Mental Spaces, Well-Being, and Belonging In Higher Education: Global Perspectives on International and Marginalised Students

Higher education across the world is shaped by profound social, economic, and political transformations. Economic uncertainty, technological change, migration, widening inequalities, climate concerns, global crises are reshaping how students learn, interact, and imagine their futures (Beck, 1992). These developments have intensified attention to mental health, well-being, belonging, and inclusion in higher education. However, mental health challenges are unevenly distributed, as students from marginalised backgrounds often face additional pressures affecting emotional well-being and belonging (Lee, Brooks and Abrahams, 2024).

This session invites sociological work on mental health, well-being, and belonging in higher education, focusing on mental space and how students construct selfhood, relationships, and futures within unequal institutions. Universities are both learning sites and social environments where identities are formed and inclusion and exclusion are experienced.

Recent research highlights anxiety, stress, loneliness, and belonging as key dimensions of student life (Bamber and Morpeth, 2019). Other studies show how caste, mental health, and self-harm among Dalit students reflect structural inequality and emotional suffering (Bhoi, 2025). Together, these works show that mental health must be understood through power and inequality.

We welcome papers on intersecting inequalities including class, caste, race, gender, disability, and migration, and on themes such as student well-being, academic anxiety, loneliness, belonging, digital learning, resilience, and institutional responses. The session aims to deepen sociological debate on mental health and reimagine universities as inclusive and equitable spaces.

Abstracts must not exceed 300 words and may be submitted in English. This session welcomes submissions from all regions and from global scholarly community.