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Top 300+ Ideas For Research Paper Topics in 2024

Updated 11 Apr 2024

Some say the most difficult part of writing a text – is to start. But topic selection even precedes this starting point. This activity takes off a lot of time, and sometimes imagination just doesn’t work in your favor. That’s where our list of best research paper topics will come in handy.

We collected the most unhacked and powerful ideas to turn the average piece of writing into a research paper . Discover  what is a research paper and how to choose suitable and interesting research topics with our help. 

Writing a research topic on your own requires either producing one from scratch (based on your interests and goals and potentially, on some brainstorming) or getting inspiration from a number of sources, like preassembled topic lists, course material, teachers, real life, news headlines, published research in the respective field, etc.

What are the 3 Types of Research Questions?

Before formulating your research questions ideas, note that there are 3 important types of research questions:

• descriptive – these employ careful and comprehensive observation of a phenomenon/ event, subject, trait, etc. in order to characterize it in detail and to potentially reveal important/ interesting/ undescribed aspects or patterns.
• causal – these investigate whether altering some variables leads to changes in other variables suggesting a causal relationship.
• comparative – these look into similarities and differences between two or more entities

What is a Good Research Paper Topic?

Features that tend to characterize good research questions are as follows:

• specific and concrete – investigation goals and (expected results) have to be clear and focused
• original – investigating aspects/ entities/ relationships that have not been researched before
• highly important/ impactful for community/ society/ a professional field.
• highly relevant for potential readers/ reviewers
• trending – emerging disciplines/ topics spark more interest due to their novelty and yet unexplored potential

College Research Paper Topics

• The bias in the selection of the college internships and scholarships
• The problems of reverse discrimination in post-college employment
• Should multicultural education concepts be implemented at a greater depth?
• The drug and alcohol abuse on college campuses
• Does social media help students to find appropriate information and learn?
• The psychological disorders and the support groups in modern colleges
• Should people with ADHD and Autism be separated from the other students?
• The art of college political campaigns
• Pros and cons of religious colleges
• Should college athletes be paid and provided with additional advantages?
• The Influence of Social Media on College Students' Academic Performance and Well-being
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Online Learning Platforms in Higher Education
• The Role of College Education in Fostering Entrepreneurial Skills
• The Impact of Student Loan Debt on Career Choices Among Graduates
• Analyzing the Shift in College Admissions Criteria in the Post-COVID Era

Health Research Paper Topics

• The challenges of deafness and communication difficulties among special needs students
• The concept of global health security
• The ways to decrease household air pollution
• How the information about infectious diseases is distributed online
• Should people be allowed to know more about climate change issues?
• The privacy factor and the personal health issues
• The role of fitness ads in exercising practices
• The healthy food standards are not always unbiased
• The role of social media in the medical care system
• The psychological aspect in the perception of allergies
• The Long-term Effects of COVID-19 on Respiratory Health
• Mental Health Outcomes of Prolonged Social Media Use Among Adolescents
• The Efficacy of Plant-based Diets in Preventing Chronic Diseases
• The Role of Telemedicine in Improving Accessibility to Healthcare
• Analyzing the Impact of Sleep Quality on Daily Cognitive Functioning

Research Paper Topics on Medicine

• Is life-sustaining therapy needed when it’s futile?
• The role of placebo treatment
• How to avoid animal testing?
• Pros and contras of medical marijuana
• Is being a vegetarian useful for child’s health?
• How obesity affects our health?
• Vaccines for kids: their usefulness or damage
• Should prescription drugs be advertised directly to consumers?
• Do doctors turn their patients into drug addicts?
• Advancements in Gene Editing: Ethical Implications and Future Prospects
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Medicine
• Personalized Medicine: Tailoring Drug Therapies to Genetic Profiles
• The Impact of Microbiome Diversity on Human Health
• Stem Cell Therapy: Current Applications and Ethical Considerations
• The Challenges and Successes of Vaccine Development in the 21st Century

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Education Research Paper Topics

• How can standardized tests improve education?
• Does college graduates make more money?
• Should education be cheaper?
• How will modern technologies change the way of teaching in the future?
• The creation of particular learning methods for blind children
• Social networking and school
• Metal detectors at schools
• The effects of contemporary teaching methods
• The role of technology in lesson planning
• How to manage bullies and take actions against bullying at education institutions?
• The Effects of Bilingual Education on Cognitive Development in Children
• Evaluating the Long-term Impact of Early Childhood Education Programs
• The Role of Technology in Enhancing Special Education
• Standardized Testing: Measuring Intelligence or Memorization?
• The Influence of Teacher-Student Relationships on Academic Achievement

Read also: 150+ Best Sociology Research Topics

Environmental Research Paper Topics

• How to reduce global warming?
• How to stop wasting paper and save trees?
• Can overpopulation be managed?
• Should more films about environmental issues be produced?
• Human impacts on forests
• Underground effects of earthquakes
• How to elaborate the optimal adaptation of buildings threatened by hurricanes?
• Is it possible to predict hurricane impacts?
• Is nuclear power safe for humans?
• How dangerous is GMO food?
• Assessing the Impact of Urban Sprawl on Local Ecosystems
• The Effectiveness of Plastic Ban Policies on Ocean Health
• Carbon Capture Technology: Viability and Potential in Mitigating Climate Change
• The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Biodiversity Conservation
• Analyzing the Environmental Consequences of Fast Fashion

Research Topics on Entertainment and Sport

• Are social networks good for our society?
• Do violent video games make kids angry and cruel?
• Is it necessary to forbid using animals for entertainment?
• Do beauty contests set the non-achievable beauty standards?
• Are newspapers going to be replaced by online sources of information?
• How gaming consoles influence the youth?
• Should women be allowed to compete against men?
• What television programs should be banned?
• How tv shows impose fake moral standards?
• Can the use of social media, such as Facebook, lower teens’ self-esteem?
• The Psychological Impact of Competitive Sports on Young Athletes
• The Influence of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer Behavior
• E-Sports: The Rise of Competitive Gaming and Its Recognition as a Legitimate Sport
• The Role of Sports in Promoting Intercultural Dialogue and Understanding
• The Economic Impact of Major Sporting Events on Host Cities

Research Paper Topics on Media and Communication

• Should the media programming of ads aimed at children be made illegal?
• The role of mediation in the media
• Should bloggers be considered as journalists?
• The ethical side of modern news reports
• The freedom of speech online
• The copyright law restrictions and the vague concepts
• The importance of psychology and communicative skills in journalism
• The role of gender in interpersonal communication
• The modern standards of nonverbal communication
• The negative influence of Instagram and body image distortion
• The Evolution of News Consumption: Impact of Social Media on Traditional Media
• The Role of Media in Shaping Public Opinion During Political Campaigns
• The Ethics of Surveillance and Privacy in Digital Communication
• The Effects of Smartphone Usage on Face-to-Face Communication Skills
• Virtual Reality: The Future of Immersive Journalism

Research Paper Topics on Politics

• Should the drinking age be lowered?
• Should adults have the right to carry a concealed handgun?
• More gun control laws should be enacted
• How can the international community prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons?
• How can ethnic killings be stopped?
• Current prospect for peace between Israel and the Palestinians
• What world would be like without wars?
• How to avoid workforce reduction?
• Should the death penalty be allowed?
• Is socialism possible?
• The Influence of Social Media on Political Mobilization and Public Protests
• Campaign Finance Reform: The Effects on Political Representation and Elections
• The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Shaping Global Policy
• The Impact of Populism on Traditional Political Party Systems
• Cybersecurity in Elections: Protecting the Integrity of Democracy

Psychology Research Paper Topics

• Is autism a disease or a development idiosyncrasy?
• How to forecast and shape behavioral patterns?
• How to manage child violence?
• How to deal with a mental breakdown?
• The impact of classical music on the work of the brain
• How insomnia affects our health?
• How bad dreams influence our mood?
• Is stress really harmful?
• How depression impacts the immune system?
• Intellectually gifted people: how is it possible?
• The Psychological Effects of Social Isolation in the Digital Age
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy vs. Mindfulness: Comparative Outcomes in Treating Anxiety
• The Role of Resilience in Recovery from Trauma
• The Impact of Parenting Styles on Child Personality Development
• Neuroplasticity: How Learning and Experience Shape Brain Function

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Science & Technology Research Paper Ideas

• How is light being used to treat cancer and other diseases?
• What is the current evidence that Mars has had water and maybe life?
• Can nanomedicine potentially extend the human lifespan?
• What is the future of computing and artificial intelligence?
• The role cryogenics may play in future
• Can alternative energy effectively replace fossil fuels?
• Is it beneficial for wild animals to have interactions with people?
• What evidence do we have that CMB is the result of the big bang?
• How will self-driving cars change the way people live?
• Can using system like bitcoin help protect identity theft?
• The Potential of CRISPR and Gene Therapy in Curing Genetic Diseases
• Nanotechnology in Medicine: The Next Frontier for Drug Delivery Systems
• The Role of Quantum Computing in the Future of Cybersecurity
• The Ethical Implications of Humanoid Robots in Society
• Renewable Energy Technologies: Assessing the Efficiency and Sustainability of Solar Power Solutions

Research Topics Ideas on Culture

• A new comprehension of past events
• The origin of racial discrimination
• The roots of antisemitism
• The impact of advertisements and commercials on modern art
• The most remarkable cultural achievements of the 20th century and their influence on our society
• Cultural revolutions throughout history
• How pop culture trends influence youth?
• Should pregnant celebrities be exposed on magazine’s covers?
• Why was Greek cultural influence so important for the ancient Mediterranean world?
• Why was the Victorian period a time of cultural change?
• Cultural Impact on Climate Change Response: A Comparative Study
• The Preservation of Folklore and Oral Traditions in the Digital Age
• Cross-Cultural Communication: Overcoming Language and Ethical Barriers
• The Influence of Globalization on Indigenous Cultures
• Cultural Diplomacy and Its Role in International Relations

Research Paper Topics on Math

• The influence of algorithms
• Is it possible to build a winning monopoly strategy?
• Why is 'x' the unknown?
• How math changed the world?
• What's the solution to the McDonald's math problem?
• How do math geniuses understand extremely hard math concepts so quickly?
• Should high school math contests be banned?
• What is the relationship between music and math?
• Are math formulas ever used in real life?
• What are some of the most confusing math problems ever?
• The Role of Mathematics in Cryptography and Cybersecurity
• Mathematical Models in Predicting Pandemic Outcomes: A Case Study of COVID-19
• The Application of Game Theory in Economic and Social Decision Making
• Chaos Theory and Its Implications in Weather Forecasting and Climate Science
• The Impact of Big Data on the Evolution of Statistical Methods and Theories

Research Paper Topics on Business

• How do dirty business tactics work?
• Can business be started without money?
• Notorious business leaders
• Entrepreneurship and family business
• Ethical decision making in everyday work situations
• What are the most effective strategies for promoting a small business?
• Is it worth it to expand the business into a new region or country?
• How to build a successful startup
• The role of international business and sustainable development
• The impact of climate change on international business strategies
• Corporate Social Responsibility: Measuring the Impact on Business Performance
• The Gig Economy: Challenges and Opportunities for the Modern Workforce
• Innovative Business Models in the Age of Sustainable Development
• The Influence of Organizational Culture on Employee Productivity and Satisfaction
• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Shaping Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies

Research Paper Topics For Middle School

• Is going vegan the healthiest choice for you?
• Is the greenhouse effect artificial or natural?
• The causes, effects, and consequences of earthquakes
• How much computer games can one play without getting addicted
• Princess Diana and her dynasty
• Why is competition so critical for humans?
• How did poetry evolve?
• Methods used by ancient sailors to navigate the globe
• Gender roles in children’s books and cartoons
• Who is the greatest general who has lived on the planet?
• The Science Behind Video Games: How Gaming Affects Reflexes and Learning
• The History and Cultural Significance of a Popular Holiday
• The Impact of Recycling Programs in Schools
• Animal Habitats: How Urban Development Affects Local Wildlife
• The Role of Social Media in Modern Communication Among Teens

High School Research Paper Ideas

• The ways to address drug addiction cases in high school
• The physical vs digital communications
• The body image and the K-Pop culture
• The importance of school volunteering and social work
• The changes to the academic process due to Covid-19
• The legacy of the Trail of Tears
• The role of motivation in becoming a better student
• The role of books in print and the libraries
• The ways to improve school safety
• The role of parental involvement in school work
• Exploring the Psychological Effects of Social Media on Teen Self-Esteem
• The Physics of Sports: Analyzing the Science Behind Athletic Performance
• Climate Change and Its Effects on Local Ecosystems
• The Evolution of Language in the Digital Age
• The Rise of Cryptocurrency: Economic Education and the Future of Money

History Research Paper Topics

• What were the impacts of World War II on the rights of women?
• What factors initiated the WWII
• Is liberalism the most optimal solution?
• What were the consequences of women suffrage movements
• What was the impact of Martin Luther King’s protest against the Catholic church
• What is the most effective military strategy of all time
• How has Asian art influenced contemporary art
• How have different monetary systems affected the development of humanity
• What is the correlation between the Roman and Greek culture?
• Aztec empire and its architecture
• The Role of Women in World War II and Its Impact on Gender Roles
• The Influence of the Silk Road on the Cultural Exchange between East and West
• The Effects of the Cold War on Space Exploration Competition
• The Historical Accuracy of Popular Historical Films: A Case Study
• The Impact of the Printing Press on the Renaissance and European Society

Art Research Paper Ideas

• The reasons why digital museums must be present and made available
• The peculiarities of the Flemish artists
• Should Japanese anime be considered as a separate art form?
• The role of Photoshop and similar digital solutions in the perception of modern art
• The history of photography and the artistic expression forms
• The challenges of the modern artists during social distancing times
• The Middle Eastern perception of color and the light
• Ancient Rome's role in the creation of the sculptures
• Should the artists be allowed to represent their works in public parks?
• The importance of art education in middle schools
• The Evolution of Street Art and Its Acceptance into Mainstream Art Culture
• The Influence of Digital Media on Traditional Painting Techniques
• The Role of Patronage in the Development of Renaissance Art
• The Psychological Impact of Color in Abstract Art
• Cultural Representation and Diversity in Modern Art Museums

Literature Research Paper Topics

• The American dream literature
• How does harry potter reflects the ideal of the time
• Can you show a new aspect of prose based on the independent investigation
• The prose of women suffrage movements
• The dawn of literature on modern society
• Why do authors use metaphors and similes
• Evaluate and discuss the allegory of 2 random novels
• What factors are helpful in allowing you to identify the genre of a novel you are reading
• Is fanfiction considered an independent literature
• Romance and sex in Renaissance
• Fiction as an instrument of propaganda
• The Representation of Gender Roles in Victorian Literature
• Postcolonial Voices: How Literature Has Shaped National Identity
• The Journey Motif in Classic American Road Novels
• Dystopian Visions: What Modern Dystopian Literature Tells Us About Today's Society

Law Research Paper Topics

• How is the Islamic law perceived around the globe
• Is ECOLEX a pathway to environmental law
• Why is it critical to learn the GATT documents?
• What does the European patent office do?
• Mass communication law
• Impact of women’s authority in different countries on the planet
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the international criminal law court tools
• Detailed analysis and report of the comparative criminal procedure
• Exciting outtakes from the inter-American human rights library
• Does the US copyright office really help writers defend their businesses?
• The Impact of International Law on Human Rights Practices in Developing Countries
• Cyber Law: The Challenges of Regulating Online Behavior and Privacy
• Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Age: Balancing Innovation and Protection
• The Effectiveness of Rehabilitation in Juvenile Justice Systems
• Comparative Analysis of Gun Control Legislation and Its Impact on Violent Crime Rates

Religion Research Paper Topics

• The Role of Religion in Modern Secular Societies
• Interfaith Dialogue: Benefits and Challenges in a Pluralistic Society
• The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Ethical Decision-Making in Business
• Religion and Politics: An Analysis of Their Intersections in Contemporary World Affairs
• The Impact of Religious Education on Tolerance and Cultural Understanding
• The Evolution of Religious Practices and Their Adaptation in the Digital Age
• The Psychological Effects of Religious Rituals and Traditions
• Comparative Study of Creation Myths Across Different Cultures
• The Role of Women in Organized Religions: A Historical Perspective
• Secularization: The Decline of Religious Influence in Western Societies
• Religious Extremism: Understanding the Causes and Seeking Solutions
• The Impact of Pilgrimage on Religious and Spiritual Life
• Religious Symbols in Public Spaces: Freedom of Expression or a Call for Regulation?
• The Relationship Between Religion and Morality in Contemporary Ethical Debates
• The Effects of Globalization on Indigenous Religions and Spiritual Practices

Argumentative Research Paper Topics

• Should education be made free for everyone?
• The influencers and bloggers cannot be considered as a job
• The role of military service is the way towards maturity
• Should Internet access be limited during college lectures?
• The death penalty service is not an ethical solution
• Fashion industry creates a bad influence on young people
• The Fairplay concept should be rewarded financially
• Should tobacco be made illegal indoors?
• Religious differences often become the cause of wars
• The majority of mobile applications represent the invasion of privacy
• Universal Basic Income: Economic Savior or Road to Dependency?
• Mandatory Vaccinations: Public Health Requirement or Personal Choice Infringement?
• The Death Penalty: A Necessary Deterrent or a Violation of Human Rights?
• Climate Change Policies: Economic Hindrance or Long-term Investment?
• Animal Testing in Medical Research: Ethical Consideration or Scientific Necessity?

These are the 200+ topics on various subjects, which you might find useful when creating your own. In case you need help aside from creating topics, you can also order the original research on Politics, Media & Communication, to do my Math homework , Law, and even Nursing papers for sale on Edubirdie.

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How to Choose a Good Research Paper Topic?

While it may seem challenging to come up with a good research paper topic as you try your best to narrow things down, the trick is to choose something that influences you because you know it well and can support your arguments with relevant evidence. The subject should be well-structured and relevant to your thesis statement. Always take time to research the list of sources to compose your topic sentences as well to make them relate to your thesis part. It’s always best to check a good research paper introduction example before you start working on the paper and choosing your topic, or contact our essay writing service for help. Here are the steps to consider:

• Start With Observing Your Interests.

