A participatory cross-campus investigation of sensory environments and student wellbeing in European universities, funded by the 10th EUniWell Seed Funding Call.
Why it matters
Noisy classrooms, crowded study halls and sudden changes in stimulation make it harder to concentrate, manage stress and stay engaged. This affects every student, and it affects neurodivergent students more.
Some spaces become so hard to use that students avoid them. Over time this can lead to isolation and a worse university experience.
Campus sensory environments are still largely unmapped, and there is no shared European method to study them in real time.
Four objectives
- Set a baseline of sensory conditions on four campuses with questionnaires.
- Record real-time sensory experiences in study and social spaces during campus visits.
- Find common patterns and campus differences that shape student wellbeing.
- Turn findings into Campus Improvement Proposals and an open protocol.
The project in numbers
4
EUniWell campuses
32
student researchers
160
students answering GSQ and SPUN
~1,300
SENS-E ratings of real spaces
Three tools
SPUN
Sensory Processing in University · new
A 10-item questionnaire on sensory processing in university settings, developed at the University of Florence together with student researchers.
SENS-E
Momentary assessment app · new
Short prompts on phone, tablet or computer ask how you feel, which sensory channels bother you and how the space could improve.
GSQ
Glasgow Sensory Questionnaire · existing
A validated questionnaire on sensory sensitivity (Robertson & Simmons, 2013), used to describe each participant’s sensory profile.
All three run on formr, an open-source survey platform. Data are anonymised at source.
What we will publish
- An open dataset on sensory profiles and space ratings from four universities, on OSF.
- The SPUN and SENS-E tools and the full protocol, under a Creative Commons licence.
- A Campus Improvement Proposal for each university.
- The Virtual Prototype Study Room, a model of a sensory-accessible study space designed with the Department of Architecture (DiDA) in Florence.
Part of EUniWell
SENSE-WELL belongs to two EUniWell thematic arenas: Health and Well-Being and Social Equality and Well-Being. Students are co-researchers for the whole cycle, from building the tools to designing the improvements.