover more about how administrative data can be used to prompt initiatives, using randomised controlled trials
- Small cohorts: Learn about evaluating interventions with small cohorts, and theory-based evaluation methodologies
- Benefit for your institution: Find out about the results of evaluations of mental health interventions using various methodologies, and how these can be applied to your university or college
- Networking and collaboration opportunities: Connect with peers across the higher education sector to discuss student mental health in higher education
Agenda
| Time | Session | Outline |
| 10:30 | Welcome | |
| 10:35 | Student mental health in 2026: setting the scene | For the last several years, King’s College London has partnered with TASO, HEPI and Advance HE, to analyse data from the Student Academic Experiences Survey (SAES), investigating student mental health and wellbeing. In this session Professor Michael Sanders will provide an update on the latest analysis and paint a picture of the state of student mental health in 2025. |
| 10:45 | Lessons from the sector: Three TASO flagship projects | TASO’s Deputy CEO Dr Eliza Kozman will present the key findings and emerging themes from our flagship three research projects on student mental health. |
| 11:00 | Measuring wellbeing: Analytics and assumptions | Is poor wellbeing likely to result in poor academic engagement? What role can analytics play in measuring and supporting student wellbeing? In this session, we will unpack TASO’s randomised controlled trials on evaluating wellbeing interventions prompted by analytics. You will hear from representatives at partner universities who worked with us on the project. |
| 11:50 | Break | |
| 12:10 | Ingredients for effective support: A small cohorts case study | What elements help are vital for effectively supporting student mental health? This session will draw on insights from our evaluation with two universities looking particularly at support delivered to small cohorts of students. |
| 13:00 | Lunch and networking | |
| 13:50 | From intervention to experience: Student reflections on mental health support | This panel discussion will draw on student perspectives from the project and explore how mental health and wellbeing interventions are experienced in practice. Students and TASO can reflect on what feels meaningful and what can be learned from centring student perspectives alongside evaluation activity. |
| 14:35 | Short break | |
| 14:40 | Rethinking student wellbeing support – where to next? | We will be joined by a panel of experts to discuss how to chart a path forward on student mental health in higher education in 2026. |
| 15:30 | Close |