If you are confused with a variety of interesting topics for writing a creative essay, it’s better to decide what interests you the most. Don’t stick to easy research paper topics just to complete the task fast. If you are allowed to freely choose what to write an essay about, use the opportunity to create something unique. Write down the list of your interests and break down every idea into small certain topics. When you have a list in front of your eyes, it will be easier to make up your mind and start considering a particular issue.

Then you should examine what aspect of the topic is preferable for you to outline in your research paper . A list will save you here again. Use pros/cons template to include all the arguments and objections to the issues.

• Come Up With an Argumentative Research Question.

The most challenging part of choosing a competitive research paper topic is finding an aspect that poses some importance for your course and the subject per se. While it may seem that it is sufficient to make a general statement, your argumentation should include a clear research question. Consider asking yourself why you have chosen a particular topic and how your research will make it clearer or provide innovative solutions.

• Study Available Research Topic Ideas.

Since we have already mentioned the dangers of choosing something too broad, it is vital to narrow things down and brainstorm the list of possible research paper ideas that deal with the same subject. In other words, you can write down at least five different subjects and see whether you can find sufficient information to support them with the sources or statistical data. Remember the importance of your topic’s wording!

• Compose Strong Thesis Statement.

It must be done at the same time as you choose your research paper topic because these two concepts must be interconnected. Your subject must reflect your main idea of the thesis statement. Make sure that you have the list of sources prepared in advance to incorporate relevant information in your body paragraphs. As always, they must be the supporting evidence for your thesis statement’s idea and the research purpose.

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Written by David Kidwell

David is one of those experienced content creators from the United Kingdom who has a high interest in social issues, culture, and entrepreneurship. He always says that reading, blogging, and staying aware of what happens in the world is what makes a person responsible. He likes to learn and share what he knows by making things inspiring and creative enough even for those students who dislike reading.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

• Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
• Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
• How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
• How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
• How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
• How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

• What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
• How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
• How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
• Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
• What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
• What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
• How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
• How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
• What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
• What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
• What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
• Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies  (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
• Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
• Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
• Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
• Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
• Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
• How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
• Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
• What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
• How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
• What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
• Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
• Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
• Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
• How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
• Should graduate students be able to form unions?

• What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
• How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
• Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
• Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
• How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
• How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
• Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
• Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
• Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
• Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
• Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
• Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
• Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
• Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
• Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
• How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
• How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
• What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
• What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
• Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
• What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
• What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
• Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
• Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
• How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
• Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
• What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
• How does stress affect the body?
• Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
• What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
• How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
• What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
• What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
• Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
• What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
• What were the causes of the Civil War?
• How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
• Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
• What caused Hitler's rise to power?
• Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
• What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
• How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
• What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

• Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
• Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
• How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
• How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
• What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
• What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
• How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

• How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
• How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
• Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
• Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
• How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
• How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
• What are the pros and cons of fracking?
• What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
• What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
• How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
• Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
• Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
• What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
• What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
• How are black holes created?
• Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
• How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
• Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
• How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
• Has social media made people more or less connected?
• What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
• Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
• What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
• How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
• When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
• Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

Are you also learning about dynamic equilibrium in your science class? We break this sometimes tricky concept down so it's easy to understand in our complete guide to dynamic equilibrium .

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Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa).

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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200 Best Ideas for Research Paper Topics in 2023

The discussion you have started should be provoking and intriguing. If your statement is unique and interesting, you will definitely get a high grade and respect from your professors.

Writing a research paper may seem challenging, even though it is a substantial part of everyday student life. You are required to write at least one research paper in a semester for the majority of your subjects.

Do not underestimate research projects. They will demand a lot of time and effort from you. At the same time, do not let your research paper give you anxiety or hurt your overall studies.

To minimize worries and stress while working on the research paper, you must be confident in your topic. There are times when you are assigned the topic, but more frequently, you will have to create one yourself.

The discussion you start should be thought-provoking and intriguing. If your content is unique and interesting, you will definitely get a high grade and respect from your professors.

How to Select the Best Research Paper Topic?

When choosing your research paper topic, you need to make sure it is neither boring nor overdone. An interesting and innovative topic will intrigue your readers and motivate them to read the entire piece. But if you don’t know how to create a topic on your own, use the help of our editors.

Here are some things to consider when selecting an appropriate topic:

The Field Of  Your Interest

It’s no secret that you will not be able to write a good insightful research paper if you are not interested in the subject overall, or in the topic in general. On the other hand, if the topic is linked to the field of your interest, you can consider yourself lucky.

Passion and interest in a topic will make it easier to explore the theme and write about it. If you enjoy science, you should be able to talk non-stop about it. The same goes for writing about it.

A Topic Should Be Clear

You need to be sure to understand everything clearly when you choose an essay topic . Do not hesitate to ask questions if there are some unclear points. The more you understand, the simpler it is for you to write a successful research paper. You need to show the readers that you’re a master of the topic and not a confused newbie who does not know what you’re talking about.

Be Precise And Specific

You need to completely understand that you are not writing a descriptive essay. A research paper is an accurate and thorough work, which is based on facts. You cannot waterdown your text. Your statement should be supported with examples or references to other reputable research and academic work.

Be Innovative

How innovative can you be when discussing The French Revolution or Pearl Harbor? However, an innovative approach can give you the edge among other students. A topic should address the matter from a different and surprising perspective. With a deep investigation, you may even find the little known facts that can blow your readers’ minds. This approach will intrigue your readers and will make you research paper stand out..

Visit Edusson Samples   to brainstorm possible research paper topics and find relevant paper examples. It is 1000+ papers database. Besides samples, you can find excellent writing tools such as Plagiarism Checker, Title Page Maker and many more.

Ideas for Research Paper Topics

Without a good topic, writing a research paper can be a student’s worst nightmare. So, how do you come up with one? There are dozens of ways to brainstorm, such as discussing with classmates, reading topic prompts, sample papers, magazines, journals, blogs, or books.

Research Paper Topic by Category

Here are some examples of topics you may choose:

Argumentative Research Paper Topics

You have to present facts to demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic. Your introduction and concluding paragraph must be equally strong. Take a look at the following argumentative research topics examples:

• Are athletes good role models?
• Is the minimum wage too high?
• Homelessness: Who is to blame?
• Do we need shorter working weeks?
• What is the ideal age of consuming alcohol?

Persuasive Research Paper Topics

As a speaker or writer, it is your responsibility to persuade the reader about an issue. Persuasive writing, therefore, should move people and shake their emotions. If, for example, you want to convince people coffee is good for their bodies, then you must do it artistically, and convincingly.

Take a look at these examples of persuasive research topics:

• Using animals to conduct research experiments is wrong.
• Parents should monitor the websites their children visit.
• Domestic gender violence is on the rise.
• Children’s exposure to media: Do parental controls work?
• There are many cybercrimes today, and they are going to increase.
• America should adopt a policy of non-involvement in global conflicts.

Controversial Topics for Research Paper

There are people who like to court controversy whenever they say or do something, more so in public. A good example here is an activist. Whether it is advocacy for gay rights or same-sex marriage, writing on issues like these can be painstakingly difficult. So, you need a strong topic right from the beginning. Controversial topics for a research paper like the following will most certainly get you moving in the right direction:

• Gay partners and child adoption.
• Surrogate mothers and societal worldview.
• Violence in media content.
• STEM subjects should be mandatory.
• Sex education in middle school.
• Should homework be abolished?

Are you having a hard time looking for a comprehensive research paper topic? Try to find the best one by using our topic generation tool.

Best Research Paper Topics 2023

Maybe you have picked a research topic from the above categories for your paper. However, a good college student knows you need a plan B. So here are some other great topics.

• Is college education in line with the job market?
• Should colleges be faith-based institutions?
• Should universities have special accommodation facilities for the disabled?
• How has the institution of marriage changed in the postmodern world?
• Is there a difference between a man’s and a woman’s heart?
• What are the possible health benefits of childbearing and parenting?
• Exploring unfair child labor in the workplace.
• The significance of ethics to business and how to control bad behavior.
• How is cross-border BPO affecting the gross domestic product in your country?
• Which companies will make it to the top 5 best in the next decade?
• Terrorism and how it affects businesses.
• Are universities becoming business-driven?
• Causes of data rape and how to prevent it.
• Should licensed gun holders be allowed to carry their weapons to school?
• Ex-convicts and job searching. Is it difficult finding employment?
•  Should colleges pay student-athletes and how should they do it?
• What should be the basis of workplace promotion: seniority, degree, or performance evaluation?
• The significance of search engine optimization on businesses today.
• Should women be allowed into extreme sports?
• Is feminism changing American society?

Research Paper Topics By Level of Education

Notably, topic difficulty or complexity varies with the level of education. A graduate student will write a high school essay with great ease, while the reverse will result in a lot of difficulties on the part of the student.

In this post, we also help you choose topics based on your academic level while keeping in mind that research paper writing lends credence to student performance.

The research paper topics can often be overwhelming, and to make the process easier and more reliable, many students look for APA format paper writing services . The services are beneficial and provide access to professional knowledge in writing a research paper and ensure that all guidelines are followed.

High School Research Paper Topics

If you are a student in high school, here is a list of topics that you may consider:

• Should the government legalize the use of smartphones in high school classrooms?
• Leadership training in high school.
• Are secondary schools doing enough in harnessing the debating skills of students?
• Explore Plato’s philosophy of mathematics.

College Research Paper Topics

Next, here are some college research paper topics to choose from. They include the following:

• Explore the design and construction of thermal plants around the globe.
• Analyze how the free software movement is positively transforming the world.
• Analyze cognitive development in children.
• How does the government assess the health care needs of communities?
• Pre-election and the effects on voter conduct.
• Discuss how to plan for college tuition.
• How does menstruation affect young girls?
• Substance abuse among college students and its effects on their performance and behavior.
• What brings about societal stereotypes?
• Factual evidence that AIDS originated from monkeys.

Research Paper Topics By Subject

Another way of choosing the best research paper topic is based on the subject, whether you are a college or high school student. Whether it is in biology, physics, science, literature, history, or psychology, this approach works at all levels of education. Research papers are quite challenging for the average student to write, so it’s no wonder why many students may want to look into options for high school essays for money . A great topic for your research paper should be something engaging that captures the reader’s attention and encourages them to continue reading.

Research Paper Topics on Technology

• Cybersecurity: Can we really be safe?
• How can technology help in preventing terrorist attacks?
• How close did we get to Artificial Intelligence?
• What technological innovations promise to change the third decade of the 21st century?
• How do regular people influence technological progress?
• What technologies does NASA use to explore Mars?
• How did Bill Gates and Steve Jobs change the world?
• How did cloud technologies change data storing?
• Can virtual reality substitute for an actual reality?
• What is the future of the internet?

Research Paper Topics on Environment

• How did climate change in the last 30 years?
• Why some believe that global warming is a hoax?
• What are the best ways to reduce global warming?
• How does global warming alter wildlife?
• Ocean pollution: Unseen tragedies.
• Effective ways of reducing air pollution.
• How can alternative types of energy help to preserve the Earth’s natural resources?
• Endangered species – How can we preserve them?
• Recycling. What did you do to make the world a better place?
• Drinking water for all – How can we achieve it?

Research Paper Topics on Legal Issues

• How do torrenting sites influence creativity and copyright?
• Should marijuana be legalized at the national level?
• How did the legalization of same-sex marriage influence the USA?
• Are punishments for sex crimes fair?
• Should there be a law preventing cyber-bullying?
• Where is the line between artistic photos and pornography?
• How does a new adoption law in Russia refuse orphans their chance for happiness?
• Various laws on abortion around the world.
• How do prostitution laws differ around the world?

Topics on Business

• How can one turn a business idea into a successful startup?
• How can creative marketing increase your sales?
• Does taxation aim to kill small businesses?
• Effective time-management for big and small teams.
• Is multitasking a productive method of work?
• Sexual harassment in the working environment.
• How benefits can make your employees happy.
• How do big corporations regularly break the law and get away with it?
• What are the various minimum wages around the world? Should The Universal Declaration of Human Rights control them?
• What were the most successful businesses in the first two decades of the 21st century?

Topics on World Politics

• How did Angela Merkel change Europe?
• Impeachment against Donald Trump: Will it happen?
• The consequences of Brexit for European values.
• Is Vladimir Putin sponsoring global terrorism?
• How can world politicians unite against the threat that Russia poses?
• Can North and South Korea unite again?
• How can we eliminate dictatorial regimes in the 21st century?
• Conflicts in Africa.
• Do refugees pose any threat to the hosting country?
• How can the world unite to fight racism?

Topics on Religion

• Is Christianity at its dusk?
• Can any religion justify crimes against humanity?
• The most popular new age religions.
• Sexual abuse in the church.
• Should religious beliefs influence health matters?
• How do various religions oppress women?
• The political context of the global religions throughout time.
• How does agnosticism balance between atheism and various religions?
• Are we witnessing a new religion forming?
• Myths of creation through global religions.

Topics on Health

• The effects of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana on a human body.
• Vaccination in the 21st century.
• The most controversial issues of birth control.
• Alzheimer’s: ways of prevention.
• Euthanasia – An assisted suicide?
• How can research help cure AIDS?
• Are there effective ways to prevent cancer?
• How do fats positively affect the human body and the mind?
• Anorexia and obesity – Two sides to one story.
• The importance of mental health.

Topics on Social Issues

• How does social media influence interpersonal communication?
• How can team sports affect social abilities?
• LGBT tolerance around the world.
• Global citizenship: Pros and cons.
• How to deal with social anxiety.
• How can one defend privacy issues on Facebook and other social media?
• How to stop bullying in schools.
• Discrimination of black women in modern-day America.
• Ethnicities that created the USA.
• Gender stereotypes in the workplace.

Topics on Education

• How to achieve literacy for all.
• Is it worth accumulating a huge debt to achieve higher education in the USA?
• How can the government make a teacher’s profession become more appealing?
• How can we modernize education to make it more appealing?
• How do dress codes in schools discriminate against women?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling?
• Is the present educational system capable of creating geniuses?
• The importance of multilingual education.
• Guns in school. How to achieve a safe environment.
• Do grades do justice to students’ knowledge?

Topics on Popular Culture

• The best music projects of 2020.
• How do reality shows influence teenagers?
• Do celebrities form a specific cast in today’s world?
• How much do people depend on heroes? Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes.
• How do American and Japanese popular cultures intertwine with each other?
• Sexism and ageism in modern Hollywood.
• Do shows like American Idol, the Voice, and X-factor really aim to find and develop talents?
• The female role in the world according to Beyonce’s Lemonade.
• How did YouTube change popular culture?
• The meaning of the Harry Potter Book Series in promoting reading.

Still lost? Download a Comprehensive Research Paper Guide completely FREE. It consists of 7 simple steps that can lead you to a perfect paper. We based it on analysis of 1000+ student’s papers, ordered by Edusson customers Get it now

Easy Research Paper Topics

Women’s issues.

• Are birth control pills good or bad?
• Are married women with children happier than single women who did not give birth to a child?
• Are there health benefits to having children?
• Breast cancer rates are increasing among women in the US. What factors contribute to these rates?
• Do women with higher testosterone levels have an athletic advantage compared to women whose testosterone levels are not high?
• Has the feminist movement been a help to women or not?
• Has the modern-day feminist movement lost its track?
• How are cultural expectations of women different in Muslim vs. Western nations?
• How common is domestic abuse, or child abuse?
• How do the female hormones protect women from heart disease?
• How does the education of women change society?
• How has feminism changed America? The world?
• How has marriage changed?
• How is heart health different for men and women?
• How has society’s expectations for women to get married and have kids haven’t changed for centuries, even today?
• How to help girls from unprivileged towns and neighborhoods get educated?
• Should women participate in extreme sports?
• What are the most important health risks for women to be aware of?
• What is a maid? Is there an acceptable or unacceptable definition for this job?
• What is female genital mutilation and how is it connected with AIDS in Africa?
• What is the effect of birth control and pregnancy on the mental health of a woman?
• What is the history of marriage?
• Why do a vast majority of women refuse to report their husbands for domestic abuse? What can be done to help them?
• Why do people marry?
• Women in politics: why do a small percentage of them succeed?
• Are athletes overpaid? Do footballers deserve multi-million contracts? How their salaries influence their performance?
• Can anyone compete in a marathon? Should everyone try it at least once? Necessary measures to take in order to compete in this kind of race
• Choose a sport and the best athlete that has ever played it. Justify why is that person the greatest of all times
• Has Title 9 hurt men’s athletics? Should there be changes?
• Have Olympic Games improved or worsened through history?
• How money influences the football world today
• How much does the crowd at sports events influence the game? Does the roar of the fans or their chants really cause the team to win or lose?
• How successful has Title 9 been in changing access to sports for women?
• Is there a sport that should be added to the Olympic Games?
• Research the history of a sport of your choice. How has the game changed throughout history?
• Should college athletes get paid? If so, how should that be done?
• Should male and female athletes be paid equally?
• Should players form unions to protect their rights?
• The impact of the Olympic Games on the economy of the hosting nation?
• What do people learn from playing competitive sports?
• What does the public think about female athletes?
• Why do all children need to play competitive sports in school? How would regular sports activity benefit their health and school performance?
• Why do so many young people get injured while playing sports? Is it accidental and unavoidable or is there a way to prevent injuries? Choose between talking about sports in general or discussing some specific sport of your choice.

