Over the past years it has become more and more clear that many people working in academia experience mental health issues. Factors like job insecurity, limited amount of time and poor management often cause high stress levels and can lead to mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety or emotional exhaustion. Following the EGU blog series ‘Mind your Head’ and the successful ECS Great Debate at the General Assembly in 2019, we aim to continue the dialogue and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.

In this short course we invite three panelists to share their experiences, how they dealt with it and what support they received. Afterwards we aim to actively engage the audience to discuss how to take control of their mental wellbeing and prioritise this in the current academic environment. We invite people from all career stages and disciplines to come and join us for this short course.

Public information:
This short course will be featured in the form of a webinar during the online EGU2020. We will host five panellists who will give short presentations about different topics within the theme of mental health, all from their own perspective. We will also take some time to discuss the effects of the current corona crisis on our mental health, and share some advice on how to manage yourself in these challenging times.

Speakers:
• Anne Pluymakers: Assistant Professor Experimental Fluid-Rock Interaction, TU Delft. Imposter syndrome (“I’m not good enough”).
• Christopher Jackson: Professor of Basin Analysis, Imperial College London. The importance of physical activity during stressful periods.
• Stephanie Zihms: Lecturer Researcher Development, University of the West of
Scotland. Adjusting to academic life with a chronical illness
• Jean Holloway: PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Ottawa. Overcoming anxiety.
• Joeri Tijdink: Psychiatrist and researcher, Amsterdam UMC. Research on researchers: An expert’s perspective.

Link to the webinar: https://youtu.be/kvbFDcEmx6U
For direct questions and comments contact us via elenora.vanrijsingen [at ] ens.fr