Written by Cori Howard, Stephanie Fan and William Capon
As part of its inaugural round of activities, from March 21 to April 5, 2025 the Inlight Global Student Exchange Program brought together graduate students from around the world to engage in meaningful dialogue about post-secondary student mental health and wellness. Doctorate and master’s students from universities across four continents, North America, Asia, Europe, and Australia, shared critical research ideas and forged lasting collaborations. This blog post weaves together insights from three participants, each offering a unique perspective on the experience, highlighting the program’s impact on fostering innovation and global connections in postsecondary mental health research.
The program began in Vancouver with the GlobalCampus Summit, a consensus-building event that brought together students, faculty, and staff in Vancouver, Canada, to strengthen international collaboration in postsecondary student mental health research. Exchange students then travelled to the University of Toronto for a 2-week visit with research groups relevant to their areas of research. While at UofT students also participated in a program of activities organized by Inlight and designed to introduce them to the unique characteristics of the UofT campus environment, as well as programs related to post-secondary student mental health and well-being.
What activities did we engage in for the Inlight Exchange Program?
The Inlight Global Exchange program allowed me to partake in opportunities to connect with and learn from University of Toronto and professionals worldwide working on mental health and wellness services. As global exchange students, we had the unique opportunity to be able to meet and connect with a diverse set of individuals working within the field of post-secondary student mental health and wellness. From partaking in a workshop on developing a community of practice with researchers from all around the world, connecting with staff working on student health and wellness initiatives at the University of Toronto, to joining a speaker series event at CAMH, I was able to broaden my perspectives on the research conducted to promote post-secondary student mental health.
Furthermore, the opportunity allowed me to be able to engage in conversations on current ongoing research conducted by Professor Chloe Hamza and her team of graduate students in the Coping, Affect, Resilience in Education (CARE) lab. Not only was I able to understand the current research being conducted on an individual scale, I was also able to engage in conversations surrounding research and initiatives occurring on a community level.
What were the highlights?
The program began in Vancouver with the launch of the Global Community of Practice (CoP). Across a series of sessions and discussions, students, researchers, and faculty worked together to identify key priorities for advancing postsecondary mental health research globally. We lay a foundation for a stronger and more connected global research community through a collaborative workshop on the University of British Columbia campus.
In Toronto, we visited the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) — Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital and one of the world’s leading research centres. Meeting with researchers and learning about their ongoing trials, such as the TAY study, offered incredible insight into how health service delivery and research can be meaningfully integrated.
The key highlight of the program was the opportunity to be able to meet and connect with a diverse set of researchers and experts in their field of work. It was an absolute pleasure being able to not only connect with research on an intellectual level through discussions surrounding ongoing research projects and ideas, but also connect with research on a humanistic level. Being able to hear the stories and trajectories of people within the field and their passion for what they do is an extremely inspiring experience as someone who just started in their field.
Cultural Insights: The University of Toronto’s commitment to Indigenous student support was particularly interesting. The Talk and Tour led by Dr. Lauren Brown of the Multi-Faith center, emphasized the importance of integrating Indigenous spaces and perspectives into academic research and highlighted the university’s efforts in fostering a supportive environment for Indigenous students. The focus on community-driven research, particularly in mental health and wellness, demonstrated the university’s dedication to promoting inclusive and culturally responsive education.
What Key Learnings will you take away from this experience?
The major thing I learned on this Global Exchange is the importance of global collaboration and the exchange of ideas. There are so many people working together to conduct necessary and important research within the field of student mental health worldwide. Each individual may focus on examining health from a different lens, but all of us can learn from each other.
Shared Challenges, Innovative Solutions: Across the world, youth mental health services are facing similar many of the same challenges, including difficulty in improving access, integrating technology, improving assessment. This exchange taught me that there are many answers to the same problem, though combining them might sometimes be the strongest solution.
The Power of Connection: Beyond the content, my greatest takeaway on this trip was the connections I formed. It was powerful to step out of my own silo, halfway across the world, and to find researchers who share my passions (and challenges) for improving a better mental health care system. It reinforced the idea that research thrives on relationships for effective collaboration, genuine openness, and mutual curiosity.
How Will It Shape Future Work?
Participating in the 2025 GlobalCampus Summit and the Global Exchange Program at the University of Toronto greatly expanded my perspective on interdisciplinary collaboration and academic networking. Through a series of speaker sessions, workshops, and one-on-one interactions with researchers and practitioners from various fields, I gained valuable insights, and relationships, that will influence my future work in mental health in academic settings. The program’s focus on mental health and wellness directly aligns with my research interests. I believe these sessions will continue to enhance my approach to integrating community-driven mental health strategies into my own academic and career pursuits. The networking opportunities, including coffee chats with peers and mentors, provided a platform to discuss ongoing challenges and innovative solutions, which will undoubtedly enrich my professional development. These important conversations were even more evident at the GlobalCampus Summit. The brief time together highlighted the need for international collaboration in student mental health research. The establishment of a Community of Practice will provide a foundation for ongoing knowledge exchange and collaborative research opportunities for current and future researchers that I hope to engage in.
Going forward, I am more committed than ever to pursuing research that bridges disciplines, institutions, and continents. I hope (and expect) to continue to contribute to global conversations on youth mental health through ongoing collaboration with the community of passionate researchers I met through this program.