Criminal justice

• African-American men are more likely to spend time in prison in the United States than any other group.  What is the underlying cause of this negative trend? What can be done to stop it?
• After every terrorist attack, it turns out police received reports about the potential danger. Why do they always ignore these calls?
• Are prison sentences for rapes effective? Do convicted rapists recommit their crimes later?
• Criminal activities are widely prevalent in news shows, reality TV, television shows, and movies. Does the constant exposure to crime on TV promote these activities and give people ideas?
• The death sentence has a long history, but did it help decrease crime rates across the US?
• Do convicted criminals abandon their ways and turn into law-abiding citizens?
• Do organizations like Prison Fellowship, which attempt to reform prisoners through faith, produce long-term results in changed lives?
• Do some people have a genetic predisposition to commit a crime? If so, should government approve genetic testing on criminals?
• Does non-dangerous “hazing” add to the rituals and community of an organization? Describe pros and cons of having new members participate in initiation traditions.
• How can prisoners help rehabilitate prisoners?
• How difficult is it to ex-convicts to find a job?
• How does Trump’s victory at the presidential election affect the judicial system in the United States today?
• How should the background of the criminal (psychosis, intelligence, family environment, genetic predispositions) affect the decision in a criminal case?
• Is Mandatory Minimum sentencing a good idea? Does it aid crime prevention?
• Many prisoners re-commit crimes because they find it difficult to cope with “real world” after spending years in prison. What can be done to help them adapt to the new reality after leaving prison?
• The number of DUI arrests increases constantly. What can be done about this problem?
• On-campus violence: causes and solutions
• Online bullying is a common occurrence nowadays. Should cyber-bullies face criminal prosecution?
• Out of fear of potential mistake, prisoners on a death row in many states are still waiting for their executions. Does the possibility of wrong death outweigh the need for justice? Is there justice for family members of victims?
• Police brutality: causes and potential solutions
• Rates of teens engaging in criminal activities keep increasing. How did media contribute to this negative trend?
• Should all states have equal laws? Would it prevent some criminals from committing their unlawful deeds?
• Should DUI laws be the same across all states?
• Should girls and women who falsely accuse someone of raping them face criminal prosecution?
• Should people convicted of a DUI be able to attend classes to prevent having their driver’s license revoked?
• Should schools allow people with licenses to carry concealed weapons?
• Should some crimes require a mandatory death sentence?
• Should terrorist suspects be tried in American courts?
• Some states have already legalized marijuana. How did cannabis use affect crime rates in these states? Did they go up or down?
• Teen gangs and socioeconomic status of households: are they related?
• The Innocence Project has released more than 300 convicted criminals based primarily on DNA evidence. Many states give no compensation to those released. Should the compensation be mandatory?
• The use of art, music, or theater therapy is a common method of rehabilitating prisoners. How effective are these approaches?
• What are the causes of acquaintance rape? How can it be prevented?
• What does the general public think about death penalty?
• What is the underlying cause (or more of them) behind re-committing crimes?
• Why do some people become serial killers? Are there any signs in their behavior to look for?
• Why is police brutal when arresting black suspects?
• Are older children more successful?
• Child labor is a sad reality in third-world countries. Do we contribute to child labor by purchasing products from companies who employ children in their factories?
• Do small businesses have a chance to succeed in the competitive market today?
• How do blogs help revolutionize businesses?
• How did the NAFTA agreement affect business in the United States?
• How does birth order affect people in a work environment?
• How has terrorism affected businesses?
• How important is branding for a business?
• Importance of ethics in business: what are the consequences of unethical behavior?
• Past, present, and future of search engine optimization (SEO)?
• Should companies promote employees based on seniority, college degrees or evaluations of performance?
• Should employees be allowed more flexible leave time for caring for children and elderly parents?
• What is the best way to grow jobs and reduce the unemployment rate?

Psst. There’s also a more relaxed way  ?

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100 Interesting Research Paper Topics for High Schoolers

What’s covered:, how to pick the right research topic, elements of a strong research paper.

• Interesting Research Paper Topics

Composing a research paper can be a daunting task for first-time writers. In addition to making sure you’re using concise language and your thoughts are organized clearly, you need to find a topic that draws the reader in.

CollegeVine is here to help you brainstorm creative topics! Below are 100 interesting research paper topics that will help you engage with your project and keep you motivated until you’ve typed the final period. 

A research paper is similar to an academic essay but more lengthy and requires more research. This added length and depth is bittersweet: although a research paper is more work, you can create a more nuanced argument, and learn more about your topic. Research papers are a demonstration of your research ability and your ability to formulate a convincing argument. How well you’re able to engage with the sources and make original contributions will determine the strength of your paper. 

You can’t have a good research paper without a good research paper topic. “Good” is subjective, and different students will find different topics interesting. What’s important is that you find a topic that makes you want to find out more and make a convincing argument. Maybe you’ll be so interested that you’ll want to take it further and investigate some detail in even greater depth!

For example, last year over 4000 students applied for 500 spots in the Lumiere Research Scholar Program , a rigorous research program founded by Harvard researchers. The program pairs high-school students with Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project . The program actually does not require you to have a research topic in mind when you apply, but pro tip: the more specific you can be the more likely you are to get in!

Introduction

The introduction to a research paper serves two critical functions: it conveys the topic of the paper and illustrates how you will address it. A strong introduction will also pique the interest of the reader and make them excited to read more. Selecting a research paper topic that is meaningful, interesting, and fascinates you is an excellent first step toward creating an engaging paper that people will want to read.

Thesis Statement

A thesis statement is technically part of the introduction—generally the last sentence of it—but is so important that it merits a section of its own. The thesis statement is a declarative sentence that tells the reader what the paper is about. A strong thesis statement serves three purposes: present the topic of the paper, deliver a clear opinion on the topic, and summarize the points the paper will cover.

An example of a good thesis statement of diversity in the workforce is:

Diversity in the workplace is not just a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage for businesses, as it fosters innovation, enhances creativity, improves decision-making, and enables companies to better understand and connect with a diverse customer base.

The body is the largest section of a research paper. It’s here where you support your thesis, present your facts and research, and persuade the reader.

Each paragraph in the body of a research paper should have its own idea. The idea is presented, generally in the first sentence of the paragraph, by a topic sentence. The topic sentence acts similarly to the thesis statement, only on a smaller scale, and every sentence in the paragraph with it supports the idea it conveys.

An example of a topic sentence on how diversity in the workplace fosters innovation is:

Diversity in the workplace fosters innovation by bringing together individuals with different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, which stimulates creativity, encourages new ideas, and leads to the development of innovative solutions to complex problems.

The body of an engaging research paper flows smoothly from one idea to the next. Create an outline before writing and order your ideas so that each idea logically leads to another.

The conclusion of a research paper should summarize your thesis and reinforce your argument. It’s common to restate the thesis in the conclusion of a research paper.

For example, a conclusion for a paper about diversity in the workforce is:

In conclusion, diversity in the workplace is vital to success in the modern business world. By embracing diversity, companies can tap into the full potential of their workforce, promote creativity and innovation, and better connect with a diverse customer base, ultimately leading to greater success and a more prosperous future for all.

Reference Page

The reference page is normally found at the end of a research paper. It provides proof that you did research using credible sources, properly credits the originators of information, and prevents plagiarism.

There are a number of different formats of reference pages, including APA, MLA, and Chicago. Make sure to format your reference page in your teacher’s preferred style.

• Analyze the benefits of diversity in education.
• Are charter schools useful for the national education system?
• How has modern technology changed teaching?
• Discuss the pros and cons of standardized testing.
• What are the benefits of a gap year between high school and college?
• What funding allocations give the most benefit to students?
• Does homeschooling set students up for success?
• Should universities/high schools require students to be vaccinated?
• What effect does rising college tuition have on high schoolers?
• Do students perform better in same-sex schools?
• Discuss and analyze the impacts of a famous musician on pop music.
• How has pop music evolved over the past decade?
• How has the portrayal of women in music changed in the media over the past decade?
• How does a synthesizer work?
• How has music evolved to feature different instruments/voices?
• How has sound effect technology changed the music industry?
• Analyze the benefits of music education in high schools.
• Are rehabilitation centers more effective than prisons?
• Are congestion taxes useful?
• Does affirmative action help minorities?
• Can a capitalist system effectively reduce inequality?
• Is a three-branch government system effective?
• What causes polarization in today’s politics?
• Is the U.S. government racially unbiased?
• Choose a historical invention and discuss its impact on society today.
• Choose a famous historical leader who lost power—what led to their eventual downfall?
• How has your country evolved over the past century?
• What historical event has had the largest effect on the U.S.?
• Has the government’s response to national disasters improved or declined throughout history?
• Discuss the history of the American occupation of Iraq.
• Explain the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
• Is literature relevant in modern society?
• Discuss how fiction can be used for propaganda.
• How does literature teach and inform about society?
• Explain the influence of children’s literature on adulthood.
• How has literature addressed homosexuality?
• Does the media portray minorities realistically?
• Does the media reinforce stereotypes?
• Why have podcasts become so popular?
• Will streaming end traditional television?
• What is a patriot?
• What are the pros and cons of global citizenship?
• What are the causes and effects of bullying?
• Why has the divorce rate in the U.S. been declining in recent years?
• Is it more important to follow social norms or religion?
• What are the responsible limits on abortion, if any?
• How does an MRI machine work?
• Would the U.S. benefit from socialized healthcare?
• Elderly populations
• The education system
• State tax bases
• How do anti-vaxxers affect the health of the country?
• Analyze the costs and benefits of diet culture.
• Should companies allow employees to exercise on company time?
• What is an adequate amount of exercise for an adult per week/per month/per day?
• Discuss the effects of the obesity epidemic on American society.
• Are students smarter since the advent of the internet?
• What departures has the internet made from its original design?
• Has digital downloading helped the music industry?
• Discuss the benefits and costs of stricter internet censorship.
• Analyze the effects of the internet on the paper news industry.
• What would happen if the internet went out?
• How will artificial intelligence (AI) change our lives?
• What are the pros and cons of cryptocurrency?
• How has social media affected the way people relate with each other?
• Should social media have an age restriction?
• Discuss the importance of source software.
• What is more relevant in today’s world: mobile apps or websites?
• How will fully autonomous vehicles change our lives?
• How is text messaging affecting teen literacy?

Mental Health

• What are the benefits of daily exercise?
• How has social media affected people’s mental health?
• What things contribute to poor mental and physical health?
• Analyze how mental health is talked about in pop culture.
• Discuss the pros and cons of more counselors in high schools.
• How does stress affect the body?
• How do emotional support animals help people?
• What are black holes?
• Discuss the biggest successes and failures of the EPA.
• How has the Flint water crisis affected life in Michigan?
• Can science help save endangered species?
• Is the development of an anti-cancer vaccine possible?

Environment

• What are the effects of deforestation on climate change?
• Is climate change reversible?
• How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect global warming and climate change?
• Are carbon credits effective for offsetting emissions or just marketing?
• Is nuclear power a safe alternative to fossil fuels?
• Are hybrid vehicles helping to control pollution in the atmosphere?
• How is plastic waste harming the environment?
• Is entrepreneurism a trait people are born with or something they learn?
• How much more should CEOs make than their average employee?
• Can you start a business without money?
• Should the U.S. raise the minimum wage?
• Discuss how happy employees benefit businesses.
• How important is branding for a business?
• Discuss the ease, or difficulty, of landing a job today.
• What is the economic impact of sporting events?
• Are professional athletes overpaid?
• Should male and female athletes receive equal pay?
• What is a fair and equitable way for transgender athletes to compete in high school sports?
• What are the benefits of playing team sports?
• What is the most corrupt professional sport?

Where to Get More Research Paper Topic Ideas

If you need more help brainstorming topics, especially those that are personalized to your interests, you can use CollegeVine’s free AI tutor, Ivy . Ivy can help you come up with original research topic ideas, and she can also help with the rest of your homework, from math to languages.

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The 10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2022

In our annual ritual, we pored over hundreds of educational studies and pulled out the most impactful—from a new study on the sneaky power of sketchnotes to research that linked relationships and rigor.

This past year didn’t feel normal, exactly, but compared with the last few trips around the sun, well—it sufficed. In 2021, when we sat down to write our annual edition of the research highlights, we were in the throes of postpandemic recovery and wrote about the impact of a grueling year in which burnout and issues of mental and physical health affected educators everywhere.

This year, we crossed our fingers and turned to best practices once again, reviewing hundreds of studies to identify the most impactful and insightful educational strategies we could find.

What turned up?

We found evidence that sheds new light on the misunderstood power of brain breaks, took a close look at research that finds a surprising—even counterintuitive—rationale for teachers to focus on relationships, and located both the humor and the merit in asking kids to slither like a snake as they learn about the “sss” sound of the letter S .

All that, and a lot more too, in our once-a-year roundup that follows.

1. There’s No Conflict Between Relationships and Rigor

Observers sometimes assume that teachers who radiate empathy, kindness, and openness are “soft” and can be taken advantage of by students. But new research shows that when you signal that you care about kids, they’re willing to go the extra mile, giving you the flexibility to assign more challenging school work.

That’s the main takeaway from a 2022 study that examined teaching practices in 285 districts, comparing relationship-building strategies with the flexibility that teachers had in assigning challenging and complex work. The researchers found that the most effective teachers build their classrooms by getting to know their students, being approachable, and showing that they enjoy the work—and then deftly translate emotional capital into academic capital.

“When students feel teachers care about them, they work harder, engage in more challenging academic activities, behave more appropriately for the school environment, are genuinely happy to see their teacher, and meet or exceed their teacher’s expectations,” the researchers conclude.

2. Highlighting Isn’t Very Effective Until Teachers Step In

Students often highlight the wrong information and may rely on their deficient highlighting skills as a primary study strategy, leading to poor learning outcomes, a new analysis of 36 studies suggests. As little as two hours of tutoring, however, can dramatically improve their capabilities.

The researchers determined that “learner-generated highlighting” tended to improve retention of material, but not comprehension. When students were taught proper highlighting techniques by teachers, however—for example, how to distinguish main ideas from supporting ideas—they dramatically improved their academic performance. Crucially, “when highlighting is used in conjunction with another learning strategy” like “graphic organizers or post-questions,” its effectiveness soars, the researchers said.

The need for explicit teaching may be linked to changing reading habits as students graduate from stories and fables to expository texts, which require them to navigate unfamiliar text formats, the researchers note. To bring kids up to speed, show them “examples of appropriate and inappropriate highlighting,” teach them to “highlight content relatively sparingly,” and provide examples of follow-on tactics like summarizing their insights to drive deeper comprehension.

3. A Landmark Study Strikes a Resounding Note for Inclusion

When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act called for greater inclusion—mandating that students with disabilities receive support in the “least restrictive environment”—one goal was to ensure that educational accommodations didn’t interfere with the students’ social and emotional development in classrooms full of their peers. The law also confronted age-old prejudices and established a binding legal obligation in favor of inclusion.

But thus far, rigorous evidence of the academic benefits has been thin.

Now a new large-scale study appears to put the matter beyond dispute. When researchers tracked nearly 24,000 adolescents who qualified for special education, they discovered that spending a majority of the day—at least 80 percent—in general education classes improved reading scores by a whopping 24 points and math scores by 18 points, compared with scores of their more isolated peers with similar disabilities.

“Treat the general education classroom as the default classroom,” the researchers firmly state, and push for separate accommodations only when all other options have been exhausted.

4. Sketchnotes and Concept Maps Work—Even Better Than You Might Think

Simple concept maps, sketchnotes, and other annotated jottings—akin to doodling with a purpose—can facilitate deeper comprehension of materials than more polished drawings, a new study finds.

Representational drawings, such as a simple diagram of a cell, may help students remember factual information, the researchers explain, but they “lack features to make generalizations or inferences based on that information.” Organizational drawings that link concepts with arrows, annotations, and other relational markings give students a clearer sense of the big picture, allow them to visualize how ideas are connected, and provide a method for spotting obvious gaps in their understanding. On tests of higher-order thinking, fifth graders who made organizational drawings outperformed their peers who tried representational drawings by 300 percent.

To reap the benefits in class, have students start with simple diagrams to help remember the material, and then move them up to sketchnotes and concept maps as they tease out connections to prior knowledge.

5. Brain Breaks Are Misunderstood (and Underutilized)

Conventional wisdom holds that the development of a skill comes from active, repeated practice: It’s the act of dribbling a basketball that ultimately teaches the basketball star.

But recent studies reveal that the intervals between practice sessions are at least as crucial. In 2021, researchers used brain scans to observe neural networks as young adults learned how to type. During breaks, the brains of the participants appeared to head back to the keyboards, unconsciously replaying the typing sequences over and over again at high rates of speed as they flipped the material between processing and memory centers dozens of times in the span of 10 seconds. The researchers concluded that brain breaks play “just as important a role as practice in learning a new skill.”

In 2022, we learned that the kinds of breaks make a difference, too. One study compared in-classroom breaks like drawing or building puzzles with outdoor breaks like running or playing in sandboxes. In a nod to the power of movement—and free time—it was the kids playing outside who returned to class ready to learn, probably because indoor games, like indoor voices, required children to engage in more self-regulation, the researchers speculated. Meanwhile, an analysis examining “green breaks” —brief strolls in a park or visits to a school garden—concluded that students who partook in the activities performed better on tests of attention and working memory.

Depriving kids of regular breaks, it turns out, is a threat to the whole proposition of learning. To commit lessons to memory, the brain demands its own time—which it sets aside to clean up and consolidate new material.

6. On Classroom Design, an Argument for Caution—and Common Sense

When it comes time to decorate their classrooms, teachers often find themselves on the horns of a dilemma: Should they aim for Pinterest-worthy interior design or opt for blank walls on the strength of research that emphasizes the risks of distracting students?

A study published in February this year argues for minimalism. Researchers tracked the on-task behavior of K–2 students and concluded that visually ”streamlined” classrooms produced more focused students than “decorated” ones. During short read-alouds about topics like rainbows and plate tectonics, for example, young kids in classrooms free of “charts, posters, and manipulatives” were paying attention at significantly higher rates.

But it might not be a simple question of more or less. A 2014 study confirmed that posters of women scientists or diverse historical figures, for example, can improve students’ sense of belonging. And a recent study that observed 3,766 children in 153 schools concluded that classrooms that occupied a visual middle ground—neither too cluttered nor too austere—produced the best academic outcomes. A 2022 study reached similar conclusions.

Classroom decoration can alter academic trajectories, the research suggests, but the task shouldn’t stress teachers out. The rules appear to be relatively straightforward: Hang academically relevant, supportive work on the walls, and avoid the extremes—working within the broad constraints suggested by common sense and moderation.

7. For Young Children, the Power of Play-Based Learning

Children aren’t miniature adults, but a bias toward adult perspectives of childhood, with its attendant schedules and routines, has gradually exerted a stranglehold on our educational system nonetheless, suggests the author and early childhood educator Erika Christakis.

