SHINE, a new Scottish schools health and wellbeing research network was established by Professor Moore (having moved to the University of Glasgow) in collaboration with the University of St Andrews. SHINE began as a pilot study with funding from the Medical Research Council Mental Health Data Pathfinder Award led by Professor Daniel Smith. The aim was to bring together schools, health researchers and policymakers to support schools to collect and use high-quality health and wellbeing data to support targeted improvement planning in the school setting.

SHINE provides the first health data reports to member schools from the WHO-collaborative Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study and conducted case studies in 8 SHINE schools and 4 Local Authorities to explore how schools, who had participated in the 2018 HBSC survey, were using the school-level data reports created by SHINE to inform improvement planning. The results were published: Feasibility of using health and wellbeing data for school planning: the SHINE pilot in Scotland. Health Promotion International.

SHINE launches the SHINE online pupil mental health survey in response to requests from school members. This builds on the work completed using the data from the HBSC study  to provide data to help schools address their health and wellbeing priority needs and actions.

Colleagues at the University of Bristol led by Professor Rona Campbell and Professor Russ Jago established a South West Schools Health Research Network for secondary schools with the aim of providing research evidence to schools on how to support improvements in the health and wellbeing of young people.

SHINE receives an additional grant award from the Medical Research Council, which enabled us to offer development posts to three teachers to support the future development of SHINE.

The teachers joined the SHINE team as Development Officers on a part-time basis from August 2021 to March 2022. The blended working week facilitated a live and extended interaction between teachers in the school setting and researchers in the Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. This extended interaction between teachers and researchers facilitated many and varied opportunities for knowledge exchange and sharing good practice, culminating in a highly successful and productive period in SHINE’s development.

SHINE launches a Local Authority package for the SHINE Mental Health Survey due to demand. Five Local Authorities have full SHINE membership across all primary and secondary schools and use the survey to explore the mental health context for young people at school, cluster primary and Local Authority level.

In 2023, the SHINE team are delighted to move back to the University of Glasgow Campus into their new accommodation in the Clarice Pears Building on Byres Road. The move facilitates new research collaborations and opportunities to invite network members to events at the new School of Health and Wellbeing building.

The Co-Director of SHINE, Dr Jo Inchley, takes up a new post in the Mental Health and Wellbeing department within the School of Health and Wellbeing. The SHINE team prepares for the transition to working as part of the wider School of Health and Wellbeing as the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, which hosted SHINE for 6 years, closes in March 2025.

The Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, where SHINE has been hosted since 2018, closes on the 30th June 2025. The SHINE team moves to Level 2 in the Clarice Pears Building to be part of Mental Health and Wellbeing, still within the School of Health and Wellbeing. Moving away from the core Medical Research Council funding, SHINE is now funded by a hybrid mix of research grant funding and Local Authority contracts.

The SHINE team celebrate their 8th year of existence with a month-long exhibition in May 2026 in the Byres Community Hub on Level 1 of the Clarice Pears Building. The “Spotlight on SHINE” exhibition showcases the development of the network infrastructure, the SHINE Mental Health Survey success, The Addressing Barriers to School Attendance to Improve Long-term outcomes (ABSAIL) project and the many affiliated SHINE projects with illustrative posters and quotes from SHINE schools and partners.

The Director of SHINE, Jo Inchley, is promoted to Professor of Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow School of Health and Wellbeing.

This well-deserved recognition celebrates Jo’s impressive contribution to child and adolescent mental health research and the role of schools in health improvement, drawing on socio-ecological and systems perspectives both nationally and internationally.