According to a comparison of different occupational groups, academics rank among those with the highest levels of common mental problems: the prevalence of common psychological disorders estimated to be between 32% and 42% among academic employees and postgraduate students, compared to approximately 19% in the general population (Levecque, K. et.al.,2017). The recently experienced worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has also had significant effects on the working conditions in academia related to research, teaching and learning activities, worsening the pre-existing problem. There is significant literature on how researchers, in general, and early career researchers (ECR) in particular, are affected by the pandemic in terms of their research activity and environments, (academic) career development and prospects, and mental health and well-being. There are some reports which showed increase in job-loss fears, interrupted research and anxiety about the future (Woolston, 2020a) and seeking exit plans for leaving academia due to conditions caused by the pandemic (Woolston, 2020b).

The 2021 OECD report on research precarity, examining the policies and practices used to attract the most talented to improve quality of science, highlighted the worsening working conditions of postdoctoral researchers and their detrimental effects on researcher’s well-being encouraging stakeholders to quickly implement actions to prevent a loss of research talent, emphasizing the importance of stengthening the well-being of researchers. In line with this, the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2013), the International Labour Organisation (ILO, 2017), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2021) and the European Commission (EC) have increasingly endorsed governments and organizations to include mental health among their top priorities in the past decade. Many European countries and higher education and research institutions are taking these concerns seriously and have been taking measures to both provide support and to put in place policies to address well being and mental health of researchers. While some countries are slowly developing policies and support infrastructures, there are others who have well established policies in place along with effective support initiatives and practices.  Across Europe, under Cost-REMO Researcher Mental Health Cost Action, work is conducted related to the data based determination of well-being and mental health of researchers, identification and dissemination of best practices and raising awareness among policy makers.

Particularly, the Action has built an international network of researchers from 41 European countries and several outside Europe to promote wellbeing and mental health within the research environment. The Researcher Mental Health and Well-Being Manifesto (2021) calls on stakeholders to act to foster mental health and wellbeing, reduce mental health stigma, and empower researchers to ensure well-being in their workplace. ReMO has built a network of researchers, practitioners and institutional stakeholders that support the objectives of the Manifesto through designing actions and initiatives to achieve impact at the policy, institutional, community and individual levels. As part of this work  ReMO Cost Action has been coordinating a set of national briefs providing a background descriptionof the mental health and careers situation of researchers within national research environments throughout Europe to help offer critical reflections on how to leverage pan-European networks to advance dialogue on mental health and wellbeing policy across academia at all four levels identified above. With this panel discussion we aim to provide an opportunity to start the much needed conversation on policies and practices in place or lack thereof in relation to researchers’ well-being and mental health across Europe and within theEuropean Educational Research Association community. For the purposes of the panel discussion policy briefs from 4 different countries, namely Germany, Türkiye, Macedonia and Montenegro which differ from each other in significant ways will be presented to start the conversation on researcher well-being and mental health across Europe.

ILO. (2017). Mental Health in the workplace. Kismihók, G. et al. (2021). Researcher Mental Health and Well-being Manifesto. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5788557 Levecque, K., et.al. (2017). Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Research Policy,46(4), 868-879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.02.008 OECD. (2021). Reducing the precarity of academic research careers. https://doi.org/10.1787/0f8bd468-en WHO. ‎(2013)‎. “Investing in mental health: evidence for action”. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/87232 Woolston, C. (2020a). Pandemic darkens postdoc’s work and career hopes. Nature, 585, 309–312. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02548-2 Woolston, C. (2020b). Seeking an'exit plan'for leaving academia amid coronavirus worries. Nature, 583(7817), 645-647. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02029-6