Post-Secondary Mental Health and Well-Being Research and Knowledge Hub
About
UCalgary’s Community Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy and the Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education are collaborating with researchers, service-providers, knowledge users, and people with lived experience to co-create a research and knowledge hub to advance mental health and well-being within the post-secondary and broader community.
To advance post-secondary mental health and well-being research and knowledge mobilization to create thriving and inclusive post-secondary communities.
- Adopt a holistic, whole-institution approach: A uniquely holistic and whole-institution approach focused on upstream, health-promoting approaches and early responses/interventions by addressing social determinants of health.
- Engage community: Meaningful and collaborative engagement with community, both within Ucalgary, within the city of Calgary, the province, and the country; and alongside other post-secondary institutions.
- Bridge research and practice gap: We will prioritize cultivating partnerships between people with lived experience, service providers, administrators, policy makers, and researchers in effort to bridge the gap between research and practice.
- Identify best practices: As we bridge the research and practice gap, we also want to identify best practices that meaningfully enhance the health and well-being of our communities.
- Deliver collaborative knowledge sharing: We will share knowledge broadly, enabling tangible impacts across post-secondary and the communities within which we exist.
- Become a Centre of Excellence: We want to become a leading source of cutting-edge research in post-secondary mental health and well-being that drives culture change so that everyone can thrive.
- Integrating equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility throughout research and knowledge translation projects, ultimately creating systemic changes and a sense of community and belonging for all.
- Committing to collaborative strategies to build community partnerships and conduct transdisciplinary research to maximize our impacts and learn from one another.
- Allowing those with lived experience to take on leadership of projects, provide input into research directions and priorities, and be meaningfully involved in a process of co-creation.
- Conducting research which considers holistic conceptualizations of mental health in addition to clinical interventions.
- Research with impact: Balancing our efforts to conduct practice-informed research and then implement findings in research-informed practice.
Emerging priorities
Recent and ongoing research
Co-Designing Student Mental Health Data Frameworks: Toward Inclusive, Transparent, and Engaging Data Practices in Post-Secondary Settings
This study used co-design methods to engage post-secondary students in generating recommendations for future development and refinement of mental health survey tools, ensuring these tools are relevant and reflective of student priorities. The findings informed the development of a conceptual framework linking survey design to principles of equity, transparency, student agency, and accountability across the survey lifecycle.
Framework for Research in Emerging Adults (FREA)
FREA is a digital education and research platform designed to connect emerging adults (ages 14-24) with lived experience to research opportunities through a user-friendly registry and engagement hub. The platform aims to improve accessibility to information and research opportunities, study recruitment, and ongoing engagement in mental health research.
Building Community Through Peer Mentorship: Faculty and Student Experiences in a Transdisciplinary Academic Peer Mentoring Program
Funded by UCalgary Teaching & Learning Grant
The UCalgary Academic Peer Mentoring Program is a transdisciplinary initiative where trained undergraduate students facilitate active learning in courses they have successfully completed. Academic Peer Mentors leverage near-peer advantages and share cognitive frameworks with students (understanding where learners struggle) and social congruence (knowing the contexts students navigate). This mixed-methods study explores how the Academic Peer Mentoring program affects both student engagement and faculty belonging.
Principal Investigator: Brandon Carroll
Co-Applicants: Kyla Flanagan, Jennifer Thannhauser, Lisa Stowe, Nariman El-Chammaa, Gurleen Sangha, Madison Skinner
Evaluating Mental Health and Well-being Outcomes through Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS)
Funded by UCalgary Teaching & Learning Grant
Mental health is an important factor to consider when examining students’ learning experiences; however, mental health is less commonly studied as a primary outcome in SoTL. UCalgary’s (2023) Community Mental Health and Well-being Strategy (CMHWS) adopts a whole-institution approach to mental health and well-being, prioritizing upstream supports. Mental health has historically been the responsibility of formal counselling services; however, a whole-institution approach recognizes the role all members of the university community, including academic programming, play in supporting student mental health. In courses supported by Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), collaborative study sessions are held to provide students with study skills in the context of their course material. Tthis project aims to evaluate the use of peer learning (i.e., PASS) as a pedagogical practice to enhance mental health and well-being outcomes for students in higher education.
