How do students experience and respond to mental health and psychosocial challenges — and what happens when they seek support?

My research explores how International Chinese Students and UK Home Students at Durham University experience and make sense of anxiety in the context of difficult life experiences, how they cope and draw on different resources, and what shapes whether, when, and how they seek support.

I am particularly interested in how culture and context shape these processes, including how students navigate and engage with multi-layered support ecosystems, spanning informal networks, university-wide mental health and wellbeing provision, departmental and collegiate support, and external health and support services.

By bringing together student and staff perspectives, I examine how students experience and navigate support and how institutions understand and respond to students' needs — where these perspectives align, where gaps emerge, and how these insights can inform culturally responsive guidance for improving student mental health and support provision in higher education.