Towards the creation of healthier academic environments in the European Research Area: mental health and well-being among early-stage researchers

The silence around what has come to be known as the 'mental health crisis in academia' (Bal et al., 2019) has been broken through the recent publication of a series of studies highlighting the dire state of mental health in European Academia (e.g., Guthrie et al., 2018; Kafedjiska et al., 2022 Leveceque et al., 2017; Mattijssen et al. 2021). To illustrate but one example, the survey by Levecque et al. (2017), showed that about one third of PhD candidates in Flanders are at risk of developing a psychiatric disorder (such as clinical depression), and that this number is significantly higher than found in comparable samples of equally highly educated students and members of the general population. These findings have instigated much debate about mental health issues among early-career researchers in Europe.

In seeking to address this crisis, instead of the knee-jerk and unjustified 'blaming the victim', that is a common first response to serious issues being identified, to realise real change it is critical that the systemic root causes of mental health issues within the research community are identified and addressed. A very timely intervention from stakeholders within the UK, the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers, has for instance incorporated mental health as a major red thread for guiding stakeholder's roles and responsibilities. Such actions provide a roadmap for a collective responsibility for the well-being of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) within the research environment. The aim of this chapter is to place the Third Half training in its broader European context, and to point out how those benefiting from this unique training program, may play a larger role in realising meaningful change, not only intra-individually, but also at the institutional and community levels.