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Thannhauser
Co-Applicants: Steve Mason, Julia Hews-Girard
Resilience in the Canadian Post-secondary Context
Funded by SSHRC Partnership Development Grant
A cross-national partnership between University of Calgary, University of Saskatchewan, University of Toronto, Dalhousie University, and Best Practices Network in Canadian Higher Ed (BP-Net) is engaging students to develop a comprehensive, systemic understanding of the supports and resources needed to advance student resilience and well-being in the post-secondary context. This study explores student resilience using a social ecological framework which views resilience as the process whereby individuals navigate to and negotiate for the contextually and culturally appropriate resources needed for optimal functioning. Resilience occurs both within individuals and between the systems within which they exist.
Co-Prinicipal Investigators: Jennifer Thannhauser, Marion Brown
Co-Investigators: Julia Hews-Girard, Vicki Squires, Chloe Hamza, Abby Goldstein, Gina Dimitropoulos
Collaborators: Andrew Szeto, Sandra Yuen
Working Group Series
Supported by a University of Calgary Transdisciplinary Connector Grant, the Working Group Series took place between October 2025 and April 2026 and consisted of five interactive sessions designed to build partnerships, co-develop research initiatives, strengthen grant development skills, and support knowledge mobilization. The series brought together students, researchers, staff, practitioners, community partners, and individuals with lived experience to foster new transdisciplinary collaborations focused on advancing post-secondary mental health and well-being.
A key outcome of the series was the development of collaborative projects, with six working groups participating in the Knowledge Hub's Research Pitch and Showcase and five teams advancing to applications for seed funding to further develop and implement their initiatives.
Research Pitch and Showcase
The Post-secondary Mental Health and Well-being Research & Knowledge Hub Research Pitch and Showcase, held in June 2026, featured six live project pitches, a research poster showcase, and opportunities for networking and collaboration.
The event brought together students, researchers, staff, faculty, university leaders, and community partners to celebrate and advance innovative mental health and well-being research across post-secondary settings. Developed through the Working Group Series, supported by a University of Calgary Transdisciplinary Connector Grant, the showcased projects presented emerging transdisciplinary research initiatives, received constructive feedback to strengthen future funding applications, and participated in an interactive audience vote highlighting projects with strong potential for impact.
The Post-Secondary Mental Health and Well-Being Community of Practice (CoP) aims to:
- Connect members of the UCalgary community who might not otherwise have the opportunity to interact, either as frequently or at all, which could lead to new opportunities and transdisciplinary collaborations in postsecondary mental health and well-being research or knowledge dissemination.
- Reduce isolation and silos that exist within trainees, postdoctoral scholars, and staff by providing a welcoming, inclusive space.
- Provide a shared space for people to discuss important topics, share information and experiences, and build a better understanding of research and knowledge mobilization regarding post-secondary mental health and well-being.
- Simulate learning by sharing existing knowledge, practicing/building skills, encouraging authentic conversations, mentoring each other, and engaging in self-reflection.
This CoP invites undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and non-faculty staff (including research assistants - paid or volunteer) who are interested/engaged in research and/or knowledge mobilization related to postsecondary mental health and wellbeing.
Dr. Jennifer Thannhauser, PhD, RPsych
Academic Director, Mental Health & Well-Being, Office of Institutional Commitments
Evaluation & Research Lead, Community Mental Health & Well-Being Strategy/Department of Psychology
Adjunct Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education
Advisory team
Dr. Paul Arnold, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Affiliations: Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education
Josephine Adda, MSc, PMP
Affiliations: Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education
Dr. Georgina Dimitropoulos, MSW, PhD, RSW
Affiliations: Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education, O'Brien Institute for Public Health
Dr. Julia Hews-Girard, RN
Affiliations: Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education, Faculty of Nursing
Dr. Andrew Szeto, PhD
Affiliations: Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education, Faculty of Arts