All Outputs (11)

“No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way”: A Qualitative Exploration of Friendship Expectations and Reality in University Life (2025)
Journal Article
Priestley, M., Slack, H. R., Islam, M. M., Fuhrmann, D., Long, E., Crook, S., Foster, J., Homer, S., & Byrom, N. (online). “No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way”: A Qualitative Exploration of Friendship Expectations and Reality in University Life. Journal of Adolescence, https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12489

Introduction: Young adulthood (ages 18–25) is a high‐risk period for loneliness, particularly during educational transitions. Loneliness has negative consequences for mental health, physical health, and educational achievement. Psychologists conceptu... Read More about “No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way”: A Qualitative Exploration of Friendship Expectations and Reality in University Life.

An Argument for More High-Quality Research Focused on Mental Health in the Post-Secondary Context. (2025)
Journal Article
Byrom, N., Pointon-Haas, J., Upsher, R., Iorfino, F., McKenna, S., McCann, E., Priestley, M., Slack, H. R., & Cleverley, K. (2025). An Argument for More High-Quality Research Focused on Mental Health in the Post-Secondary Context. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 19(2), Article e70002. https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.70002

We argue that while a substantial proportion of emerging adults are in post-secondary education, there is relatively little consideration of this context within research and policy around youth mental health. The unique challenges young adults face i... Read More about An Argument for More High-Quality Research Focused on Mental Health in the Post-Secondary Context..

Stretched at Both Ends: Pressure on Student Services and the Impact on Academic Staff at UK Universities (2024)
Journal Article
Hughes, G., Priestley, M., & Spanner, L. (2025). Stretched at Both Ends: Pressure on Student Services and the Impact on Academic Staff at UK Universities. Education Sciences, 15(1), Article 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010013

The role and responsibility of universities in supporting student mental health has been the subject of high-profile legal debate. Drawing on a thematic analysis of twelve semi-structured focus groups conducted during the Student Minds UK University... Read More about Stretched at Both Ends: Pressure on Student Services and the Impact on Academic Staff at UK Universities.

Their wellbeing affects our wellbeing: student perspectives of lecturer wellbeing and its consequences for student wellbeing (2024)
Journal Article
Rakow, K. E., Priestley, M., Byrom, N. C., Foster, J. L. H., & Dommett, E. J. (online). Their wellbeing affects our wellbeing: student perspectives of lecturer wellbeing and its consequences for student wellbeing. Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01365-0

A “whole university approach” has been recommended for addressing concerns about the wellbeing of UK university lecturers and students. Previously, staff wellbeing has been explored from staff perspectives. Student wellbeing has been explored from th... Read More about Their wellbeing affects our wellbeing: student perspectives of lecturer wellbeing and its consequences for student wellbeing.

The Epistemology and Ethics of Analysing Lived Experience Data: A Pragmatic Foucauldian-Informed Approach to Coproducing Student Mental Health Initiatives in the Neoliberal University (2023)
Journal Article
Priestley, M., & Mazzoli-Smith, L. (2023). The Epistemology and Ethics of Analysing Lived Experience Data: A Pragmatic Foucauldian-Informed Approach to Coproducing Student Mental Health Initiatives in the Neoliberal University. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22(January-December 2023), https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231215234

Analysis of lived experience data is increasingly advocated as an enabling strategy to inform ethical and effective policy and practice, particularly in the university mental health field. However, where Michel Foucault’s work is often drawn on to fr... Read More about The Epistemology and Ethics of Analysing Lived Experience Data: A Pragmatic Foucauldian-Informed Approach to Coproducing Student Mental Health Initiatives in the Neoliberal University.

Online learning and assessment during the Covid-19 pandemic: exploring the impact on undergraduate student well-being (2022)
Journal Article
Slack, H. R., & Priestley, M. (2023). Online learning and assessment during the Covid-19 pandemic: exploring the impact on undergraduate student well-being. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 48(3), 333-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2076804

Where traditional learning and assessment approaches have previously been found to negatively impact on student well-being, the Covid-19 pandemic provided a novel opportunity to explore alternative online learning and assessment conditions conducive... Read More about Online learning and assessment during the Covid-19 pandemic: exploring the impact on undergraduate student well-being.

Student perceptions and proposals for promoting wellbeing through social relationships at university (2022)
Journal Article
Priestley, M., Hall, A., Wilbraham, S. J., Mistry, V., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2022). Student perceptions and proposals for promoting wellbeing through social relationships at university. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(9), 1243-1256. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2022.2061844

Whilst existing evidence has demonstrated the imperative of social integration, inclusion, and belonging for student mental health, students often report relational challenges, barriers, and stressors at university. Drawing on thematic analysis of si... Read More about Student perceptions and proposals for promoting wellbeing through social relationships at university.

‘Look after the staff and they would look after the students’ cultures of wellbeing and mental health in the university setting (2021)
Journal Article
Brewster, L., Jones, E., Priestley, M., Wilbraham, S. J., Spanner, L., & Hughes, G. (2022). ‘Look after the staff and they would look after the students’ cultures of wellbeing and mental health in the university setting. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(4), 548-560. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2021.1986473

University student wellbeing is increasingly seen as a concern, and as demands on university staff time for research, teaching, leadership and pastoral support also increase, this is mirrored in concerns about staff wellbeing. Dominant sectoral narra... Read More about ‘Look after the staff and they would look after the students’ cultures of wellbeing and mental health in the university setting.

Student Perspectives on improving mental health support Services at university (2021)
Journal Article
Priestley, M., Broglia, E., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2022). Student Perspectives on improving mental health support Services at university. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 22(1), 197-206. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12391

Drawing on thematic analysis of six student co‐creation panels, conducted during the Student Minds University Mental Health Charter consultations, this paper elucidates students’ perspectives and proposals regarding the current issues and challenges... Read More about Student Perspectives on improving mental health support Services at university.

Student wellbeing and assessment in higher education: the balancing act (2020)
Journal Article
Jones, E., Priestley, M., Brewster, L., Wilbraham, S. J., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2021). Student wellbeing and assessment in higher education: the balancing act. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(3), 438-450. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1782344

This paper draws on staff and student consultations conducted during the development of Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter to identify five key tensions which can arise in assessment design and strategy when seeking to balance the wellbe... Read More about Student wellbeing and assessment in higher education: the balancing act.

Sick of Study: Student mental ‘illness’ and neoliberal higher education policy (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Priestley, M. (2019, December). Sick of Study: Student mental ‘illness’ and neoliberal higher education policy. Presented at Imagining Better Education, Durham, England

‘The anxiety currently manifest in higher education is not an unintended consequence or malfunction, but is inherent in the design of a system driven by improving productivity and the potential for the accumulation of capital’ (Hall and Bowles, 2016,... Read More about Sick of Study: Student mental ‘illness’ and neoliberal higher education policy.