In this post, Anna Duncan describes a series of events piloted by students and staff at Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) and School of GeoSciences, to support each other through the dark winter days. Anna is a Student Adviser at Edinburgh Futures Institute. This post is part of the Student Partnership Agreement 2025 series.
Winter in Edinburgh can be challenging: short days, grey skies, cold and drizzle. While difficult for us all, it can be a real shock for our international students and have a profound effect on their wellbeing and their capacity to study. We piloted a programme of activities in AY 24/25 with the aim of creating community and encouraging new seasonal habits for wintertime.
How did ‘Wintering Well’ come about?
During winter 23/24, we noticed how some international students were finding the dark season very difficult with impacts on their wellbeing and academic studies. Our students reported low mood related to the dark and cold, exacerbated by navigating a new university environment, with a, different academic and social culture. Low mood during winter can sometimes be categorised as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Students told us :
“When I sit in my room alone and no sunlight is coming from the window, I feel lonely and isolated.”
“It’s getting dark too early. The daylight hours are too short. I’m new here so I feel lonely and down at night.”
Professor Hayden Lorimer, Chair of Human Geography, was already conducting research about ‘Living with SAD’ along with colleagues from the University of Glasgow. Their project ran a series of ‘Wintering Well’ workshops to help people who self-identify as experiencing SAD symptoms. The workshops focused on creating a sense of connection and community.
Piloting Wintering Well
Hayden felt there was a campus gap regarding how we ready students for winter and a collaboration with EFI was born. Dr Rowan Jackson, Lecturer in Planetary Health and Food Systems, and Programme Director at EFI, joined in. Together, we invited students to co-create a series of activities throughout the winter months with the intention of fostering a ‘wintering community’ based around creative and fun gatherings. EFI Director of Students, Neneh Rowa-Dewar, was very enthusiastic and encouraged us to seek funding from the Student Partnership Agreement.
These are some of the events we ran, each time transforming the rooms with fairy lights to create a cosy winter setting:
An introduction to Wintering Well
Hayden told us about the science of light, how it is measured, the differences around the globe and crucially, what to expect in Scotland. The topic of Seasonal Affective Disorder was introduced, something that most students had not heard of before, though they had noticed changes in how they were feeling.
Wintering Well Wonder, a walk led by Beth Pottle, a student on our Planetary Health programme
Beth explains:
“In deciding to walk to Union Canal as one of the Wintering Well activities, I thought it would be beneficial in multiple ways, physically and socially. First, taking an hour to step outside in the winter sun would expose us to those hard to come by rays and enable us to spend time in nature (I intentionally planned the walk to include mostly green spaces). Second, by walking we could feel the benefits of medium intensity physical activity. Third (and arguable most importantly in this context), I thought that the act of walking may help people to relax and feel more able to talk freely.”
Fireplace storytelling, with Dr Rowan Jackson
An informal and cosy session where Rowan read one of the Icelandic Sagas and discussed the relationship between writing, storytelling and the long winters in Scandinavia. Through informal discussions, students and staff discussed other well-known stories about the seasons and the influence of winter storytelling on wider literature such as ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’.
Seasonal Decoration Making
A co-led session with Beth Tianxin Xia (EFI student) and Toni Freitas (academic) leading a crafting and decoration making session using upcycled materials.
Eating Well in Winter
This was led by Professor Lindsay Jaacks, where she looked at nutrition ideas related to winter and the typical winter root vegetables. She went above and beyond by making root vegetable scones and beetroot hummus!
“Shake off the Winter Blues” – an online games event
This games event was organised by on-site student Valeryn Ying Yan Liaw and online student, Helena Nuwagaba. Helena explains:
“The aim was to lift spirits during the colder months, especially for online learners who often feel disconnected. It turned out to be a joyful session filled with laughter and friendly competition. What made it even more special was some of the winners of our games, who were online students, recently received their EFI hoodies during the Enterprise School in Johannesburg. They were absolutely thrilled and many other students admired the hoodies and asked how they could get one too. That moment showed how much these seemingly small efforts matter. They help build a sense of belonging and show that online students are just as valued and celebrated. It was a beautiful reminder of the power of inclusion and community.”
Lessons learnt from our pilot
- Integration with Student Experience is essential for smooth delivery of any initiative smoothly. We are therefore integrating Wintering Well events into our general Student Experience annual calendar of work for AY 25/26. Moreover, we will work together with Student Experience in Geosciences to deliver organised events to both schools.
- Encourage student participation from an early stage. We were a bit late with the co-creation process and earlier consultation may have increased engagement throughout the year.
- Timetabling is the biggest obstacle to attendance so fewer organised events this year, but we will incentivise students to organise their own community events throughout winter. We have been lucky enough to gain some further funding from the Student Experience Grant to support us in these goals.
- Academic input is a reason to attend an event, but a less formal tone appreciated.
- Catering is an attraction to attend events initially!
We are looking forward to working with Geosciences to deliver more events this winter and encouraging our students to embrace winter together.
References
Finlay. A. Lorimer, H. Parr, H. Bodden, S. (2023) Light is a Right: A Guide to Wintering Well. (Morning Star). ISBN 978-1904477198. https://issuu.com/livingwithsad/docs/light_is_a_right_issuu
Bodden, S. Lorimer, H. Parr, H. (2024a) ‘In a positive light? Experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and the promise of biosolidarity’, Journal of Social and Cultural Geography. https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rscg20
Bodden, S. Lorimer, H. Parr, H. Williams, C. (2024b) ‘SAD geographies: making light matter’, Progress in Human Geography. https://journals.sagepub.com/home/phg
Bodden, S. Finlay, A. Lorimer, H. Parr, H. and Williams, C. (2022) Winter Worries: Understanding Experiences of Seasonal Affective Disorder in the UK through the 2022 ‘Big SAD Survey’. ISBN: 9780852619872. https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/292974/1/292974.pdf
Anna Duncan is a Student Adviser at Edinburgh Futures Institute, and a former Healthcare Professional.