How can we let little kids be little while meeting the academic expectations of typical schools? A new analysis of 39 studies spanning several decades plots a middle path for educators, highlighting the way that play gently guided by adults, often called play-based learning, can satisfy both objectives.

Teachers of young students can have a “learning goal” in mind, but true play-based learning should incorporate wonder and exploration, be child-led when possible, and give students “freedom and choice over their actions and play behavior,” the researchers assert. Interrupt the flow of learning only when necessary: gently nudge students who might find activities too hard or too easy, for example. The playful approach improved early math and task-switching skills, compared with more traditional tactics that emphasize the explicit acquisition of skills, researchers concluded.

To get the pedagogy right, focus on relationships and ask questions that prompt wonder. “Rich, open-ended conversation is critical,” Christakis told Edutopia in a 2019 interview —children need time "to converse with each other playfully, to tell a rambling story to an adult, to listen to high-quality literature and ask meaningful questions.”

8. A Better Way to Learn Your ABCs

Getting young kids to match a letter to its corresponding sound is a first-order reading skill. To help students grasp that the letter c makes the plosive “cuh” sound in car , teachers often use pictures as scaffolds or have children write the letter repeatedly while making its sound.

A new study suggests that sound-letter pairs are learned much more effectively when whole-body movements are integrated into lessons. Five- and 6-year-olds in the study spent eight weeks practicing movements for each letter of the alphabet, slithering like a snake as they hissed the sibilant “sss” sound, for example. The researchers found that whole-body movement improved students’ ability to recall letter-sound pairings and doubled their ability to recognize hard-to-learn sounds—such as the difference between the sounds that c makes in cat and sauce —when compared with students who simply wrote and spoke letter-sound pairings at their desks.

The approach can make a big difference in the acquisition of a life-changing skill. Educators should “incorporate movement-based teaching” into their curricula, giving special consideration to “whole-body movement,” the researchers conclude.

9. Why Learners Push the Pause Button

Some of the benefits of videotaped lessons are so self-evident that they hide in plain sight.

When teaching students foundational concepts, a video lesson equipped with a simple pause button, for example, may allow students to reset cognitively as they reach their attentional limits, a 2022 study concluded. Pause buttons, like rewind buttons, are also crucial for learners who encounter “complex learning materials,” have “low prior knowledge,” or exhibit “low working memory capacities.”

Increasingly, the intrinsic value of targeted video lessons is borne out in research. In a feature on Edutopia , we looked at research suggesting that video learning supported self-pacing and flexible, 24/7 access to lessons; that questions embedded in videos improved academic performance, increased note-taking, and reduced stress (see these 2015 and 2020 studies); and that video versions of lectures tended to “make content more coherent ” to students.

To modernize their classrooms, teachers might record their most important lessons and make them available to students as study aids so they can pause, rewind, and review to their hearts’ content.

10. An Authoritative Study of Two High-Impact Learning Strategies

Spacing and retrieval practices are two of the most effective ways to drive long-term retention, confirms an authoritative 2022 review spanning hundreds of studies on the topic—and students should know how and why the strategies are effective.

In the review, researchers explain that students who prefer techniques like reading and rereading material in intense cram sessions are bound to fail. Instead, students should think of learning as a kind of “fitness routine” during which they practice recalling the material from memory and space out their learning sessions over time. Teaching kids to self-quiz or summarize from memory—and then try it again—is the crucial first step in disabusing students of their “false beliefs about learning.”

The effect sizes are hard to ignore. In a 2015 study , for example, third-grade students who studied a lesson about the sun and then reread the same material scored 53 percent on a follow-up test, the equivalent of a failing grade, while their peers who studied it once and then answered practice questions breezed by with an 87 percent score. And in a 2021 study , middle school students who solved a dozen math problems spread out across three weeks scored 21 percentage points higher on a follow-up math test than students who solved all 12 problems on the same day.

Global education trends and research to follow in 2022

Subscribe to the center for universal education bulletin, emily gustafsson-wright , emily gustafsson-wright senior fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education @egwbrookings helen shwe hadani , helen shwe hadani former brookings expert @helenshadani kathy hirsh-pasek , kathy hirsh-pasek senior fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education @kathyandro1 maysa jalbout , maysa jalbout nonresident fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education @maysajalbout elizabeth m. king , elizabeth m. king nonresident senior fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education jennifer l. o’donoghue , jennifer l. o’donoghue deputy director - center for universal education , senior fellow - global economy and development @jennodjod brad olsen , brad olsen senior fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education @bradolsen_dc jordan shapiro , jordan shapiro nonresident fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education @jordosh emiliana vegas , and emiliana vegas former co-director - center for universal education , former senior fellow - global economy and development @emivegasv rebecca winthrop rebecca winthrop director - center for universal education , senior fellow - global economy and development @rebeccawinthrop.

January 24, 2022

• 12 min read

As the third calendar year of the pandemic begins, 2022 promises to be an important one—especially for education. Around the world, education systems have had to contend with sporadic closures, inequitable access to education technology and other distance learning tools, and deep challenges in maintaining both students’ and teachers’ physical and emotional health. At the same time, not all of the sudden changes precipitated by the pandemic have been bad—with some promising new innovations, allies, and increased attention on the field of global education emerging over the past three years. The key question is whether 2022 and the years ahead will lead to education transformation or will students, teachers, and families suffer long-lasting setbacks?

In the Center for Universal Education, our scholars take stock of the trends, policies, practices, and research that they’ll be closely keeping an eye on this year and likely in the many to come.

More than ever, in 2022 it will be critical to focus on strengthening the fabric of our global education system in order to achieve positive outcomes—particularly through an increased focus on data-informed decisionmaking. We have seen a renewed focus on different forms of data that are critical to enhanced education outcomes, such as real-time performance data, which allow teachers and other decisionmakers to course-adjust to the needs of learners to better support their educational journeys. Additionally, high-quality program cost data are needed for decisionmakers to plan, budget, and choose the most cost-effective interventions.

One way we are seeing these areas strengthened is through innovative financing for education, such as impact bonds , which require data to operate at full potential. This year, pooled funding through outcomes funds—a scaled version of impact bonds—should make a particularly big splash. The Education Outcomes Fund organization is slated to launch programs in Ghana and Sierra Leone, and we also expect to see the launch of country-specific outcomes funds for education such as OFFER (Outcome Fund For Education Results) in Colombia, the Back-to-School Outcomes Fund in India, and another fund in Chile. At the Center for Universal Education, we will be following these innovations closely and look forward to the insights that they will bring to the education sector.

As we look ahead to 2022, one continued challenge for many families is navigating the uncharted territory of supporting children’s learning with a growing number of school closures . But while the pandemic forced an abrupt slowdown in modern life, it also provided an opportunity to reexamine how we can prioritize learning and healthy development both in and out of school. Moreover, the cascading effects of the pandemic are disproportionally affecting families living in communities challenged by decades of discrimination and disinvestment—and are very likely to widen already existing educational inequities in worrisome ways.

One innovative approach to providing enriching learning opportunities beyond school walls that address the inequities in our current systems is Playful Learning Landscapes (PLL) —installations and programming that promote children and families’ learning through play in the public realm. A current focus for PLL at Brookings is measuring the impact of these spaces to show that PLL works and to garner greater investment in them. To that end, Brookings and its partners developed a framework and an initial set of indicators from both the learning science and placemaking perspectives to help assess the positive effects of PLL on learning outcomes , as well as its potential to enhance social interaction and public life in revitalized spaces. The framework will continue to evolve as we learn from communities that are testing the expansion and adaptation of PLL—this important work is just beginning.

The pandemic highlighted several trends in education that promise to be the focus of future policy and practice in 2022 and beyond: the importance of skills that supplement the learning of content, systemic inequities in education systems, and the role of digital technology in the education of the future. It has become increasingly clear that the memorization of content alone will not prepare children for the jobs and society of the future. As noted in a Brookings report “ A new path for education reform, ” in an automated world, manufacturing jobs and even preliminary medical diagnoses or legal contracts can be performed by computers and robots. Students who can work collaboratively—with strong communication skills, critical thinking, and creative innovation—will be highly valued. Mission statements from around the globe are starting to promote a “whole child” approach to education that will encourage the learning of a breadth of skills better aligning the education sector with needs from the business sector.

The past year also demonstrated weaknesses and inequalities inherent in remote learning that I’ll be closely tracking in the years to come. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that virtual learning presents risks to social-emotional learning . Further, research suggests that academic progress during the pandemic slowed such that students demonstrated only 35 to 50 percent of the gains they normally achieve in mathematics and 60 to 68 percent in reading. The losses are not experienced uniformly , with children from underresourced environments falling behind their more resourced peers.

The failure of remote learning also raises questions about the place of digital learning in the classroom. Learning will become more and more hybrid over time, and keeping an eye on advances in technology—especially regarding augmented reality and the metaverse—will be particularly important, as both have real consequences for the classrooms.

In 2022, I’ll be focusing on one group of children in particular–refugees–who are among those children who have historically had the least access to preprimary education. The pandemic has affected them disproportionally , as it pushed them and their families into poverty and deprived them from most forms of education during the school closures.

While much more investment in early childhood education research and evaluation is needed to improve evidence and channel scarce resources effectively, there are a few important efforts to watch. A report commissioned by Theirworld last year provided an overview of the sector and focused on a critical gap and opportunity to address the inequity of access to early childhood education in refugee settings by better supporting teachers and community workers. This year, Theirworld and partners will pursue two of the report’s recommendations–making the science of early childhood brain development widely accessible in refugee communities and building the evidence base on what works in supporting early childhood education teachers and the young refugee children they teach.

The report was informed by existing initiatives including Ahlan Simsim, which in 2017 received the largest known grant to early education in a humanitarian context. While the evaluation of Ahlan Simsim will not be complete until two more years, the Global Ties for Children research center, Sesame Workshop, and the International Rescue Committee will share critical insights into their learning to date in a forthcoming episode of the podcast the Impact Room .

This coming year I’ll be focused on how education systems can prepare for future disruptions, whatever the cause, with more deliberateness. The past two years of the COVID pandemic have seen education systems throughout the globe struggle to find ways to continue schooling. Additionally, there have been other public health crises, natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and severe storms, and wars and terrorism in different parts of the world that have gravely tested school systems’ ability to minimize the cost of catastrophes on students and teachers. Finding safer temporary learning places outside the school and using technologies such as radio, TV broadcasts, and online learning tools have helped, but quick fixes with little preparation are not effective approaches for sustaining and advancing learning gains.

In the age of broadcast and digital technologies, there are many more ways to meet the challenges of future emergency situations, but life- and education-saving solutions must be part of the way school systems operate—built into their structures, their staffing, their budgets, and their curricula. By preparing for the emergencies that are likely to happen, we can persevere to reach learning goals for all children.

By the close of 2021, a number of studies began to document the impact of COVID-19 on girls’ educational trajectories across the Global South. These studies point to promising trends –lower than expected dropout rates and reenrollment rates similar to (if not greater than) those of boys–while still highlighting the particular challenges faced by adolescent girls and girls living in poverty , conflict, and crisis .

In 2022, it will be critical to continue to generate more nuanced evidence—carefully considering questions such as “for which girls,” “where,” “when,” and “why.” And then we must put this knowledge to use to protect and promote girls’ and young women’s rights not just to education, but to participate and thrive in the world around them. Ensuring that marginalized girls and young women become transformative agents in improving their lives and livelihoods—as well as those of their families and communities—requires us to develop new strategies for learning and acting together.

At the Center for Universal Education, this means strengthening our work with local leaders in girls’ education: promoting gender-transformative research through the Echidna Global Scholars Program ; expanding the collective impact of our 33 Echidna alumni; and co-constructing a learning and action community to explore together how to improve beliefs, practices, programs, and policies so that marginalized adolescent girls’ can develop and exercise agency in pursuing their own pathways.

Going into year three of COVID-19, in 2022 I’m interested to see whether countries will transform their education systems or largely leave them the way they are. Will leaders of education systems tinker around the edges of change but mostly attempt a return to a prepandemic “normal,” or will they take advantage of this global rupture in the status quo to replace antiquated educational institutions and approaches with significant structural improvement?

In relation to this, one topic I’ll be watching in particular is how countries treat their teachers. How will policymakers, the media, parent councils, and others frame teachers’ work in 2022? In which locations will teachers be diminished versus where will they be defended as invaluable assets? How will countries learn from implications of out-of-school children (including social isolation and child care needs)? Will teachers remain appreciated in their communities but treated poorly in the material and political conditions of their work? Or will countries hold them dear—demanding accountability while supporting and rewarding them for quality work?

I’m interested in learning more about how pandemic lockdowns have impacted students. So far, we’ve only gotten very general data dealing with questions that are, in my opinion, too simple to be worthwhile. It’s all been about good and bad, positive and negative, learning loss and achievement. But I’ll be watching for more nuanced studies, which ask about specific ways increased time away from school has impacted social-emotional development. How do those results differ between gender, race, socioeconomic status, and geographic location? I suspect we’re going to learn some things about the relationship between home environment and school environment that will challenge a lot of our taken-for-granted assumptions.

In 2022, I’ll be tracking emerging evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 school closures on children and youth. Several researchers, including my co-authors and me , have provided estimates of the school closures’ impact on student learning losses, unemployment, future earnings, and productivity globally. But only recently are researchers analyzing actual evidence of learning losses , and an early systematic review finds that “Although robust and empirical research on COVID-19-related student learning loss is limited, learning loss itself may not be.”

Likewise, there is little rigorous reviews of remote learning tools’ and platforms’ impact on student learning during the school closures. After the pandemic, it is almost certain that remote and hybrid learning will continue—at a minimum occasionally and often periodically—in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. It is urgent that we build the evidence base to help education decisionmakers and practitioners provide effective, tailored learning experiences for all students.

Finally, a key issue for education is how to redesign curricula so that this generation (and future generations) of students gain a key set of skills and competencies required for technologically-advancing labor markets and societies. While foundational literacy and numeracy skills continue to be essential for learning, a strong foundational knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is ever more important in the 21st century, and I look forward to contributing research this year to help make the case for curricula redesign efforts.

I will be interested to see how parent-teacher relationships progress after the pandemic has (hopefully) faded into the background. COVID-19 has had an inescapable impact on the way we deliver education globally, but none more so than on how education leaders and teachers interact with students and their families.

For the past three years, I have been studying family-school collaboration. Together with my colleagues and partners, we have surveyed nearly 25,000 parents and 6,000 teachers in 10 countries around the world and found that the vast majority of teachers, parents, and caregivers want to work together more closely. Quality family-school collaboration has the potential to significantly improve educational outcomes, spur important discussions on the overall purpose of school, and smooth the path for schools and families to navigate change together. From community schools in New Mexico  to text message updates from teachers in India , new innovations are popping up every day—in every corner of the world. I’m excited to see what the future holds for family-school collaboration!

Education Technology Global Education

Global Economy and Development

Center for Universal Education

Emily Markovich Morris, Laura Nóra, Richaa Hoysala, Max Lieblich, Sophie Partington, Rebecca Winthrop

May 31, 2024

Online only

9:30 am - 11:00 am EDT

The Brookings Institution, Washington DC

8:30 am - 4:30 pm EDT

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Hot Topics in Higher Education

Hot topics in higher education: mental well-being, affordability, and transferable skills.

The pandemic had a major impact on higher education, but now that institutions are moving past the disruption and uncertainty it is important to focus on other areas of concern for students, faculty, and administrators. Students' stress has risen (Soria & Horgos, 2021), as have their concerns over debt and affordability (Tretina, 2022), and worries about how well their skills and experiences have prepared them for the world of work (Wiley, 2022). This third installment of the NSSE 2022 Annual Results addresses several trending issues for colleges and universities.

Story Features

• Mental Health: Concern Beyond Covid
• Unpacking Expectations of Affordability
• Faculty Emphasis on Transferable Skills
• Reference and Resources

We explore results from an experimental set on mental wellness, BCSSE data regarding perceptions of cost and affordability, and how data from the Development of Transferable Skills Topical Module can illustrate areas of skill development and their connections to student engagement.

Family and friends were the most supportive of students' mental health, while the institution overall, instructors, academic advisors, and other students provided some support.

Mental Health: A Concern Beyond COVID-19

As we explored in last year’s Annual Results , the COVID-19 pandemic response impacted students’ mental health and well-being in various ways. Given the steady increase in mental health concerns among college students, NSSE designed an experimental item set on mental wellness for the 2022 administration to ask how the COVID-19 response affected students’ academic and personal lives. Encouragingly, both first-year students and seniors felt that many areas had not been affected during COVID-19.

However, students claimed their finances were worse because of the pandemic compared to any other area (Table 1). Other areas that many first-year and senior students indicated got worse were academics and health, but there were more students overall indicating that COVID-19 policies had no effect on these areas. These results make sense given how COVID-19 policies restricted access to both on-campus job and academic opportunities, but they also point to areas where there may be a longer-lasting impact of the pandemic for college student experiences.

Percentages for "Worse" are the sum of "Worse" and "Much worse," and percentages for "Better" are the sum of "Better" and "Much better."

Some Students Experience Negative Behavior

In addition to areas impacted by COVID-19, about 1 in 12 first-year students and 1 in 9 senior students experienced offensive behavior, discrimination, exclusion, or harassment at their institution. Of these respective groups, racial or ethnic identity (35%) and political views (27%) were the top identities by which first-year students experienced mistreatment and racial or ethnic identity (38%), political views (27%), and gender identity (26%) were the top identities by which seniors experienced mistreatment. These negative experiences on college campuses remain troubling issues, especially given the ways race, gender, and politics are debated in society. Institutions should strive for all students to have college experiences free from discrimination and harassment, and educators need to keep such issues at the top of their agendas to promote positive learning environments (Ogunyemi et al., 2020).

A Variety of Support Sources

Students were also asked about the support they received from different groups of people regarding their mental health and wellness. For both first-year students and seniors, family and friends were the most supportive of their mental health, while the institution overall, instructors, academic advisors, and other students provided some support.

