Engineering Mental Wellbeing

This is a copy and paste of a blog I wrote for the Engineering Professors Council:  Guest blog: Time to Reflect on the Wellbeing of our Engineers (epc.ac.uk) When I am asked about the topic of my PhD I have noticed the responses are interesting. Engineers for the most part look puzzled, and wonder why I might think this is worthy of investigation. Some even show signs of annoyance that this is even a thing. Non-engineers on the other hand, their eyes open wider in fascination and regale me with tales of the (not so positive) habits of the engineers they know.   I am studying the mental wellbeing of engineering students. I believe there is something wrong with how we approach this topic in engineering education in relation to future engineers. In fact, it appears we don’t really approach it at all. I was a geologist by trade before I entered engineering academia, teaching drilling engineering students. Nearly 20 years later, I look after the teaching, learning and student exper...

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece for a local paper, figured it might as well be added to this blog:) What comes to mind when you think of the word engineering? People tend to imagine an engine when we ask, and this is part of the problem engineering is facing. This traditional view of engineering is something   to forget when talking to kids. This is because we need to inspire curiosity and engagement in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects while our children are young if we have any chance of gender balancing the disciplines and addressing skills needs. In Aberdeen, young people may typically associate engineering with the oil and gas industry. To ensure we attract the talent that our country needs we should help them to see the wider engineering picture, beyond the industry familiar to our city. Instead, let’s tell them that engineering is about solving problems using scientific principles and processes and is absolutely vital in addressing global chall...

 One of the first things people ask (if they ask) is why am I studying a health topic? My background is in geology and engineering education, and its not easy to just jump disciplines. The thing is I've noticed over the years that engineering students (and engineers) are really weird. Belated gross generalisation alert. What's weird to me is that engineering courses are famously stressy affairs, with loads of time-based assessments and tons of deadlines. Yet we  don't see regular meltdowns or requests for counselling. What I was unknowingly observing was delayed help-seeking in a population perceived to be at risk. I didn't know these terms before I started studying but that's really what it came down to.  As a personal tutor I had already participated in a mental health first aid course, but an opportunity came up to undertake ASIST (applied suicide intervention skills training) at the university where I work. The others were mostly graduating midwives but there wa...

 I’m starting this blog to help me collate, collect, reflect on and generally document my PhD journey. I’m actually quite some way into this now, which is quite strange but now is as good a time as any.  I started my PhD which I’m undertaking part time in October 2017. It’s shifted a little in terms of focus but essentially I’m looking at the mental wellbeing of engineering students. I’ve completed a postgraduate certificate in research methods along the way and also passed my transfer viva, a 2 hour oral exam of my work so far and completed my data collection. I’ve conducted a survey on over 400 engineering students across the UK and interviewed 28 of them. I carried out a systematic scoping review with my supervisory team to help me get a handle on the existing literature, of which there isn’t much. I’ve presented some of my work via webinar for the Engineering Professors Council and had a poster accepted for a European conference.  At the moment I am trying to work up ...