StudyWell: Student Well-Being Initiative

Scientific insight. Practical impact. Student well-being at the centre.

At StudyWell, we believe research should do more than inform, it should empower. We are committed to building healthier, more supportive university experiences through collaboration, innovation, and evidence-based practice.

What is the StudyWell Initiative?

StudyWell is a specialised research initiative within Management Cybernetics, a collaborative research entity formed between the Faculty of Economic and Management Science and the Faculty of Engineering at the North-West University.

We aim to design a research-informed system that monitors and supports university students’ well-being. Through rigorous data analysis and applied research, we aim to deliver actionable insights that strengthen institutional support and academic success. By applying advanced research methodologies, we aim to generate practical, actionable insights that inform and improve the student experience across academic and support environments.

Our Focus

At StudyWell, we are committed to developing real-time, evidence-based tools and strategies that will enable the North-West University to proactively support student well-being. Our work is grounded in the Study Demands-Resources (SD-R) theory, a framework that helps us understand how the interaction between various demands, resources and individual behaviours influences students' well-being and performance. This theory enables us to more effectively assess and support the needs of both students and institutional stakeholders, ensuring our solutions are both student-centred and institutionally responsive.

Our Approach

Multidisciplinary, practice-integrated research and stakeholder collaboration.

StudyWell is built on a multidisciplinary, research- and practice-integrated approach, grounded in organisational psychology and enriched through close collaboration with experts from diverse fields, including organisational psychology, engineering, statistics, and deep machine learning.
By working closely with international organisational psychology researchers and multiple university stakeholders, such as management and student support structures, StudyWell fosters resource sharing and capability enhancement to drive impactful research and practical solutions. Our approach is agile, adaptive, and deeply collaborative. From identifying emerging student needs to deploying responsive interventions, we remain closely aligned with the realities of student life and the institution's strategic goals.

Setting StudyWell apart is our commitment to contextualised and embedded research, shaped by and for the South African higher education landscape. Our work reflects the unique cultural, institutional, and systemic factors that shape student experiences, making our insights both meaningful and applicable. Furthermore, our partnerships with local stakeholders and practitioners ensure that our work is not only theoretically sound but also practically relevant and culturally informed. From data to delivery, we turn insights into action, supporting a university culture that actively promotes well-being.

Through partnerships with international thought leaders in organisational psychology and a wide range of institutional stakeholders, including student support services, faculty members, and institutional leadership, we foster resource sharing, capability building, and co-creating tools that make a tangible impact.