About half of students selected ‘not applicable’ for counseling services and student services staff (career services, student activities, housing, etc.) in relation to how much they supported their mental health and wellness. This pattern was consistent for both first year students and seniors; in fact, first-years and seniors diverged little with regard to their sources of support. This might worry some, particularly counseling services, because it may be the case that students underutilize services specifically provided to support their mental health.  

It may also suggest a lack of services provided, a lack of awareness of services or limited availability of counseling support staff to service the number of students who need assistance, especially post-pandemic as more students return to campus for in-person learning. In both scenarios, institutions must find ways to structure counseling and other support services to be accessible and useful in supporting students’ mental health.

Note: The items on mental wellness received responses from 6,132 first-year students and 7,911 seniors from 30 bachelor’s degree-granting colleges and universities in the US in 2022. Percentages in Figure 1 represent the sum of "Very much" and "Quite a bit." 

Students were asked, “Have you experienced offensive behavior, discrimination, exclusion, or harassment at your institution?” and those who responded either “Yes, and it interfered with my ability to succeed as a student” or “Yes, but it did not interfere with my ability to succeed as a student” were counted in the statistics cited above.

Mental Health & Well-Being Topical Module

Mental health and wellness continues to be a necessary area of study in relation to college student development and success. To meet this need, NSSE developed a new module for 2023: Mental Health & Well-Being . The goal of this module is to help institutions understand students’ emotional, psychological, and social wellness. Some of the items, such as those discussed above, were adapted from the experimental items on mental wellness from 2022. However, the entire set departs from focusing on the pandemic to a more generalized understanding mental health and well-being for students into the future.

Unpacking Student Expectations of Affordability

Scholars have documented the impact of the rising cost of higher education in the United States. The combination of high costs, associated economic stress, and shifting perspectives about college value contribute to student's decisions to enroll and remain in college. Many factors predict student retention, including financial stress (Reschly & Christenson, 2022). Though many students and their families experience financial stress, economic opportunities are not equally available across all sectors of society. For example, additional stress factors such as access to healthcare and to high quality public schools are often more keenly felt among some racially minoritized identities.

Given this concern, we dig deeper into the data from entering first-year students who expected a high degree difficulty paying for college. Supporting these students is critical for their academic success, but not all share the same backgrounds, experiences, and resources (Mora, 2022). Understanding who may perceive financial difficulty can help institutions reach out with appropriate supports.

Differences in Expected Financial Difficulty by Racial Identity

Overall, most entering students express a low (27%) or moderate (41%) amount of difficulty paying for college expenses. However nearly 1 in 3 students (32%) are starting out their college experiences expecting a high amount of difficulty paying for college expenses. Given the potentially deleterious effects of this added stress, it is critical that institutions reach out to these students with effective support. However, institutions need to recognize that financial stress does not look the same across all students and that a more nuanced understanding of these students is needed, especially by racial identity.

The proportion of students who expected high difficulty paying for college expenses ranged from 29% among Asian students to 39% among Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students (Table 2). This 10% range highlights that differences that exist across racial identities, with some minoritized groups showing higher percentages.

First-Generation Status Also Plays a Role in Perceived Financial Difficulty

Expected difficulty paying for college can also be analyzed by the education levels of the students’ parents, who often provide financial support (Table 3). Proportionally, about 3 in 4 Hispanic or Latino students who expect high difficulty affording college are also first-generation (no parent or guardian has a bachelor’s degree. See note below), and nearly two-thirds of these Hispanic or Latino students rely on their parents for financial support. In contrast, 42% of Asian students who expected high difficulty are first-generation, and almost all rely on their parents as a financial source. These results highlight the intersection of first-generation status and minoritized groups for students with potential financial stress.

Students May Have Unrealistic Expectations About Working

Not surprisingly, many entering students worked while in high school and expect to work during their first year of college. Entering students worked on average 8 to 14 hours per week during high school and expected to work 11 to 14 hours per week during their first year in college.

Though there was not much variation in expected work hours across racial identities, working 11 or more hours per week while enrolled as a full-time student added considerable stress, especially as students adjust to a college schedule and new academic demands. Yet, about half of these students did not expect a high degree of difficulty managing their time during their first year of college. This discrepancy could reveal an unrealistic expectation students have regarding time management and the added stress of working while being a full-time student. It may also explain why more than a third of these students indicated that it was not very important that the institution helped them to manage “non-academic responsibilities (work, family, etc.).” Recognizing the combination of factors with the group of students who may experience academic stress can help institutions to better target the appropriate resources and assistance, and train advisors and other student support staff to help students manage their time and expectations.

Note: BCSSE data are from more than 49,000 entering first-year students at 102 baccalaureate-level institutions across the United States prior to or at the very beginning of their first semester (Fall 2022). The racial identities of these students were American Indian 2%, Asian 11%, Black or African American 14%, Hispanic or Latino 19%, Middle Eastern or North African 1%, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 1%, and White 61% (sums exceed 100% because respondents could choose more than one).

First generation status was calculated by recoding responses to the question, “Regarding your parent(s), guardian(s), or those who raised you, what is their highest level of education completed by either of them?” Responses indicating that no “parent(s), guardian(s), or those who raised you” has completed a bachelor's degree or higher was recoded as a first-generation college student.

Expected difficulty was asked “During the coming school year, how difficult do you expect the following to be?” with “Paying college or university expenses” as one of six items. Response categories for the expected difficulty questions range from 1 through 6, where 1=Not at all difficult and 6=Very difficult. Responses 1 and 2 were recoded as “Low”, 3 and 4 were recoded as “Medium”, and 5 and 6 were recoded as “High.”

Measuring Types of Transferable Skills as a Return on Investment

With increasing attention on student employability outcomes measured in skill development, universities have begun to focus on how their curriculum provides students with transferable skills (Gray, 2022). Recently, NSSE updated the Development of Transferable Skills Topical Module to address some of these rising areas of interest. Data analysis showed that these items, which ask students about their experiences with developing skillsets, can be subdivided into three categories: Speaking & Complex Discussions, Creativity & Problem Solving, and Complex Writing (Figure 2). Given college and university concern over ensuring improvement of their students’ transferable skills, we wanted to delve a bit further into these results. How are the three categories of transferable skills related to other aspects of student engagement? Do these relate to institutional characteristics? Are certain majors more successful in integrating activities that promote these skills?

For both first-year students and seniors, all three transferable skills scales were positively correlated to all NSSE Engagement Indicators (termed EIs, which are comprised of groups of the core survey items and capture distinct aspects of student engagement), although the relationships were relatively stronger for first-year students. In terms of the various EIs, the highest correlations were between the transferable skills scales and the EIs of Higher-Order Learning and Reflective & Integrative Learning. This suggests that acquiring transferable skills is another aspect of engaging student experiences. Furthermore, all transferable skills scales were negatively correlated to institutional size, meaning that smaller institutions tended to generate greater transferable skills. This relationship was the strongest for Speaking & Complex Discussions.

Comparisons Across Majors Show Strengths and Weaknesses

Transferable skills also varied across major field for seniors (Figures 3.1-3.3). For example, those majoring in social science, communications, and social service professions scored highest on average on Speaking & Complex Discussions, compared with those in health professions and physical sciences, mathematics, and computer science who tended to be lower. For Creativity & Problem Solving we found that engineering majors had the highest levels, in comparison to health professions with the lowest. In contrast, for Complex Writing, the social science & social service professions were among the highest, while engineering and physical sciences, mathematics, and computer science were among the lowest.

Suggestions for Practice

Some of these findings are expected and align with current practices and needs of their respective fields. For instance, writing may be less of a focus in STEM fields, while those majoring in communications may have heightened expectations for verbal discourse. Similarly, larger institutions will logistically need to offer large class sizes, which may inhibit the kinds of activities and assignments that instructors can include in their courses. However, institutions may still be able help their students develop these highly desired skills in other ways. They might explore approaches to incorporate these skills into other department and campus programming and activities, such as major-associated and pre-professional clubs, residence life, clubs and organizations, or work-study positions. For example, the pre-med club or an affinity group organization might offer a “Creativity Night” where students learn different problem-solving techniques, or a residence hall might host discussions of current news or pop culture events with student panelists sharing their views. Incorporating transferable skills into other student experiences can move beyond the classroom for a more holistic approach, and gaining these skills that are valued by employers will provide students a better return-on-investment for their degree.

Note: The sample included 4,893 first-year and 5,944 senior students enrolled at 33 institutions that administered the Development of Transferable Skills Topical Module in 2022.One-way ANOVAs were used to determine statistically significant differences by major. Boxplots display the 25th, 50th (median), and 75th percentile values, whiskers span 1.5 * IQR, and outlying points are plotted individually.

FSSE: Emphasis on Transferable Skills Congruent with Other Best Practices

Faculty can have a major influence on the development of transferable skills, not only in the classroom but also through their roles in academic advising, supervising students in labs or other High-Impact Practices , and organizing co-curricular activities or campus events. The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) offers a Topical Module with parallel items, focusing on transferable skills from faculty perceptions of how often they encourage students to engage in the various skillset-building activities.

Corresponding with those from the NSSE module items, three scales can also be derived from the FSSE module items. These scales were nearly all positively related to the FSSE Engagement scales , similar to the correlations we find for NSSE data (Table 4). It is also worth noting that there was a strong relationship between all three of the transferable skills scales and a faculty emphasis on student-faculty interaction, as well as how faculty structure their courses to meet their course goals of student development and growth. Interestingly, there was a negative correlation (albeit small in magnitude) between Speaking & Complex Discussions and Quantitative Reasoning, perhaps reflective of the tension that some faculty feel between the need to focus on either mathematical or verbal skills, with limited classroom time to cover as many topics as they might like.

Note: All significant at .01 level. Data are from more than 8,000 faculty members at 23 colleges and universities that administered the Transferable Skills, Career, and Workforce Development FSSE Topical Module in 2022. Key: + r > .2, ++ r > .3, +++ r > .4, - r < .2

Gray, K. (2022, November 15). As their focus on GPA fades, employers seek key skills on college grads’ résumés . NACE Center for Career Development and Talent Acquisition. https://www.naceweb.org/talent-acquisition/candidate-selection/as-their-focus-on-gpa-fades-employers-seek-key-skills-on-college-grads-resumes/

Mora, L. (2022, October 7). Hispanic enrollment reaches new high at four-year colleges in the U.S., but affordability remains an obstacle. Pew Research Center . https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/10/07/hispanic-enrollment-reaches-new-high-at-four-year-colleges-in-the-u-s-but-affordability-remains-an-obstacle/

Ogunyemi, D., Clare, C., Astudillo, Y. M., Marseille, M., Manu, E., & Kim, S. (2020). Microaggressions in the learning environment: A systematic review.  Journal of Diversity in Higher Education , 13(2), 97–119.  https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000107

Reschly, A L. & Christenson, S. L. (2022). Handbook of Research on Student Engagement . Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07853-8

Soria, K. M., & Horgos, B. (2021). Factors associated with college students' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of College Student Development , 62(2), 236-242. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2021.0024

Tretina, K. (2022, June 21). Is college worth the cost? Pros vs. cons. Forbes . https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/is-college-worth-it/

Wiley. (2022). The state of the student 2022 . https://www.wiley.com/en-us/network/trending-stories/the-state-of-the-student-adjusting-to-the-new-normal-and-all-that-comes-with-it

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The Joint Special Operations University Press publishes a list of research topics annually. The 2022 list highlights a wide range of topics collaboratively developed and prioritized by experts throughout the Special Operations Forces (SOF) community.

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Research Topics & Ideas: Business

50+ Management Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. If you’ve landed on this post, chances are you’re looking for a business/management-related research topic , but aren’t sure where to start. Here, we’ll explore a variety of  research ideas and topic thought-starters for management-related research degrees (MBAs/DBAs, etc.). These research topics span management strategy, HR, finance, operations, international business and leadership.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the management domain. This is the starting point, but to develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. In it, we cover the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from start to end. Be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic. 

Overview: Business Research Topics

• Business /management strategy
• Human resources (HR) and industrial psychology
• Finance and accounting
• Operations management
• International business
• Actual business dissertations & theses

Strategy-Related Research Topics

• An analysis of the impact of digital transformation on business strategy in consulting firms
• The role of innovation in transportation practices for creating a competitive advantage within the agricultural sector
• Exploring the effect of globalisation on strategic decision-making practices for multinational Fashion brands.
• An evaluation of corporate social responsibility in shaping business strategy, a case study of power utilities in Nigeria
• Analysing the relationship between corporate culture and business strategy in the new digital era, exploring the role of remote working.
• Assessing the impact of sustainability practices on business strategy and performance in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry
• An analysis of the effect of social media on strategic partnerships and alliances development in the insurance industry
• Exploring the role of data-driven decision-making in business strategy developments following supply-chain disruptions in the agricultural sector
• Developing a conceptual framework for assessing the influence of market orientation on business strategy and performance in the video game publishing industry
• A review of strategic cost management best practices in the healthcare sector of Indonesia
• Identification of key strategic considerations required for the effective implementation of Industry 4.0 to develop a circular economy
• Reviewing how Globalisation has affected business model innovation strategies in the education sector
• A comparison of merger and acquisition strategies’ effects on novel product development in the Pharmaceutical industry
• An analysis of market strategy performance during recessions, a retrospective review of the luxury goods market in the US
• Comparing the performance of digital stakeholder engagement strategies and their contribution towards meeting SDGs in the mining sector

Topics & Ideas: Human Resources (HR)

• Exploring the impact of digital employee engagement practices on organizational performance in SMEs
• The role of diversity and inclusion in the workplace
• An evaluation of remote employee training and development programs efficacy in the e-commerce sector
• Comparing the effect of flexible work arrangements on employee satisfaction and productivity across generational divides
• Assessing the relationship between gender-focused employee empowerment programs and job satisfaction in the UAE
• A review of the impact of technology and digitisation on human resource management practices in the construction industry
• An analysis of the role of human resource management in talent acquisition and retention in response to globalisation and crisis, a case study of the South African power utility
• The influence of leadership style on remote working employee motivation and performance in the education sector.
• A comparison of performance appraisal systems for managing employee performance in the luxury retail fashion industry
• An examination of the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction in blue-collar workplaces, A systematic review
• Exploring HR personnel’s experiences managing digital workplace bullying in multinational corporations
• Assessing the success of HR team integration following merger and acquisition on employee engagement and performance
• Exploring HR green practices and their effects on retention of millennial talent in the fintech industry
• Assessing the impact of human resources analytics in successfully navigating digital transformation within the healthcare sector
• Exploring the role of HR staff in the development and maintenance of ethical business practices in fintech SMEs
• An analysis of employee perceptions of current HRM practices in a fully remote IT workspace

Topics & Ideas: Finance & Accounting

• An analysis of the effect of employee financial literacy on decision-making in manufacturing start-ups in Ghana
• Assessing the impact of corporate green innovation on financial performance in listed companies in Estonia
• Assessing the effect of corporate governance on financial performance in the mining industry in Papua New Guinea
• An evaluation of financial risk management practices in the construction industry of Saudi Arabia
• Exploring the role of leadership financial literacy in the transition from start-up to scale-up in the retail e-commerce industry.
• A review of influential macroeconomic factors on the adoption of cryptocurrencies as legal tender
• An examination of the use of financial derivatives in risk management
• Exploring the impact of the cryptocurrency disruption on stock trading practices in the EU
• An analysis of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in academic publishing houses
• A comparison of financial ratios performance in evaluating E-commerce startups in South Korea.
• An evaluation of the role of government policies in facilitating manufacturing companies’ successful transitioning from start-up to scale-ups in Denmark
• Assessing the financial value associated with industry 4.0 transitions in the Indian pharmaceutical industry
• Exploring the role of effective e-leadership on financial performance in the Nigerian fintech industry
• A review of digital disruptions in CRM practices and their associated financial impact on listed companies during the Covid-19 pandemic
• Exploring the importance of Sharia-based business practices on SME financial performance in multicultural countries

Ideas: Operations Management

• An assessment of the impact of blockchain technology on operations management practices in the transport industry of Estonia
• An evaluation of supply chain disruption management strategies and their impact on business performance in Lithuania
• Exploring the role of lean manufacturing in the automotive industry of Malaysia and its effects on improving operational efficiency
• A critical review of optimal operations management strategies in luxury goods manufacturing for ensuring supply chain resilience
• Exploring the role of globalization on Supply chain diversification, a pre/post analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic
• An analysis of the relationship between quality management and customer satisfaction in subscription-based business models
• Assessing the cost of sustainable sourcing practices on operations management and supply chain resilience in the Cocao industry.
• An examination of the adoption of behavioural predictive analytics in operations management practices, a case study of the
• Italian automotive industry
• Exploring the effect of operational complexity on business performance following digital transformation
• An evaluation of barriers to the implementation of agile methods in project management within governmental institutions
• Assessing how the relationship between operational processes and business strategy change as companies transition from start-ups to scale-ups
• Exploring the relationship between operational management and innovative business models, lessons from the fintech industry
• A review of best practices for operations management facilitating the transition towards a circular economy in the fast food industry
• Exploring the viability of lean manufacturing practices in Vietnam’s plastics industry
• Assessing engagement in cybersecurity considerations associated with operations management practices in industry 4.0 manufacturing

Topics & Ideas: International Business

• The impact of cultural differences in communication on international business relationships
• An evaluation of the role of government import and export policies in shaping international business practices
• The effect of global shipping conditions on international business strategies
• An analysis of the challenges of managing multinational corporations: branch management
• The influence of social media marketing on international business operations
• The role of international trade agreements on business activities in developing countries
• An examination of the impact of currency fluctuations on international business and cost competitiveness
• The relationship between international business and sustainable development: perspectives and benefits
• An evaluation of the challenges and opportunities of doing business in emerging markets such as the renewable energy industry
• An analysis of the role of internationalisation via strategic alliances in international business
• The impact of cross-cultural management on international business performance
• The effect of political instability on international business operations: A case study of Russia
• An analysis of the role of intellectual property rights in an international technology company’s business strategies
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and international business strategy: a comparative study of different industries
• The impact of technology on international business in the fashion industry

