Research

Sexual violence remains a critical risk to student safety and wellbeing, and this Australian study demonstrates the potential of scalable digital interventions to address it. Led by researchers at The University of Queensland, the study evaluated a university-wide online module focused on consent, bystander intervention, and responding to disclosures. The results showed meaningful improvements in […]

Australian university students are at a life stage where sexual health risks are higher, yet many are not accessing the services designed to support them. This large Australian study, led by researchers from The University of Queensland with collaboration from multiple institutions, surveyed 4,291 students across five universities to understand how and why students use […]

Alcohol advertising on social media is a constant presence for young Australian university students, raising concerns about how online environments may normalise drinking and influence risky alcohol behaviours. In a University of Queensland study, 125 students aged 17–24 scrolled Facebook or Instagram for 30 minutes and recorded every alcohol ad they saw. On average, students […]

Students are at an increased risk of experiencing mental health challenges during the transition to university, a period that can also negatively impact their diet quality. This systematic review, inclusive of existing international studies, aimed to investigate the relationship between student eating habits and their mental wellbeing. The findings reported that students with healthier diets […]

Many university students have limited nutrition knowledge, which can contribute to poor dietary habits and increased long-term health risks. This research was undertaken to investigate whether improving students’ understanding of nutrition translates into healthier food choices. Researchers conducted a scoping review, synthesising findings from a range of international studies that examined the relationship between nutrition […]

Video gaming is highly prevalent among university students, yet its health associations remain poorly understood. Researchers surveyed university students in Western Australia, examining gaming behaviours alongside key indicators of wellbeing, including diet quality, physical activity, sleep, and stress. The findings indicate that higher levels of gaming are associated with poorer diet quality, reduced physical activity, […]

Gender-based violence (GBV) continues to present a significant challenge across higher education, with serious implications for student safety, wellbeing and participation in campus life. Universities are increasingly expected to take a proactive, whole-of-institution approach to preventing and responding to GBV, including within co-curricular environments such as sport, where large numbers of students engage socially and […]

University students often face high stress and long periods of sedentary study, yet little is known about how daily physical activity influences their stress and academic functioning. This research explored how leisure-time exercise and short activity breaks relate to stress, recovery and perceived study performance among 57 university students over a ten-day home-study period. The […]

The transition into university is a period of major lifestyle change, yet limited evidence has tracked how student health behaviours and mental wellbeing are shifting over time. This research examined trends in diet, physical activity, sleep, sedentary behaviour and substance use, alongside psychological distress, in first-year Australian university students across four cohorts from 2016 to […]

Food insecurity is an increasing issue in Australian higher education, yet its broader impact on student wellbeing is still not well understood. This research investigated how food insecurity, diet quality, physical activity and social connectedness relate to depressive symptoms in 145 University of Canberra students, using validated measures to capture post-pandemic health and wellbeing patterns. […]