Research or training partner in youth mental health

Our expertise, relevant for Horizon Europe Cluster 1 calls, lies in the research of mental health in educational settings, including but not limited to teacher training, student programmes, whole-school approaches, with recorded experience in development, implementation and evaluation of interventions. Thus, we possess contentual, pedagogical, methodological and management expertise. In addition, our dedication, creativity and positive attitude to cooperation contribute not only to scientific excellence, but also to caring and good working relations and atmosphere in the project.

ERI has numerous experience in managing and participating in various European Social Funds projects, Erasmus+ and CERV projects, NextGenerationEU, COST actions as well as other projects and programmes funded by different international organisations and networks (Norwegian financial mechanisms, ISSA, etc.).

In the last 10 years, we took part in over 30 EU-funded projects (among them, we were coordinating 6 EU-funded projects).

Our expertize

• Youth mental health, mental health literacy, student well-being, positive youth development, social and emotional learning, teachers’ social and emotional competencies, school climate, inclusion, bullying, aggression, radicalization, academic achievement.

• School-based programme (intervention) development and evaluation, international large-scale assessments (PISA), secondary data analysis, quantitative and mixed methods, randomised controlled trial studies.

• Comparative policy studies, evidence-based policy recommendations.

•  International project cooperation and coordination, consortium management, open science.

Most relevant and recent projects

The ERI has research experience in the fields of mental health as well as digitalization in education, including leading studies, development, implementation and evaluation of interventions (programmes) and recommendations for policy and practice. Projects demonstrating this are listed below.

●   me_HeLi-D: Mental Health Literacy and Diversity. Enhancing Mental Health and Resilience through Digital Resources for Youth (2022-2025):

The development and evaluation of a freely available, diversity-sensitive online prevention programme for students aged 12–15 that strengthens personal resources, mental health literacy, and supports mental health. Covers topics like mindfulness, resilience, help-seeking, depression and anxiety. The programme is evidence-based, widely accessible, and shows promising effects (e.g., on mental health literacy, help-seeking, and well-being).

●   CHAVORE (2025-2026): practice- and evidence-based initiative focused on strengthening the mental health and well-being of young children (0–6), particularly those growing up in vulnerable and marginalised communities, like Roma children. The approach begins with in-depth participatory needs assessments to identify the mental health and well-being needs of young Roma children. Based on these insights, culturally responsive and transferable tools and training modules are developed that can inform scalable, preventive mental health interventions across European contexts.

●   Systematic implementation of professional and developmental tasks in the field of youth well-being and mental health based on secondary analyses of large-scale assessment studies, i.e. OECD PISA:

Secondary analysis PISA 2022: The role of student well-being in explaining learning motivation and achievement: consideration of school-level factors and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (2024–2025);

Secondary analysis PISA 2018: Global competence as a foundation for successful (co-)operation in contemporary school, local, and global environments (2021–2022);

Secondary analysis PISA 2018: Sense of school belonging as a factor of student well-being and academic achievement (2020–2021).

● New Domains of Inequality: The Digital Divide in Slovenia (2020-2023): The “digital divide”, comparing the gaps in Computer and Information Literacy (CIL) in Slovenia in the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS).

●  Secondary analysis of REDS 2021 (Responses to Educational Disruption Survey) (2022-2025):  Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Schooling, Teachers and Students: Well-Being, Teaching and Learning:  Investigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological, social, and emotional well-being of eighth-grade students and teachers in Slovenia.

●  Effects of developing emotional competencies on the psychological functioning during the pandemic (2020-2021):

●   Positive development of youth in Slovenia (2019-2022): Exploring longitudinal pathways of positive youth development: identifying individual and contextual factors that promote positive outcomes at the individual, school, and societal levels and that can prevent risky or problematic behaviour.