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Thank you for taking part in Time Point 1 of our survey!

Project title: Understanding students’ social experiences in the transition to university.

Ethical Clearance Reference Number: LRS/DP-22/23-39056

You have just taken part in a research project which forms part of the MRC funded U-Belong study into university students’ social experiences in the transition to university. Thank you for your time. Please see the information below for a recap on the purpose of the project, what will happen to your data, how you can withdraw from the study if you wish to, and where you can access support to help you in the transition to university.

We will be in touch via email in January/February to let you know when Time Point 2 of our U-Belong survey is ready for you to complete.

What is the purpose of the project?

The purpose of the project is to improve our understanding of the factors that contribute to first-year university students’ experiences of social connection at university, such as their sense of belonging and engagement with university life. With this knowledge, we hope to enable researchers and university leaders to build more socially supportive environments where all students feel like they belong.

 Incentives

Respondents who completed the survey at both time points will have the opportunity to enter a prize draw to win one of 10 shopping vouchers worth £100 each. All these vouchers will be won by people who participated in this online survey. Once the study is complete, everybody who entered the prize draw will be entered into the draw. One email address will be selected at random for each of the voucher prizes. The winner will be contacted via email. Please note that accepting a voucher (if you win the prize draw) does not negate your right to withdraw your data. Good luck!  

Data handling and confidentiality

Your data will be processed under the terms of UK data protection law (including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018). King’s College London has a responsibility to keep information collected about you safe and secure, and to ensure the integrity of research data. Specialist teams within King’s College London continually assess and ensure that data is held in the most appropriate and secure way.

Throughout the data collection and analysis period, your data will be pseudo-anonymised. This means that we will store your survey responses against an ID code. We will keep a separate file storing your email address against your ID code. This study is being run via Qualtrics, an online survey platform. Both the survey data and your email address are stored on the Qualtrics platform while we are collecting data. This data is only accessible to our research team.

The use of an ID code is necessary so that we can link the responses that you provide at the first and second time points of the survey together. The collection of your email address is necessary so that 1) we can inform you when Time Point 2 of the survey is available to complete, and 2) we can remove your survey data should you choose to withdraw from the study.

Your survey responses from Time Point 1 (September / October) will be removed from Qualtrics on November 11th in the year that you completed Time Point 1 of the survey. Your survey responses from Time Point 2 (January / February) and your email address will be removed from Qualtrics on March 11th in the year that you completed Time Point 2 of the survey.

Once removed from Qualtrics, your survey responses will be stored against your ID code in an encrypted excel file. Your email address will be stored against your ID code in a separate encrypted excel file. These excel files will be stored in a secure KCL SharePoint folder, only accessible to members of the research team.

All data that you provide will be treated confidentially. It will not be possible to identify you in any research outputs/publications. On 20th February in the year that you completed Time Point 2 of the survey, we will permanently delete your ID code from our records, thereby fully anonymising your survey data. In addition, we will remove the name of your university, replacing this with a number and in any publication arising from the data, specific university names will not be used. This further protects your anonymity.

By taking part in this research, you agreed to be re-contacted in the future by King’s College London researchers regarding this project. This is important to allow us to invite you to take part in Time Point 2 of the study.

You may have also opted in to being invited to participate in future studies of a similar nature. If you opted in, we will contact you if we run similar studies around the student university experience in the future.

If you indicated that you would like to be contacted by King’s College London researchers about participating in future, similar projects, we will retain your email address until 01/09/2028, or until you contact us to let us know that you would like your email address removed from our records (contact hannah.slack@kcl.ac.uk).

If you indicated that you do not wish to be contacted about future, similar research projects, we will permanently delete your email address from our records on March 11th in the year that you complete Time Point 2 of the survey.

In line with our commitment to open science, the fully anonymised data set will be archived and shared via a third-party organisation within the UK, namely, the UK Data Service. This will be done as soon as possible, and by October 3rd 2025 at the latest. This data will remain accessible indefinitely, so that other researchers may use this valuable data. Data on the UK Data Service is openly accessible for anyone to download and analyse. After the data has been archived, it will be deleted from the KCL SharePoint folder.

Data Protection Statement

If you would like more information about how your data will be processed under the terms of UK data protection laws, please visit the link below:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/support/research-ethics/kings-college-london-statement-on-use-of-personal-data-in-research

What if I change my mind about taking part? 

You are free to withdraw at any point. Withdrawing from the study will not affect you in any way.

After submitting the survey at Time Point 1 (September/October), you have until the 6th November of the same year to withdraw. After this date, the data from the Time Point 1 of the survey will be analysed, meaning that it will no longer be possible for you to withdraw your responses from the study.

If you would like to withdraw from Time Point 2 of the survey (January/February), you have until the 11th March of the same year in which to do so. After this date, the data from Time Point 2 of the survey will be analysed. Hence, it will no longer be possible for you to withdraw your responses from the study.

To withdraw, email Hannah Slack (hannah.slack@kcl.ac.uk) using the email address that you provided at Time Point 1 of the survey.

How is the project being funded?

This project is being funded by the Medical Research Council.  

What will happen to the results of the project?

The results of the project will be published in an openly accessible, peer-reviewed research publications and summarised for sector-facing reports to guide university policy and practice in Higher Education Institutions. The anonymised data set will be made publicly available via the UK Data Service.

Further advice and support

We recognise that the transition into university can be challenging for many students for many different reasons. There is lots of support available, please visit the following support organisations:

Student Space

Student Space, run by Student Minds, is here to support students to navigate the uncertainty of university life.

The platform works to support students in three ways:

  1. Information, tools and student stories on navigating student life

  2. Help students find what support is available at their university

  3. Signposting to dedicated support services

Whether you’re stressed about your studies, personal life, or if you have concerns about what university life will look like, you don’t have to struggle on your own.

Explore their dedicated support services, tips, tools and student stories to find the help you need. Student Space now has a dedicated area for support as you prepare for university.

Website: https://studentspace.org.uk/find-support  

Phone: 0808 808 4994

Email: students@themix.org.uk

Campaign Against Living Miserably

Mind

Nightline Association

Rethink Mental Illness

Samaritans

SHOUT

Who should I contact for further information?

If you have any questions or require more information about this project, please contact me using the following contact details: 

Hannah Slack, hannah.slack@kcl.ac.uk

What if I have further questions, or if something goes wrong?

If this project has harmed you in any way or if you wish to make a complaint about the conduct of the project you can contact King's College London using the details below for further advice and information:  

Chair of the Blue Research Ethics Sub-Committee rec@kcl.ac.uk

Research Ethics Office 3rd Floor, 5-11 Lavington Street London SE1 0NZ

If you are a University of Plymouth student and you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of this study, please contact Dr Sophie Homer in the first instance: Sophie.homer@plymouth.ac.uk

If your concerns are unresolved, you can use the contact details below for further advice and information:

Research Administrator, Faculty of Health Research Ethics and Integrity Committee, University of Plymouth, Level 2 Marine Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA Email: FOHEthics@plymouth.ac.uk

Thank you for taking part in this research.