Topics & Ideas: Leadership

• A comparative study of the impact of different leadership styles on organizational performance
• An evaluation of transformational leadership in today’s non-profit organizations
• The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership and productivity
• An analysis of the relationship between leadership style and employee motivation
• The influence of diversity and inclusion on leadership practices in South Africa
• The impact of Artificial Intelligence technology on leadership in the digital age
• An examination of the challenges of leadership in a rapidly changing business environment: examples from the finance industry
• The relationship between leadership and corporate culture and job satisfaction
• An evaluation of the role of transformational leadership in strategic decision-making
• The use of leadership development programs in enhancing leadership effectiveness in multinational organisations
• The impact of ethical leadership on organizational trust and reputation: an empirical study
• An analysis of the relationship between various leadership styles and employee well-being in healthcare organizations
• The role of leadership in promoting good work-life balance and job satisfaction in the age of remote work
• The influence of leadership on knowledge sharing and innovation in the technology industry
• An investigation of the impact of cultural intelligence on cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in global organizations

Business/Management Dissertation & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a business-related research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various management-related degree programs (e.g., MBAs, DBAs, etc.) to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• Sustaining Microbreweries Beyond 5 Years (Yanez, 2022)
• Perceived Stakeholder and Stockholder Views: A Comparison Among Accounting Students, Non-Accounting Business Students And Non-Business Students (Shajan, 2020)
• Attitudes Toward Corporate Social Responsibility and the New Ecological Paradigm among Business Students in Southern California (Barullas, 2020)
• Entrepreneurial opportunity alertness in small business: a narrative research study exploring established small business founders’ experience with opportunity alertness in an evolving economic landscape in the Southeastern United States (Hughes, 2019)
• Work-Integrated Learning in Closing Skills Gap in Public Procurement: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study (Culver, 2021)
• Analyzing the Drivers and Barriers to Green Business Practices for Small and Medium Enterprises in Ohio (Purwandani, 2020)
• The Role of Executive Business Travel in a Virtual World (Gale, 2022)
• Outsourcing Security and International Corporate Responsibility: A Critical Analysis of Private Military Companies (PMCs) and Human Rights Violations (Hawkins, 2022)
• Lean-excellence business management for small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in Kurdistan region of Iraq (Mohammad, 2021)
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Trends and Topics in Educational Technology, 2022 Edition

• Column: Guest Editorial
• Published: 23 February 2022
• Volume 66 , pages 134–140, ( 2022 )

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• Royce Kimmons 1 &
• Joshua M. Rosenberg 2  

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This editorial continues our annual effort to identify and catalog trends and popular topics in the field of educational technology. Continuing our approach from previous years (Kimmons, 2020 ; Kimmons et al., 2021 ), we use public internet data mining methods (Kimmons & Veletsianos, 2018 ) to extract and analyze data from three large data sources: the Scopus research article database, the Twitter #edtech affinity group, and school and school district Facebook pages. Such data sources can provide valuable insights into what is happening and what is of interest in the field as educators, researchers, and students grapple with crises and the rapidly evolving uses of educational technologies (e.g., Kimmons et al., 2020 ; Trust et al., 2020 ; Veletsianos & Kimmons, 2020 ). Through this analysis, we provide a brief snapshot of what the educational technology field looked like in 2021 via each of these lenses and attempt to triangulate an overall state of our field and vision for what may be coming next.

What Were Trending Topics in Educational Technology Journals in 2021?

Educational technology research topics for 2021 were very similar to previous years, with a few exceptions. In total, we collected titles for 2368 articles via Scopus published in top educational technology journals as identified by Google Scholar. We then analyzed keyword and bigram (two words found together) frequencies in titles to determine the most commonly referenced terms. To assist in making sense of results, we also manually grouped together keywords and bigrams into four information types: contexts, methods, modalities, and topics. Contexts included terms referring to the research setting, such as “COVID-19” or “higher education.” Methods included terms referring to research methods involved in the article, such as “systematic review” or “meta-analysis.” Modalities included terms referring to the technical modality through which the study was occurring, such as “virtual reality” or “online learning.” Last, Topics included terms referring to the intervention, objective, or theoretical goal of the study, such as “computational thinking,” “learning environment,” or “language learning.” The most common bigrams and keywords for each type may be found in Table  1 ; a few items of interest follow.

Bigrams generally provide more specificity for interpreting meaning than do keywords, simply because keywords might have greater variety in usage (e.g., “school” might be used in the context of “primary school,” “secondary school,” “school teacher,” and so forth). So, when interpreting Table 1 , the bigram column is generally more useful for identifying trending topics, though the keyword column may at times be helpful as a clarifying supplement.

“Computational thinking” and “learning environments” were the two most-researched topical bigrams in 2021, and “virtual reality” and “online learning” were the most-researched modality bigrams. Most-referenced methods included “systematic review” and “meta-analysis,” which is noteworthy because such methods are used to conduct secondary analyses on existing studies, and their dominance may suggest an interest in the field to identify what works and to synthesize findings across various contexts within a sea of articles that is ever-increasing in size.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this contextual term was regularly mentioned in many article titles (5.4%). “Pandemic” (3.4%), “emergency” (1.2%), and “shift to” (e.g., digital, online, blended; 0.9%) were also commonly referenced. This suggests that as the world continues to grapple with this multifaceted crisis, educational technology researchers are heavily engaged in addressing educational concerns associated with it (and remote teaching, particularly).

Grade level references in titles further suggested that educational technology research is being conducted at all levels but that it is most prominent at the higher education or post-secondary level and reduces in frequency as grade levels go down, with high school or secondary terms being more prominent than elementary or primary terms, with “higher education” (3.5%) being referenced twice as frequently as “K-12” (1.7%). This is noteworthy as it suggests that research findings associated with educational technology are currently mainly focused on older (and even adult) students and that if results are applied to understanding learners generally, then the needs of adolescents and younger children may currently be relatively underrepresented.

What Were Trending #Edtech Topics and Tools on Twitter in 2021?

Twitter is a valuable source of information about trends in a field because it allows researchers and practitioners to share relevant resources, studies, and musings and categorize posts via descriptive hashtags. The #edtech hashtag continued to be very popular during 2021, and we collected all original tweets (ignoring retweets) that included the #edtech hashtag for the year. This included 433,078 original tweets posted by 40,767 users, averaging 36,090 tweets per month ( SD  = 2974).

Because users can include multiple hashtags on a tweet, we aggregated the frequencies of additional (co-occurring) hashtags to determine the intended audiences (e.g., #teachers, #k12) and content topics (e.g., #elearning, #ai) of tweets. Some of the most popular additional hashtags of each type are presented in Table  2 . To better understand results, we also calculated the representation of each additional hashtag in the overall dataset (e.g., 2% of all #edtech tweets also included the #teachers hashtag) and the diversity of authorship (i.e., the number of users divided by the number of tweets). This diversity score was helpful for understanding how some hashtags were used by relatively few accounts for purposes such as product promotion. For example, the #byjus hashtag, which refers to an educational technology company founded in India, was tweeted 19,546 times. Still, the diversity score was only 3%, revealing that though this was a very popular hashtag in terms of tweet counts, it was being included by relatively few accounts at very high frequencies, such as via focused marketing campaigns.

Notably, several community or affinity space hashtags (Carpenter & Krutka, 2014 ; Rosenberg et al., 2016 ) were among the most common included with #edtech, such as #edchat, #edutwitter, and #teachertwitter. In particular, 13.9% of #edtech tweets also were tagged as #educhat, and 25.7% of #educhat tweets were also tagged as #edtech, revealing relatively high synchronicity between these two spaces. Furthermore, regarding institutional level, #k12 ( n  = 1712) and #highered ( n  = 1770) exhibited similar user counts, as did #school ( n  = 1284) and #highereducation ( n  = 1161), but, interestingly, the #k12 and #school hashtags exhibited nearly twice as many tweets as their #highered and #highereducation counterparts. This suggests that although the communities tweeting about topics for each group may be of similar size, the K-12 community was much more active than the higher education community.

Regarding topics, #elearning, #onlinelearning, #remotelearning, #distancelearning, #virtuallearning, and #blendedlearning were represented at a relatively high rate (in 16.1% of tweets), perhaps reflecting ongoing interest associated with #covid19. Other prominent topical hashtags included emerging technologies, such as #ai ( n  = 2112), #vr ( n  = 917), #ar ( n  = 679), and #blockchain ( n  = 545), as well as subject areas (e.g., #stem) and general descriptors (e.g., #innovation).

Furthermore, one of the primary reasons for tweeting is to share resources or media items. An analysis of these #edtech tweets revealed that 94.4% included either a link to an external site or an embedded media resource, such as an image or video. Regarding external links, prominent domains included (a) news sites, such as edsurge.com , edtechmagazine.com , or edutopia.org , (b) other social media, such as linkedin.com , instagram.com , or facebook.com , (c) multimedia resources, such as youtube.com , anchor.fm, or podcasts.apple.com , and (d) productivity and management tools, such as docs.google.com , forms.gle, or eventbrite.com (cf., Table  3 ).

Twitter communications in 2021 regarding #edtech included chatter about a variety of topics and resources. Shadows of #COVID-19 might be detected in the prevalence of this hashtag with others, like #remotelearning and #onlinelearning, but in many ways it seems that conversations continued to focus on issues of #education and #learning, as well as emerging topics like #ai, #vr, and #cybersecurity, suggesting some level of imperviousness to the pandemic.

What Were Trending Topics among Schools and School Districts on Facebook in 2021?

To examine trending educational technology topics on Facebook, we studied the posts by 14,481 schools and school districts on their public pages. First, one aspect of this analysis concerned the number of posts shared. In our last report, we documented how schools and districts posted more posts than in any other month during March, April, and May 2020—during the earliest and perhaps most tumultuous months of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting the importance of communication during this crisis period, as others have documented with Twitter data (Michela et al., 2022 ). Notably, in 2021, those months remained the most active; apart from those months, the numbers of posts by schools and districts in 2021 were roughly comparable to the numbers in 2019 and 2020 (see Fig.  1 ).

The Number of Posts on Facebook by Schools and School Districts

To understand which technologies were shared on these Facebook pages, we examined the domain names for all of the hyperlinks that were posted. Despite the myriad social and other changes experienced by schools from 2019 to 2021, link domains shared on Facebook exhibited remarkable consistency: Youtube, Google Docs, Google, and Google Drive—Google or tools created by Google—were the four most frequently shared for each of these years (Table  4 ). Note that the n represents the number of schools or districts sharing one or more links to these domains (of the 14,481 total school and school district pages). Thus, the 8278 indicates that 57.2% of schools and districts posted one or more links to YouTube over the 2021 year. These were followed by Zoom, which was also widely shared in 2020 (though not in 2019), and then Google Sites (which was shared frequently in 2020). The CDC and 2020 Census’s websites dropped from the list of the top ten most frequently shared domains in 2021, despite having been widely shared in 2020. Otherwise, the results are largely comparable between 2019, 2020, and 2021, indicating that schools and districts continued to use a core set of productivity tools despite the many disruptions and changes over this period.

We also examined the contents of the messages of schools’ and school districts’ posts. To do so, we considered the technologies identified by Weller ( 2020 ) in his history of the past 25 years of educational technology, as in our report for last year. Specifically, we searched the contents of the messages posted by schools and districts for the inclusion of the terms that correspond to technologies Weller identified as being representative of a particular year. While the domains shared by schools and districts demonstrated remarkable consistency, the contents of the messages posted by schools and districts varied substantially, especially when considering the changes from 2019 to 2020 and from 2020 to 2021. To illustrate, consider mentions of “e-learning,” which Weller identified as the focal point of 1999. In 2019, 834 messages that mentioned “e-learning” were posted by schools and districts, but in 2020, the number increased around ten-fold to 8326 mentions. Though it may have been expected for mentions of “e-learning” to remain somewhat constant during 2021, instead we saw a marked downturn to 1899 (or a 78% drop). This trend—a sizable increase in how often certain technologies were mentioned in 2020 relative to 2019 that was not sustained in 2021—was also found for mentions of “learning management systems,” “video,” and “Second Life and virtual worlds,” among others. Indeed, the only noteworthy increase in mentions of these technologies from 2020 to 2021 was for “artificial intelligence”.

Summary and Discussion

By triangulating the 2021 snapshots of each of these three data sources—Scopus, Twitter, and Facebook—we can begin to see a state of the educational technology field pressing into the future. Results on specific terms or topics may be useful for individual researchers and practitioners to see the representation of their areas of interest. Still, some common takeaways that emerge from all three sources include the following.

First, we found an emphasis on “e-learning”—particularly in Twitter and Facebook posts—as well as “blended learning” (Twitter) and “online learning” (journal articles). Notably, COVID-19 (and related terms) were also frequently mentioned. These findings align with how mentions of “e-learning” spiked during the 2020 year when the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on education were especially disruptive, but their ongoing presence also suggests that interest in these topics will likely extend outside and beyond the context of the pandemic.

Second, we note a keen interest in emergent technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality, particularly on the part of researchers (as evidenced by how frequently these terms were mentioned in journal articles published in 2021). At the same time, we note that this interest has not yet crystallized into the sustained adoption and use of these emergent technologies—a point bolstered by the relatively limited mention of these technologies in the Facebook posts of schools and school districts. Thus, we think we as a field must wait and see whether interest in these technologies is lasting or transient.

Last, we found an ever-increasing reliance on several corporate entities for productivity and sharing. This was especially the case for Google and tools created by Google: YouTube, Google Docs, and Google Drive, in particular. Indeed, such tools are such an established part of our work (and educational) context that we might hardly think of them as tools. Furthermore, tools created by Google and several other corporations—including social media platforms themselves—were also prevalent in the content of the tweets we analyzed. While we do not believe it is a bad decision on the part of individuals or educational institutions to use these and other tools, there are also some potential downsides to their use that we think invite critical questions (Burchfield et al., 2021; Krutka et al., 2021 ).

As a result of these common takeaways, we will now conclude with three questions for educational technology researchers and practitioners to consider.

Pandemic Bump Vs. Ubiquity

First, many have wondered whether changes in educational technology catalyzed by the pandemic will yield sustained, ubiquitous changes to the field, or if adjustments represent only a short-term bump of interest—as may be the case with emergency remote teaching tools and strategies used in the early days of the pandemic (Hodges et al., 2020 ). One of the takeaways from our Facebook analysis was that while some productivity technologies appeared to have remained consistently used on the basis of our domain analysis (e.g., Google Docs), mentions of many specific technologies in the messages of the posts by schools and districts appeared to have been more transitory in nature, such as in the cases of “e-learning” and “learning management systems.” This suggests at least two possible interpretations. One is that these technologies were used in transient response to an unprecedented period of emergency remote instruction—though tools associated with remote teaching and learning continue to be used, their use was primarily a temporary, emergency measure. Another is that these tools were mentioned less because they have become a more ubiquitous but less visible tool used by teachers and learners. Learning management systems may still, of course, be widely used, but schools and districts may be sharing about their role less through their public social media platforms because they may already be familiar to students and their parents. While we cannot say why there was a dramatic increase followed by a decrease in the use of many educational technologies over the period from 2019 through 2021, our analysis indicates that many tools are, at least, being communicated about much less over the past year than in the preceding year when the pandemic began in the U.S.

Technocentrism Vs. Focusing on Learners and Improving Educational Systems

Second, though emerging technologies are obviously an essential component of our field, one of the perennial challenges we must grapple with is our relationship to these technologies. Are we technocentric, as Papert ( 1987 , 1990 ) warned, or do we focus on learning and improvement? In our results, we notice that technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality were very frequently referenced in comparison to most other modalities or topics of research. As processing and graphical rendering capabilities continue to become more compact and inexpensive via headsets, smartphones, and haptic devices, we would expect these technologies to continue to receive ongoing attention. Though there are certainly valuable learning improvement opportunities associated with such technologies (Glaser & Schmidt, 2021 ), we might also justifiably wonder whether the volume of attention that these technologies are currently receiving in the literature is concomitant to their actual (or even hypothetical) large-scale learning benefits—or whether current fascination with such technologies represents a repeat of other historical emphases that may not have panned out in the form of systemic educational improvement, such as in the case of MUVEs (cf., Nelson & Ketelhut, 2007 ).

Limited Broader Impacts on Larger Social Issues

Finally, to reiterate our critiques from previous years (Kimmons, 2020 ; Kimmons et al., 2021 ), we continued to see a dearth of references to important social issues in scholarly article titles, including references to social matters upon which educational technology should be expected to have a strong voice. For instance, terms relating to universal design ( n  = 0), accessibility ( n  = 4), privacy ( n  = 8), ethics ( n  = 12), security ( n  = 8), equity ( n  = 6), justice ( n  = 1), and (digital and participatory) divides ( n  = 1) were all very uncommon. Though “ethics” was the most common of these terms, it only was represented in 1-in-200 article titles, and though current “practices with student data represent cause for concern, as student behaviors are increasingly tracked, analyzed, and studied to draw conclusions about learning, attitudes, and future behaviors” (Kimmons, 2021 , para. 2; cf., Rosenberg et al., 2021 ) and proctoring software becomes increasingly ubiquitous (Kimmons & Veletsianos, 2021 ), “privacy” was only mentioned in 1-in-333 article titles and “proctor*” was only in 1-in-600 titles. In our current pandemic context, we have often heard educational technologists lament the fact that decision-makers and those in power may not seek our guidance in addressing issues related to the pandemic that would clearly benefit from our expertise. And yet, the absence of other socially-relevant topics from our research suggests that we may be challenged to leverage our work toward addressing matters of larger social or educational importance ourselves. A focus on the social matters and the social context around educational technology use, then, remains an opportunity for research and development by the educational technology community in the years ahead. This seems especially salient as our data suggests that the field is heavily influenced by big technology corporations like Google and Facebook that historically have been critiqued for violating ethical expectations of privacy and failing to support social good. As educational technology researchers and practitioners, we are primed with the position and expertise necessary to shape the future of ethical technology use in education. Hopefully, we can step up to this challenge.

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100+ Research Topics for Physiotherapy Students in 2022

Team Desklib

Published: 2022-08-18

The physiotherapy profession has addressed the significance of teaching students the fundamentals and applications of research through its published educational accreditation criteria and normative model of professional education.

