group of students talking

U-Flourish: Student well-being research

Transitioning to university is an exciting but also stressful time for students. We are a collaborative group of university researchers and in partnership with students aim to understand more about how to best support student well-being and mental health at the University of Ottawa.

What's new

Save the date! The Fall 2022 U-Flourish Student Wellbeing Survey will be sent to the emails of randomly selected, fall entry, first year students on October 18th and be open until October 27th. Have your say by filling out the survey!

  • Check your uOttawa emails on October 18th to participate in this study.
  • Have your sayin the U-Flourish Student Well-Being and Academic Success Survey coming this September for a chance to win $1,000 off tuition or an iPad Air! Fill out this 20- minute survey to help develop resources to support student well-being.
  • The invitation link will be found in your student email.
  • Prizes include tuition credits of 1 x $1,000 or an iPad Air, 2 x $500 and 10 x $100, as well as several smaller prizes such as gift cards.

Transitioning to university is an exciting but also stressful time for students. We are a collaborative group of university researchers and in partnership with students aim to understand more about how to best support student well-being and mental health at the University of Ottawa. This research is led by collaborators at Queen’s University and involves other Canadian and UK universities, including  Oxford University, allowing us to compare needs and resources between institutions and countries.

U-flourish Survey

About us

We are a multi-disciplinary group of researchers who are trying to understand how best to support university student well-being and mental health.

Though the U-Flourish Research collaboration is in its first year running at uOttawa, it has been underway since 2018 and funded by various philanthropic organizations (Rossy Family and Mach Gaensslen Foundation) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research grants. In the UK this research has recently been funded by the Medical Research Council of Canada under the joint banner of U-Flourish and Nurture-U.

  • In September 2018, Queen’s University began the U-Flourish Student Well-being and Academic Success Survey Study to engage students in a conversation to understand why some first-year students flourish while others do not.
  • Since then, Queen’s has been running follow-up surveys every successive Fall and Winter term, and thousands of students have joined the conversation.
  • In 2020, Queen’s started to develop digital resources tools to support student well-being based on survey findings including a fully digital accredited mental health literacy course and a digital well-being App with signposting and links to indicated well-being resources and supports.
  • This research is scaling up across Canada and all first year incoming uOttawa students are invited to take part and Have Your Say. We are eager to embark on this journey with uOttawa students.
U-Flourish

U-Flourish research study

Well-being resources

Meet the team

Principal Investigator
Dr. Anne Duffy

Dr. Anne Duffy

  • Visiting Professor | Department of Psychiatry | University of Oxford
  • Professor | Department of Psychiatry
  • Acting Head | Division of Student Mental Health
  • Queen's University
  • Cote Sharp Student Wellness Centre
  • Mitchell Hall, Room 157
  • 69 Union Street
  • Kingston Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
  • Queen’s University is situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory
  • [email protected]
UOttawa Investigators
kristjansson-elizabeth-headshot.jpg

Dr. Elizabeth Kristjansson

  • University Advisor on Mental Health & Wellness  
  • School of Psychology                                          
  • Faculty of Social Sciences                                    
  • University of Ottawa                                  
  • [email protected]               
  • (613) 562-5800 (Ext. 2329)
UOttawa Investigators
Alain Stintzi

Prof. Alain Stintzi

  • Vice-Dean, Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies
  • Dep. of Biochemistry, Microbiology & Faculty of Medicine
  • University of Ottawa
  • [email protected]
  • (613) 562-5800 (Ext. 8216)
UOttawa Co-Investigators
owl

Jennifer Keays

  • Manager, Health Education, Promotion and Prevention
  • University of Ottawa
  • [email protected]
  • (613) 883-2022
UOttawa Co-Investigators
moose

Sonia Hajo

UOttawa Co-Investigators
Rachelle Clark

Rachelle Clark

UOttawa Co-Investigators
Dr. Patrick Leclair

Dr. Patrick Leclair

UOttawa Co-Investigators
squirrel

Manon Desgroseilliers

Contact Us

Email

For general inquiries regarding U-Flourish, please feel free to contact the study coordinator, Sonia Hajo at [email protected].

Social Media

Check out the uOttawa Health Promo Instagram page @uohealth.uosante