Using health and well-being data to support improvements in mental health in schools 

Welcome to the SHINE February 2026 Newsletter

• SHINE National Conference 2026 - registration by invitation opens 27th February
• HBSC 2026 Invitation to schools to participate in the study
• Webinar    
  • Lunchtime 16th March: Long Covid and front line work: Insights from teaching, nursing, ambulance and policing
• Wider research opportunities for schools
  • Reading research - improving reading outcomes through intelligent digital solutions - seeking consultation with secondary schools
  • Youth Link - supporting young people to have their say on vaccinations
  • Languages 1+2 policy - please support an independent evaluation by ensuring that language teachers' views are heard

SHINE Annual National Network Event 2026

The 7th SHINE annual networking event for members of SHINE will bring together health researchers and school communities to share learning and practice. Attendance is by invitation only. Registration invitations will be emailed out on Friday 27th February to members and associates. Please check your inbox to register. 

Confirmed presenters include:

• Professor Caroline Bond,  University of Manchester Institute of Education (National research overview)

• Andy Smith, Spectrum Gaming (5 things young people tell us about Barriers to Education)

• Dr Jo Inchley & Zara Treharne, School of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow (Findings from the ABSAIL project)

• Local Authority Case Study: Educational Psychology team, City of Edinburgh Council (EBSNA Toolkit)

• Local Authority Case Study: Educational Psychologist, Argyll and Bute (ANA model)

• Dr Sam Ofili, School of Health & Wellbeing, University of Glasgow (Inequalities: gender)

• Dr Jason Lang, Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow (Inequalities: neurodiversity)

Throughout the day we will hear from researchers and practitioners working in the field of emotionally-based school non-attendance. Delegates will learn more about research findings, practice examples, case studies and inequalities for vulnerable cohorts related to EBSNA. There will also be opportunities to participate in interactive sessions to co-produce support materials for schools. We hope to see you there!

HBSC study: last call for school participants

The HBSC team are still recruiting for the  HBSC 2026 survey! If you are interested in taking part, please contact the Project Manager at Judith.Brown@glasgow.ac.uk 

Each participating school will receive their own school HBSC report with aggregate data (subject to minimum pupil number requirements) to help inform health improvement planning. Participating schools should check their inbox as survey packs have been emailed out. We request that secondary schools complete the survey by the end of March. Primary schools should get in touch if they would like an extension into the summer term

The HBSC survey has provided reliable, national HWB data results to practitioners working with young people since the1990's; covering key topics such as physical activity, social media use and gaming, bullying, sleep, vaping and mental health.

Thanks to schools' participation over the last 40 years, young people's voices have helped to shape policy, leading to real-world impact by reducing health inequalities and driving health improvements. See below an example of how HBSC data are used to monitor and provide evidence of trends:

Webinar

Wider Research Opportunities for Schools

Invitation for expression of interest in reading research (pending UKRI funding approval)

Seeking secondary school pupils (ages 11-15) and their teachers to participate in either Phase 1 OR Phase 2 of our reading research.

We are developing reading apps for tablet devices to dynamically guide readers’ eyes through text. The apps can be calibrated to each person’s preferences in terms of speed and layout.

Phase 1: Co-design workshops to refine interface features of tablet-based reading technologies.

Phase 2: 6-week loan of tablets with on-board reading-support apps, age-appropriate reading materials and comprehension questions. The type of reading app selected, speed settings, comprehension accuracy, and usage is recorded. A standard reading test is administered before and after the intervention.

 YouthLink Scotland, has been funded by Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland to explore why some young people have missed some vaccinations/ vaccination appointments. We know fewer young people are having vaccines and inequalities are widening between some population groups.

 We want to hear from young people aged 11-18 years across Scotland to help us understand how young people make decisions about having a vaccine and what improvements could be made to vaccination information and services. It will take less than 10 minutes to complete the survey. Young people will receive 150 Young Scot Reward points for completing the survey.

 Different vaccines are offered throughout our lives. This survey focuses on vaccines for young people that are given around the ages of 11-14 years old.  These vaccines are offered to all young people in secondary school.  Young people who are home-educated or not attending mainstream education are also eligible and can get the vaccines from their local NHS immunisation team. Find more info here.

 The results of this study will help inform decisions about what improvements could be made to vaccination information and services.

 Please support young people to complete the survey here by Friday 6th March

 If you have any questions about this research please contact Dr Amy Calder from YouthLink Scotland acalder@youthlink.scot

An independent evaluation of the Scottish Government’s 1+2 Languages Policy.  Please spread the word and forward to your modern languages departments.  Looking to hear from primary or secondary language teachers in the following Local Authorities:

• Fife
• Glasgow
• Highlands
• South Ayrshire

Teachers can share their views by completing the relevant survey below:

Primary Teacher Survey
https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/stirling/primary-teacher-survey-language-learning 

Secondary Language Teacher Survey
https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/stirling/secondary-teacher-survey-1-2 

All the best,

The SHINE Team

Dawn Haughton
Schools Health and Wellbeing Improvement Research Network (SHINE) Manager

E-mail:  Dawn.Haughton@glasgow.ac.uk
Web:      www.gla.ac.uk/shine
Twitter: @ScotlandSHINE