Prof Paul Behrens (Oxford), Reapra Senior Research Fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre, shared findings on the implications of climate change on wellbeing at the latest of the Wellbeing Research Centre’s Seminar Series.
His research includes an overview of major integrated environment–society–economy (ESE) models, and how they all fail to account for human wellbeing.
Watch the full presentation on the Centre’s YouTube channel.
Sachintha Fernando (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) presented findings on climate worries at the latest of the Wellbeing Research Centre’s Seminar Series.
Her research compares levels of worry about unemployment and climate change, and the capacity for people to care about more than one issue from their ‘finite pool of worry’.
Watch the full presentation on the Centre’s YouTube channel.
Annegeke Jansen (Leiden), Reapra Research Associate at the Wellbeing Research Centre, shared findings on alternatives to GDP at the latest of the Wellbeing Research Centre’s Seminar Series.
Her research includes a high-level synthesis of multiple Beyond GDP measures, accounting for sustainable development and other important dimensions not captured within Gross Domestic Product figures.
Watch the full presentation on the Centre’s YouTube channel.
An interdisciplinary team from the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with the IB, have published a set of resources on five important wellbeing themes for students, teachers, and schools. The topics covered include:
Researchers examined hundreds of peer-reviewed studies of wellbeing support in schools in order to identify some of the most promising evidence-based interventions.
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving wellbeing in schools, the team have highlighted interventions which have been shown to boost levels of wellbeing in specific circumstances. They range from large-scale interventions trialled across countries, to smaller actions rolled out at a more local scale.
Resources are available both in a summary format (in English, French, and Spanish) and, for readers seeking further insight, as a number of detailed literature reviews (in English). An overview poster with key findings from all five reports, suitable for display in the classroom, is also available to download in English, French, and Spanish.
The mini reports serve as companion resources to two Wellbeing Research Centre reports previously published in partnership with the IB: Wellbeing in Education in Childhood and Adolescence (2022), and Wellbeing for Schoolteachers (2024).
Dr Laura Taylor, Deputy Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, said: “Each child and each school environment is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving wellbeing in schools. We highlight how school leaders can use research evidence, alongside crucial elements like staff and student voice activities, in order to support the wellbeing of their school community.”
All five research reports, plus further resources for schools, can be found at wellbeing.hmc.ox.ac.uk/schools.
Researchers from the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England at the University of Cambridge, University of East Anglia, and the University of Hertfordshire, reviewed existing evidence of human-centred design and digital transformation in the context of the NHS’s strained mental health provision.
The UK is not alone in facing growing demands for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health conditions. Increased waiting lists and prolonged referral times suggest funding and infrastructure are struggling to keep up with demand.
Digital transformation of the NHS and other linked services (both public and private sector) has long been touted as a solution to many of these problems.
The concept of human-centred design originated in the fields of computer science, engineering and ergonomics and is defined in this context by the authors as:
“a practical, iterative approach to the design, development and reform of mental health systems, services and products that is achieved through communication, interaction and empathy with users’ needs, desires and experiences”
Adopting such principles is designed to guide value and wellbeing creation in the delivery of products, systems, and services.
Using a human-centred approach in the design of new and existing digital mental health services could, according to the authors, enable greater responsiveness to patient needs and therefore improve patient outcomes.
The authors also highlight four specific UK policy recommendations:
Dr William Fleming, a Research Fellow at the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, and corresponding author of the new paper, said: “The digital transformation of our health services is already happening in a race to meet demand. But we can’t just assume the right answer is digital. We need any change to include the individuals who rely on these services as well as those who work to provide them.”
Diane Pochard, a co-author on the paper and, at the time of writing, a digital transformation lead within the Department for Health and Social Care, added: “Years of stretched capacity, rising demand, constant reorganisations, chronic underfunding and funding volatility have left our healthcare system in perpetual recovery mode with users’ needs lost in translation.
“As we are rushing to implement AI across frontline services we must apply the lessons learned from past digital transformation efforts – particularly the critical importance of user-centeredness. We cannot tech our way out of our dysfunctional system. The solution isn’t more technology, but a system where we consistently prioritise user value and where technology is an enabler.”
‘Human-Centered Design and Digital Transformation of Mental Health Services’ is published in the journal JMIR Human Factors.
Prof Chris Barrington-Leigh (McGill) shared findings from a comparison of multiple international wellbeing scales at the latest of the Wellbeing Research Centre’s Seminar Series.
His research examines the comparability of various global datasets as well as the issue of focal values in subjective responses.
Watch the full presentation on the Centre’s YouTube channel.
Dr Florencio Portocarrero (LSE) presented findings from a field experiment on employee volunteering at the latest of the Wellbeing Research Centre’s Seminar Series.
He examined the knock-on effects of an employee volunteering intervention on both levels of wellbeing as well as other indicators of company performance, including levels of employee engagement and retention.
Watch the full presentation on the Centre’s YouTube channel.
Prof Victoria Reyes García (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) shared findings on subjective wellbeing among small-scale societies at the latest of the Wellbeing Research Centre’s Seminar Series.
Her work examines the levels of, and factors to support, life satisfaction and other measures of subjective wellbeing among indigenous peoples and local communities across 19 globally distributed sites.
Watch the full presentation on the Centre’s YouTube channel.