The goal of Research Topics for Physiotherapy Students  is to conduct a long-term study of students in relation to their perception of research knowledge, perception of the best source to use when making clinical decisions, and their perception of the best tools to use when managing patients in a clinical setting.

How Physiotherapy Students can Choose Manageable Research Topics?

Discover what is already known about your issue and what unanswered research questions exist after reviewing it. The most recent literature will likely be the source of your research question.

What details and research remain on your problem? Which publications you discovered have you had "implications for future research"? Research Topics for Physiotherapy  Students  can take many different forms. Let's go through these topics one by one -

Top 25 Interesting Physiotherapy Research Topics

• Knee osteoarthritis can be treated with quadriceps workouts and Kinesio taping.
• Knee osteoarthritis can be treated with ultrasound therapy and knee joint mobilization.
• Effectiveness of resistance training and therapeutic ultrasonography in rheumatoid arthritis.
• Effect of nerve mobilization and gliding procedures in carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Contrasting the effects of conventional physical therapy methods with phonophoresis in osteoarthritis.
• Shoulder exercises for people who have had CABG.
• Effects of strengthening exercises and Kinesio taping for diastasis recti in postpartum women.
• Techniques for mobilization and hold relaxation for limited knee range of motion.
• Exercises that increase strength and use an alternating current to treat knee osteoarthritis
• Exercises that build muscle are used to treat shoulder pain in diabetics.
• Effectiveness of strengthening exercises and interferential current in the treatment of cervical discomfort.
• Effect of Kinesio taping and therapeutic ultrasonography on knee injuries.
• A randomized control experiment evaluating the effectiveness of Kinesio taping in treating shoulder discomfort.
• Contrasting the results of therapeutic ultrasound and dry needling for the relief of trapezius trigger points.
• Exercise's effects on a premenopausal woman's bone health.
• Effects of strengthening exercises and lumbar traction on chronic radicular lumbar back pain
• Exercises for strengthening and cervical traction for persistent neck discomfort
• A randomized control experiment using dry needling for cervical discomfort.
• A randomized control experiment evaluating the effectiveness of cervical mobilization in migraine.
• A randomized control experiment evaluating the effectiveness of stretching activities for treating low back pain.  
• Exercises for strengthening help with neck pain.
• Effects of pelvic floor exercises and therapeutic ultrasonography on the relief of persistent pelvic pain
• In an ankle injury, therapeutic ultrasound and Kinesio taping are used.
• Computer users' neck pain can be reduced using therapeutic ultrasound and trigger point release.
• Trigger point release helps female patients with lumbar back discomfort.

Top 25 Physiotherapy Research Topics for College Students

• Effect of trigger point release and therapeutic ultrasonography on the relief of neck discomfort in university students.
• An RCT looked at the impact of lumbar traction on calf muscle soreness.
• Impact of trigger point release in treating student thoracic back discomfort.
• Therapeutic ultrasonography with trigger point release for the treatment of persistent pelvic pain.
• Therapeutic ultrasound and trigger point release for piriformis muscle discomfort.
• Trigger point release's effects on reducing biceps discomfort.
• Scapular mobilization for shoulder pain relief.
• The effectiveness of therapeutic ultrasound and quadriceps muscle trigger point release in reducing knee pain
• Trigger point release and therapeutic ultrasound's effects on calf muscle discomfort.
• Effects of therapeutic ultrasound and trigger point release on treating tennis elbow discomfort.
• Effects of therapeutic ultrasound and trigger point release on golfer's elbow pain.
• Randomized controlled trial contrasting the benefits of therapeutic ultrasound and shock wave on heel spur pain.
• Impact of trigger point release and therapeutic ultrasound on reduction of SI joint discomfort.
• The effectiveness of cervical neck mobilization and therapeutic ultrasonography.
• Effect of mobilization in experiencing dizziness again.
• The ability of therapeutic ultrasonography to ease knee pain
• Techniques for easing shoulder discomfort
• Mobilization and therapeutic ultrasound for postpartum women with carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Comparison of the effects of shock wave therapy versus the standard physiotherapy routine for treating fibromyalgia.
• Contrasting the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and interferential current for the treatment of chronic low back pain.
• Effectiveness of prenatal exercise program for sacroiliac joint treatment
• Interferential current in a randomized controlled trial for the treatment of rotator cuff muscle rupture pain.
• Contrasting the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and interferential current for the treatment of neck discomfort.
• The effectiveness of therapeutic ultrasound and mobilization in easing wrist discomfort.
• Therapeutic ultrasound's effect on reducing lumbar back pain.

Top 25 Current Physiotherapy Research Topics 

University students who suffer from thoracic back discomfort can benefit from therapeutic ultrasound treatments.

• Impact of therapeutic ultrasound and mobilization in easing pain in the SI joint.
• Contrasting the effects of conventional physiotherapy and shock wave therapy on cervical discomfort.
• Effects of conventional physical therapy and shock wave therapy for plantar fasciitis.
• Shock wave therapy and conventional physical therapy methods are used to treat lateral epicondylitis.
• Medical epicondylitis treatment procedure using physiotherapy.
• Contrasting the results of standard physiotherapy and shock wave therapy.
• Contrasting the effects of shock wave therapy and conventional physical therapy methods for treating trapezius trigger points
• Protocol used in conventional physical therapy to address low back pain.
• Treatment plan for piriformis syndrome.
• Contrasting the effects of shock wave therapy and conventional physical therapy methods for treating shoulder discomfort
• For the treatment of knee osteoarthritis, interferential current and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is used.
• Interferential current in a randomized controlled trial for the treatment of pain following complete hip replacement.
• Comparative analysis For the treatment of bicep muscle pain, interferential current effects and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation are used.
• Effects of phonophoresis on bicipital tendinitis in a randomized controlled experiment.
• A randomized control experiment on the effects of phonophoresis for De Quervain's tenosynovitis.
• Effects of phonophoresis for the treatment of Achilles tendinitis in a randomized controlled experiment.
• A randomized control experiment evaluating the effects of phonophoresis for the treatment of lateral epicondylitis.
• Using transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated.
• Interferential current under controlled study to treat pain following a shoulder replacement.
• Contrasting the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and interferential current for the treatment of piriformis syndrome.
• A trial-based investigation of phonophoresis's effects in the treatment of coccydynia.
• A Randomized Controlled Trial using the interferential current to treat meniscal tear pain
• Contrasting the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and interferential current for the treatment of lumbar back muscle spasm.
• Exercises that improve posture and build muscle are used to treat acute occupational neck pain.

Some Advance Physiotherapy Research Topics 

• A randomised control experiment evaluating the effectiveness of shortwave diathermy in treating knee osteoarthritis.
• A randomized control trial of manual therapy for treating vertigo.
• Kinesiotaping is used to treat persistent low back pain.
• Manual therapy's effects on the treatment of SI joint pain in postpartum women
• Low back pain management with infrared therapy.
• A controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of short-wave diathermy with infrared therapy for the treatment of chronic low back pain.
• Exercises for stretching and strengthening to address forward head position.
• Kinesiotaping for female population bladder issues
• Kinesiotaping's effectiveness in treating patellofemoral pain syndrome.
• Results of a randomized control experiment on the effects of shock wave therapy for migraine management.
• A comparison of the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation with the interferential current for the treatment of shoulder pain.
• Phonophoresis for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized control trial study.
• Prenatal exercise program's effectiveness in treating neck and shoulder discomfort
• Contrasting the results of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation with the interferential current.
• An analysis of the effectiveness of a prenatal exercise program for the treatment of low back pain.
• Competitive research on the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and interferential current for the treatment of lateral epicondylitis.
• Effects of phonophoresis for the treatment of neck pain: a randomized control experiment.
• For the treatment of medial epicondylitis, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation is used, and the effects of interferential current are compared.
• A comparison of the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation with the interferential current for the treatment of persistent pelvic pain.
• A randomized control experiment evaluating the effects of phonophoresis on the treatment of SI joint discomfort.
• Contrasting the effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and interferential current for the treatment of sacroiliac joint pain.
• Interferential current in a randomized controlled trial for the treatment of pain following total knee replacement.
• Exercises to strengthen the core and correct posture are used to address acute occupational low back pain.
• Frozen shoulder treatment with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and a comparative investigation of the effects of interferential current.
• A Study at an Indian Primary School on Inclusive Education Environments from the Teachers' Perspective.
• Learning methodologies and their relationship to self-study time are compared between students in a lecture-based curriculum and those who use problem-based learning.

Conclusion -

In this descriptive study of professional physiotherapy students, we sought to evaluate the students' self-reported feelings of comfort and confidence in reading and apply research findings published in the literature, their personal reading habits, and their general beliefs about the value of research to their professional careers and of basing clinical practise on research findings.

Research Topics for Physiotherapy Students show that although there were noticeable improvements by the program's conclusion, attitudes about research have not changed permanently in areas like individual motivation for participation in research and the importance that physical therapists accord to research.

Further Readings - 

• 120 Hot Research Topics for Nursing Students
• Top 50+ Research Topics for High School Students in 2022
• A Thorough Analysis of Market Research
• Research for Psychology and Personality Disorder
• Mental Health Research Topics for Students in 2022
• 4 Tips on How to Find Homework Answers Quickly
• How to Write Different Types of Research Paper ?
• Desklib: Designed to solve plagiarism issues
• 10 Tips to Motivate with Desklib Homework Help  

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150 Original Accounting Research Paper Topics

Our academic experts understand how hard it can be to come up with original accounting research paper topics for assignments. Students are often dealing with multiple responsibilities and trying to balance numerous deadlines. Searching the web or class notes takes up a lot of time. Therefore, we have put together our list of 150 accounting research topics that students can choose from or gather inspiration from.

Managerial Accounting Topics for College Students

This area of study has tremendous upside as more businesses rely on managerial accountants to bring innovative changes to their organizations. Here is a list of topics for research paper in this area:

• Differences between financial accounting and managerial accounting.
• Managerial accounting in the 21 st century.
• The impact of managerial accounting in big businesses.
• The major components of activity-based costing.
• How managerial accounting affects international finance.
• The impact managerial accounting has on human resources.
• The major components of capital budgeting.
• How managerial accounting affects internal business decisions.
• Effective ways of adopting managerial accounting into small businesses.
• Differences between variable costing and absorption costing.

Accounting Blog Topics for Today’s Generation

The following collection can be considered accounting hot topics because they deal with the issues that are most important to today’s generation of accountants that utilize advanced software to keep businesses successful:

• Cost of manufacturing goods overseas.
• The cost of instituting anti-harassment programs.
• Inventory and cost of products sold in the U.S.
• Reinventing accounts payable processes.
• Using best practices to boost the bottom line.
• The cost of keeping human resources on staff.
• Simplifying procedures in accounts payable.
• The cost of updating internal systems with technology.
• The cost-effectiveness of employee training.
• Working capital increasing in large companies.

Advanced Accounting Topics

As students advance academically, they may want to consider these topics for research paper to earn higher scores in their classes. Here are some suggestions:

• How to run an efficient large accounting department.
• Red flags in outdated accounting processes.
• Identifying unconventional processes in payment processes.
• Utilizing paperless processes in small businesses.
• Applying EDP to accounts payable processes.
• The benefits of automating payables and receivables.
• Outsourcing procurement processes to save money.
• Automation to handle repetitive processes.
• The need for diversifying skills in accounting.
• The ways time affects seasonal cash flow.

Controversial Accounting Topics

Many accounting topics for research papers need to draw a reader’s attention right from the start. This list of topics is controversial and should accomplish just that:

• The impact the Jobs Act will have on large businesses.
• The positive effects tax cuts will have on small business.
• The risks of offshore accounting on U.S. businesses.
• The need to update software each year to avoid accounting problems.
• How small businesses are falling behind in accounting practices.
• The impact bonus depreciation allows businesses.
• Applying to government relief programs.
• Describe the role the internet has on accounting.
• The trustworthiness of online accounting programs.
• The negatives of auditing collusion.

Intermediate Accounting Topics

These accounting paper topics are meant for students that have acquired skills in writing but may not have developed the skills needed to write a top-notch paper quite yet. They should be easy to research given a proper planning period:

• Discuss why companies need to incorporate automated processes.
• The problems with ethics in accounting practices.
• Technology advancements that improve accounting accuracy.
• The problem with accuracy in decade-old software.
• Explain the best way to help accountants work manually.
• Describe the historical prospect of best accounting practices.
• The most effective way to become a certified accountant.
• Compare accounting systems that improve processes.
• The quick flow of data and the value on today’s accountants.
• The negatives that come from relying on accounting software.

Interesting Accounting Topics

Sometimes you need to consider accounting project topics that would be great for numerous situations. You may need to present before a class or write a paper for a discussion panel. These ideas may suit your needs:

• Explain the concept of accounting theory to practice.
• The theories behind normative accounting practices.
• The effect theories in accounting have on businesses.
• Challenges of taking theory to practice.
• The major changes in accounting practices over the last 25 years.
• The impact the internet has had on accounting ethics.
• Accounting practices in the 21 st century.
• The challenges of accounting technologies on fast-growing companies.
• The dangers the internet poses toward ethical accounting.
• Describe the difficulties that come from putting theories into practice.

Accounting Projects Topics for a Short Project

Some cost accounting topics are worthy of an audience but need to be completed within a tight deadline. These project ideas are easy to research and can be completed within one week:

• Use of efficient accounting software in tax season.
• Applicable Professional and Legal Standards.
• The difficulties in using offshore accounting.
• The most effective way of managing earnings.
• The development of cash flow in the United Kingdom.
• The development of cash flow in the United States.
• The best way to manage personal finances.
• The effect financial markets have on personal spending.
• Debt management in large corporations.
• Accounting challenges during the pandemic.

Forensic Accounting Research Topics

This is another area of accounting that has a promising future for small to large businesses. Here are forensic accounting research paper topics you can use if you are interested in this booming segment:

• Methods for identifying instances of money laundering.
• The government’s right to search private accounts.
• The use of tax records to report possible crimes.
• Class action litigation cases in the United States.
• Court use of forensic accounting in criminal cases.
• Forensic accounting to develop better anti-fraud programs.
• A company’s reliance on forensic accounting to prevent theft.
• Establishing controls in emerging international markets.
• Forensic accountants and their role in court proceedings.
• Natural disaster and loss quantification practices.

Accounting Theory Topics for College

Good accounting thesis topics should mirror personally important issues. Essay ideas should reflect the things you want to learn more about and explore in-depth. Here is a list that may pique your interest:

• Impact of accounting research on financial practices.
• Scientific research studies in modern economies.
• Modern accounting concepts and applications.
• The change in accounting practices over the last two decades.
• Describe the components of Positive Theory.
• Marketplace discipline across major industries.
• Major accounting theories and techniques in big businesses.
• The use of technology to reduce accounting costs.
• Technology theory in the use of modern accounting.
• Risk management and the most effective theories.

Accounting Dissertation Topics for Grad Students

The following topic ideas delve into some serious issues in accounting and are much more difficult to handle. These should be approached with the utmost academic determination to earn a master’s or a Ph.D.:

• Compare accounting software versus manual accounting.
• Tax management procedures in the 21 st century.
• The risks of updated technology in small companies.
• The costs associated with broader health care in the workplace.
• The history of accounting in the 20 th century.
• The best method of managing debts without difficulties.
• Accounting problems caused by online transactions.
• Cryptocurrency and its impact on modern accounting practices.
• Forecasting jobs in the field of accounting.
• The danger technology poses to the accounting industry.

Current Accounting Topics for College

If you don’t have enough time to research current topics in accounting, these ideas will help you save time. There are plenty of online resources discussing current issues and you can also find information in the library:

• Compare and contrast different cryptocurrencies.
• The definition of a successful and modern business account.
• Non-profit organizations and tax reductions.
• Sports accounting in today’s world of social media.
• The financial benefits of having a second stream of revenue.
• Financial stock management of overall earnings.
• The relationship between corporate donations and accounting.
• Minimizing risks in big and small-sized businesses.
• The impact that tax deductions have on big businesses.
• Financial strategies to ensure employee retention.

Hot Topics in Accounting for a Graduate Level Course

These are the topics you should be considered for a graduate-level course if you want to make a great impression on the professor. Just be sure to do your due diligence and research your selected topic thoroughly:

• The instances of “cooking books” in the 21 st century.
• The best approach to update accounting systems.
• Fraud cases currently in the United States.
• The importance of forensic accountants in fraud cases.
• The reasons account reports have government regulations.
• The benefits of incorporating computerized accounting.
• The need for companies to make changes to accounting departments.
• Evolving accounting practices that reduce the risk of theft.
• The effects offshore gambling has had on accounting.
• Privacy protocols to keep accounting practices secret.

Financial Accounting Topics Being Discussed Today

Topics in accounting are rooted in financial processes that date back centuries. Yet, there are still many innovative ideas that drive business success. Consider these topics for an essay on issues that are current for today’s world:

• The evolution of accounting practices over the last century.
• The biggest ethical concerns about accounting.
• Minimizing taxes when you are a small company.
• Accounting software that will cut company costs.
• The best way to lower taxes through accounting practices.
• Describe the way managerial accounting is affected by international markets.
• Explain the major factors of management earnings.
• The most accurate way to figure out the estimated tax on a company’s earnings.
• The quickest way to become a certified accountant.
• Describe how culture influences accounting practices.

Accounting Information Systems Research

The next set of topics are great for anyone wanting to combine accounting with technology. We put together this set to generate interest in this area:

• The ways small businesses can benefit from advanced technologies.
• Describe how IT affects financial analysis for reporting.
• Explain how companies use AIS to collect and store data.
• Explain the 10 elements used to understand AIS.
• Rank the best accounting information systems.
• The future of AIS in small business financial practices.
• Explain how AIS eliminates the use of balance sheets.
• AIS technologies save money in large businesses.
• The future of AIS in small to mid-size businesses.
• Describe the role of AIS in modern business.

