Staff profile

Michael Priestley [he/him] joined the School of Education at Durham University as a Lecturer in 2024. Michael teaches on a range of modules across the BA and MA Education Studies programmes. Prior to this, Michael worked as a Research Associate at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience. Michael also completed a PhD, MA, and BA at Durham University School of Education between 2013 and 2022.

 

Michael’s primary research interests and expertise relate to student mental health and wellbeing at university, postmodern educational philosophy, and critical educational psychology. Michael’s research to date spans interdisciplinary and participatory mental health theory, methods, and practice, integrating educational philosophy, political sociology, and health psychology to develop recommendations for a whole university approach to mental health in a neoliberal context. Michael applies his research to collaborate with third sector organisations including the Charlie Waller Trust and Student Minds, where he works freelance as Youth Involvement Coordinator and Assessor for the University Mental Health Charter respectively.

• 2024: SMaRteN Annual Conference: Invited plenary speaker at UKRI Student Mental Health Research Network [SMaRteN] Conference
• 2023: Independent Higher Education Annual Conference: Invited speaker at Independent Higher Education Annual Conference
• 2023: Universities UK Conference: Invited speaker at Universities UK Mental Health in Higher Education Conference
• 2021: Advance HE Conference: Advance HE Student Mental Health Conference
• 2020: Times Higher Education: Invited speaker at Times Higher Education Live Awards
• 2019: Student Minds Advisory Committee : Member of the Student Minds Student Advisory Committee

Conference Paper

• Priestley, M. (2019, December). Sick of Study: Student mental ‘illness’ and neoliberal higher education policy. Presented at Imagining Better Education, Durham, England

Journal Article

• Priestley, M., Slack, H. R., Islam, M. M., Fuhrmann, D., Long, E., Crook, S., Foster, J., Homer, S., & Byrom, N. (online). “No One Told You Life Was Gonna Be This Way”: A Qualitative Exploration of Friendship Expectations and Reality in University Life. Journal of Adolescence, https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12489
• Rakow, K. E., Priestley, M., Byrom, N. C., Foster, J. L. H., & Dommett, E. J. (online). Their wellbeing affects our wellbeing: student perspectives of lecturer wellbeing and its consequences for student wellbeing. Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-024-01365-0
• Byrom, N., Pointon-Haas, J., Upsher, R., Iorfino, F., McKenna, S., McCann, E., Priestley, M., Slack, H. R., & Cleverley, K. (2025). An Argument for More High-Quality Research Focused on Mental Health in the Post-Secondary Context. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 19(2), Article e70002. https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.70002
• Hughes, G., Priestley, M., & Spanner, L. (2025). Stretched at Both Ends: Pressure on Student Services and the Impact on Academic Staff at UK Universities. Education Sciences, 15(1), Article 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15010013
• Slack, H. R., & Priestley, M. (2023). Online learning and assessment during the Covid-19 pandemic: exploring the impact on undergraduate student well-being. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 48(3), 333-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2076804
• Priestley, M., & Mazzoli-Smith, L. (2023). The Epistemology and Ethics of Analysing Lived Experience Data: A Pragmatic Foucauldian-Informed Approach to Coproducing Student Mental Health Initiatives in the Neoliberal University. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22(January-December 2023), https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231215234
• Priestley, M., Broglia, E., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2022). Student Perspectives on improving mental health support Services at university. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 22(1), 197-206. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12391
• Brewster, L., Jones, E., Priestley, M., Wilbraham, S. J., Spanner, L., & Hughes, G. (2022). ‘Look after the staff and they would look after the students’ cultures of wellbeing and mental health in the university setting. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(4), 548-560. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2021.1986473
• Priestley, M., Hall, A., Wilbraham, S. J., Mistry, V., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2022). Student perceptions and proposals for promoting wellbeing through social relationships at university. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 46(9), 1243-1256. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2022.2061844
• Jones, E., Priestley, M., Brewster, L., Wilbraham, S. J., Hughes, G., & Spanner, L. (2021). Student wellbeing and assessment in higher education: the balancing act. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(3), 438-450. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1782344