Accounting Presentation Topics for College

These presentation topics cover a wide range of areas that are perfect for diverse interests. At the college level, students must conduct a lot of academic research to guarantee they have all the most relevant information needed to present on a great topic:

• Describe how forensic accounting can reduce risk to small businesses.
• Describe the challenges value and cost that managers deal with.
• The biggest changes to accounting practices in the 21 st century.
• The benefits of having separate controlling accounts.
• The rapid flow of data and the importance of modern accountants.
• Describe how forensic accountants conduct their investigations.
• The most likely causes of financial instability in small businesses.
• Explain the factors one must consider before investing.
• Describe the differences between financial and management accounting.
• Describe the impact of new taxation policies on managerial accounting.

What do you think of our accounting research topics? These are available for free and can be shared with other students. If you need a custom list of accounting topics, our academic experts can take your assignment details and provide you with original and simple accounting research topics to facilitate your project and help you earn a top grade. We can also provide you with writing, editing, and proofreading services to ensure your assignment is error-free and gets you the highest score possible.

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Which social media platforms are most common, who uses each social media platform, find out more, social media fact sheet.

Many Americans use social media to connect with one another, engage with news content, share information and entertain themselves. Explore the patterns and trends shaping the social media landscape.

To better understand Americans’ social media use, Pew Research Center surveyed 5,733 U.S. adults from May 19 to Sept. 5, 2023. Ipsos conducted this National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) for the Center using address-based sampling and a multimode protocol that included both web and mail. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race and ethnicity, education and other categories.

Polls from 2000 to 2021 were conducted via phone. For more on this mode shift, read our Q&A.

Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and  its methodology ­­­.

A note on terminology: Our May-September 2023 survey was already in the field when Twitter changed its name to “X.” The terms  Twitter  and  X  are both used in this report to refer to the same platform.

YouTube and Facebook are the most-widely used online platforms. About half of U.S. adults say they use Instagram, and smaller shares use sites or apps such as TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter (X) and BeReal.

Note: The vertical line indicates a change in mode. Polls from 2012-2021 were conducted via phone. In 2023, the poll was conducted via web and mail. For more details on this shift, please read our Q&A . Refer to the topline for more information on how question wording varied over the years. Pre-2018 data is not available for YouTube, Snapchat or WhatsApp; pre-2019 data is not available for Reddit; pre-2021 data is not available for TikTok; pre-2023 data is not available for BeReal. Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown.

Source: Surveys of U.S. adults conducted 2012-2023.

Usage of the major online platforms varies by factors such as age, gender and level of formal education.

% of U.S. adults who say they ever use __ by …

• RACE & ETHNICITY
• POLITICAL AFFILIATION

This fact sheet was compiled by Research Assistant  Olivia Sidoti , with help from Research Analyst  Risa Gelles-Watnick , Research Analyst  Michelle Faverio , Digital Producer  Sara Atske , Associate Information Graphics Designer Kaitlyn Radde and Temporary Researcher  Eugenie Park .

Follow these links for more in-depth analysis of the impact of social media on American life.

• Americans’ Social Media Use  Jan. 31, 2024
• Americans’ Use of Mobile Technology and Home Broadband  Jan. 31 2024
• Q&A: How and why we’re changing the way we study tech adoption  Jan. 31, 2024

Find more reports and blog posts related to  internet and technology .

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• Published: 22 April 2022

University students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a consensus statement from the UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN)

• Jane A. Sedgwick-Müller 1 ,
• Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick 2 ,
• Marios Adamou 3 ,
• Marco Catani 4 ,
• Rebecca Champ 3 ,
• Gísli Gudjónsson 5 ,
• Dietmar Hank 6 ,
• Mark Pitts 7 ,
• Susan Young 8 &
• Philip Asherson 9  

BMC Psychiatry volume  22 , Article number:  292 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poor educational outcomes that can have long-term negative effects on the mental health, wellbeing, and socio-economic outcomes of university students. Mental health provision for university students with ADHD is often inadequate due to long waiting times for access to diagnosis and treatment in specialist National Health Service (NHS) clinics. ADHD is a hidden and marginalised disability, and within higher education in the UK, the categorisation of ADHD as a specific learning difference (or difficulty) may be contributing to this.

This consensus aims to provide an informed understanding of the impact of ADHD on the educational (or academic) outcomes of university students and highlight an urgent need for timely access to treatment and management.

The UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN) convened a meeting of practitioners and experts from England, Wales, and Scotland, to discuss issues that university students with ADHD can experience or present with during their programme of studies and how best to address them. A report on the collective analysis, evaluation, and opinions of the expert panel and published literature about the impact of ADHD on the educational outcomes of university students is presented.

A consensus was reached that offers expert advice, practical guidance, and recommendations to support the medical, education, and disability practitioners working with university students with ADHD.

Conclusions

Practical advice, guidance, and recommendations based on expert consensus can inform the identification of ADHD in university students, personalised interventions, and educational support, as well as contribute to existing research in this topic area. There is a need to move away from prevailing notions within higher education about ADHD being a specific learning difference (or difficulty) and attend to the urgent need for university students with ADHD to have timely access to treatment and support. A multimodal approach can be adapted to support university students with ADHD. This approach would view timely access to treatment, including reasonable adjustments and educational support, as having a positive impact on the academic performance and achievement of university students with ADHD.

Peer Review reports

Going to university can be an exciting experience, but it is also a daunting and stressful experience for new and returning students. The pressure to do well academically and cope with an array of lifestyle changes, can impact on the mental health and wellbeing of university students, especially students with ADHD who are transitioning from adolescence into adulthood [ 1 ]. This transitional phase defines a critical developmental stage in life termed “emerging adulthood” [ 2 ]. Institutions of higher education (HEIs or universities) are arguably designed for the kind of identity exploration that defines emerging adulthood. This includes leaving home to go to university, and perhaps for the first time, being independent and responsible for managing one’s own finances and dietary needs, whilst at the same time being exposed to a multitude of different worldviews and new opportunities for friendships, romances, partying and work [ 3 ]. Emerging adulthood is also recognised as a peak period for experimentation with substance use or high-risk sexual and other behaviours, and for the onset or exacerbation of mental health problems including self-harm and suicide [ 4 ]. The mental health and wellbeing of university students is a cause for concern [ 1 , 5 ], and the experience of the expert group is that emerging adults with ADHD may be particularly vulnerable during and after transitioning to university.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood and frequently persists into adulthood. ADHD is clinically defined by persisting symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity that can cause functional impairments in multiple domains of daily life. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual version 5 (DSM-5) [ 6 ], and the International Classification of Diseases version 11 (ICD-11) [ 7 ], diagnostic requirements for ADHD are broadly similar. For this reason, and since the ICD-11 officially comes into effect in January 2022, in this report, reference is made to DSM-5 diagnostic requirements for ADHD in adults. Table 1 lists some typical characteristics and behaviours seen in adults with ADHD, including university students. It is also not uncommon for university students with ADHD to present with co-occurring specific learning differences (or difficulties) (SpLDs), developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) or dyspraxia as the former term, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety, depression, personality, eating, and substance use disorders [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. A significant majority of university students with ADHD will experience academic difficulties to varying degrees of severity [ 15 , 16 ]. Previous studies refer to “educational or academic outcomes” in terms of academic achievement ( attainment of information and skills learnt, grades obtained on continuous assessments such as standardised examinations or coursework ) and academic performance ( completed years of schooling, enrolment into university, final grades awarded, retention, and progression ) [ 17 ]. Evidence suggests ADHD will impact on these different academic domains in a negative way [ 18 ].

Historical context

The historical context matters a lot for understanding the ways in which ADHD exists in society, including how it is perceived, experienced, and managed. Within UK HEIs, ADHD is perceived and/or conceptualised as a SpLD [ 22 ]. In the special educational needs and disability (SEND) code of practice (0 to 25 years), ADHD is conceptualised as a social, emotional, and mental health difficulty [ 23 ], and in the DSM-5 and ICD-11, ADHD is defined as “ the most common mental health disorder in childhood that often persists in adulthood ” [ 6 , 7 ]. These conceptual differences reflect how the nomenclature, understanding of functional impairments, and clinical characteristics of ADHD within different professional contexts have evolved over time. However for some authors, it was the inception of compulsory education in the late nineteenth century, rather than advances in the medical sciences, that transformed ADHD into a salient societal concern [ 24 ]. In the UK, when compulsory education was first instituted, government funding to schools including salaries for teachers, was based on the numbers of students that attended school for at least 100 days per academic year and passed standardised examinations in the 3Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic) [ 25 ]. This system, known at the time as “payment by results” [ 26 ], is said to have also motivated teachers to raise concerns about students who struggled to pass the 3Rs examinations, and eventually these students were deemed uneducable in mainstream schools [ 27 , 28 ]. Some of these students were described as “… hyperactive, distractible, unruly and unmanageable in school … frequently disturbing the whole class … quarrelsome and impulsive … often leaving the school building during class time without permission ” [ 29 ], p.15).

The Egerton Royal Commission [ 30 ], was first to examine the problem of uneducable students in mainstream schools. In its final report the umbrella term “feeble-minded”, although pejorative today, was introduced to categorise students assessed and certified as needing special education. Arguably, feeble-mindedness is the antecedent for a variety of social, emotional, mental and physical health difficulties that can cause learning problems for a sub-set of students. The early use of the term in education also marked the medicalisation of poor scholastic performance and failure [ 31 ]. Although Still’s observation of a “ moral defect without intellectual impairment ” in school children [ 32 ], was heralded as an early descriptor of the contemporary medical concept of ADHD [ 33 ], the term feeble-minded categorised all “ children who could not be properly taught in ordinary elementary schools by ordinary methods, ” and this included the children who Still had described [ 34 ]. In the early twentieth century, new research on the heritability of intelligence roused a relentless eugenic enterprise to eradicate feeble-mindedness by preventing its procreation [ 35 ]. These events coincided with the development of psychometric tests of intelligence [ 36 , 37 , 38 ], and their use within education became the means by which students were differentiated as either feeble-minded or “simply dull/backward”. The former group of students were sent to newly established residential colonies for care and management under the Mental Deficiency Act 1913, whilst the dull/backward students continued to be educated within mainstream schools [ 39 ].

In 1913, Cyril Burt (1883–1971), the father of educational psychology in the UK, was the first psychologist to be appointed by the London County Council (LCC) to assess students referred under the Mental Deficiency Act. Burt administered psychometric tests with these students, conducted extensive ground-breaking research into educational backwardness, developed standardised tests for use in schools and provided teachers with psychological advice on how best to manage emotional and behavioural disorders in students [ 40 ]. Through his work, Burt argued that intellectual ability was on a continuum, intelligence between boys and girls was the same, academic performance and achievement was variable, and that learning differences (or difficulties) observed in students considered dull, backward, feeble-minded or maladjusted, constituted a single problem [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. Burt’s seminal work on educational backwardness was insightful, in the sense that it not only associated causes of backwardness in students with low scores on a psychometric test or other environmental factors, but also with disorders of temperament and conduct. One category within these disorders was the “excitable and unrepressed child” [ 44 ], and descriptors of this disorder are clearly akin to the characteristics of ADHD known today. Interestingly, Burt published his work on the “backward child” in 1937, the same year that Charles Bradley in the USA reported on the positive effects of psychostimulant medication in students who exhibited various behaviour disorders [ 45 ].

The influence of Burt’s work on educational policy and provisions for students with special educational needs was profound [ 46 ]. It was reflected in the landmark Warnock Report on special education [ 47 ]. The recommendations of Warnock Report compelled legislators to enshrine the policy of inclusion within the Education Act 1981, and to introduce the broad concept of “special educational needs” (SEN) to categorise students with a range of learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Descriptors of SEN have since transformed into those listed in the current SEND code of practice (0 to 25 years) [ 23 ]. But despite all this early work, ADHD has continued to be a contentious and controversial medical diagnosis in UK, with one study reporting that only “ 73 hyperactive children were seen at the Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospital in London between 1968 and 1980 ” [ 48 ], p.16–17). Following the publication of a protocol for the treatment of ADHD based on DSM-IV criteria [ 49 ], diagnostic rates of ADHD increased in the UK and continued to do so with subsequent publications of clinical guidance for the diagnosis and management of ADHD in children, young people, and adults [ 50 ]. There are still many challenges with regards to timely access to diagnosis and treatment for university students with ADHD, and support for practitioners and educators who have reported ADHD as one of the most challenging disorders to deal with in university students [ 51 ]. These views echoed in the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) report on support for disabled students in higher education in England for the Office for Students (OfS) [ 52 ]. This IES report noted that “… providers [university disability services] were facing a number of, often shared, challenges ...” (p.132), which included dealing with a rising numbers of university students with ADHD and complex mental health needs. One provider quoted by the IES said that:

“… the support provisions for disabled students is understandably being affected by external factors. How to manage that impact is a focus for the disability and dyslexia team… this includes… the number of students with ADHD which has grown dramatically in recent years. This group of students are very challenging to support for both the service and for academic staff. The disability and dyslexia service need training and development to enable them to both support these students and the academic staff working with them ... ” [ 52 ] p.134).

Effects of ADHD within higher education

In the UK, across Europe and worldwide, there is a paucity of research about university students with ADHD. Previous studies mostly seem to originate from North America, where research activity in this topic area has been ongoing since the 1990s, and the impact of ADHD on the educational outcomes of college (or university) students is more widely understood. A comprehensive review of these studies was conducted by Sedgwick [ 21 ], and a summary of the main findings are presented in Table 2 .

ADHD and intellectual giftedness

The relevance of intellectual giftedness to university students with ADHD was considered by the expert group. Intellectual giftedness is another contested concept variously defined as exceptional intellectual ability, academic talent, or high-potential learners, with concurrent traits of creativity, curiosity, effort, and self-motivation [ 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Intellectual giftedness is referenced in the Canadian ADHD Practice Guidelines [ 57 ], but not in the DSM-5 or ICD-11 [ 6 , 7 ], or other clinical guidelines [ 50 ]. Research suggests that intellectual giftedness can either over-shadow or compensate for attention difficulties, or the behaviours associated with ADHD can over-shadow traits of intellectual giftedness, and that students with both ADHD and intellectual giftedness can be difficult to identify or assess using standardised measures and observational checklists [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. The co-existence of ADHD in intellectually gifted individuals, including university students, is controversial. The theories of positive disintegration [ 63 ], and asynchronous development [ 64 ], have both been used to understand various aspects of intellectual giftedness in students with ADHD. Important areas of current research include the potential misdiagnosis of intellectual giftedness as ADHD, and the occurrence of ADHD and intellectual giftedness as a dual diagnosis [ 65 ].

Intellectual giftedness in students with ADHD is thought to be under-identified by parents, educators, psychologists, and physicians. Brown et al., for instance, reported that “ adults with IQ scores in and above superior range have often sought evaluation and treatment for chronic difficulties with organizing their work, excessive procrastination, inconsistent effort, excessive forgetfulness, and lack of adequate focus for school and/or employment. They question whether they might have an attention deficit disorder, but often they have been told by educators and clinicians that their superior intelligence precludes having ADHD ” [ 66 ], p.161).

Intellectual giftedness does not preclude having ADHD, and in some university students with ADHD it could mitigate some deficits in executive function and allow them to flourish academically or to go on and have successful careers [ 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Some authors proposed that a degree of autism (or savantism) could foster a special talent in gifted individuals [ 70 ], including individuals with ADHD [ 71 , 72 ]. Other authors warn that intellectual giftedness may only be a protective factor for students with ADHD during their pre-18 school years [ 59 , 73 ]. This may change when they transition into higher education where self-directed learning becomes an essential academic skill and when challenges such as living away from a structured home environment, or needing to be more organised, can precipitate a worsening of ADHD symptoms and significant levels of impairment start to emerge [ 74 , 75 ]. These issues may become more apparent in post-graduate students, who are selected based on their undergraduate academic achievements [ 56 , 76 , 77 ]. Empirical studies between 2000 and 2014 about the identification, misdiagnosis and dual diagnosis of intellectual giftedness and ADHD were reviewed by Mullet and Rinn, [ 65 ]. From this review, traits of intellectual giftedness versus ADHD have been compiled for the purposes of clarity. These are listed in Table 3 below.

In sum, this report presents a selective review of previously published literature on ADHD in university students and consensus based on expert opinions. It aims to critically examine and discuss the impact of ADHD on educational outcomes of university students and provide evidence-based, practical advice and guidance on how best to support these students during their programme of studies. Expert consensual advice and guidance in relation to screening and diagnostic assessments for ADHD in adults, specific interventions for university students with ADHD, a potential model for service provision, staff training and development, will contribute to existing research in this topic area.

The purpose of the expert consensus meeting was to formulate practical advice, guidance, and recommendations for supporting medical, mental health, educational and disability practitioners who work with university students with ADHD. This report is based on previously published literature that was identified, selected, collated, and critically reviewed using a framework for scoping studies [ 78 ], as well as the professional experience of the expert group. The consensus meeting was convened by the UK Adult ADHD Network ( www.UKAAN.org ) in July 2017. UKAAN is an organisation founded in 2009 by a group of mental health specialists, responding to NICE guidelines [ 50 ], and recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) [ 79 , 80 ], for the purpose of providing support, research, education, and training to professionals working with adults with ADHD. The aims of the consensus meeting were to address the following questions:

Is ADHD a hidden disability within higher education institutions (HEIs)?

Is ADHD a specific learning (difficulty) or difference?

What are the similarities and differences between ADHD, specific learning (difficulties) or differences & other mental health conditions?

What is the impact of stigma?

What constitutes best practice for supporting university students with ADHD?

Service provision

Screening & diagnostic testing

Pharmacological & non-pharmacological interventions

Staff training and development

Meeting attendees included the authors and 48 other mental health, neurodiversity, and disability practitioners, learning assessors and 2 university students with ADHD from England, Wales, and Scotland. The authors who attended the meeting represented a multidisciplinary group of prescribing and non-prescribing clinicians, practitioners, and academics, with extensive experience and expertise in working with adults with ADHD, including university students. Attendees engaged in conversations throughout the day with the aim of achieving consensus. The meeting was structured around presentations on relevant topics that are listed below, and the personal accounts from the 2 university students with ADHD, followed by questions, and answers (Q&As).

The first author facilitated discussions among the attendees to elicit verbal accounts of experience and to reach a consensus position on the topic being discussed. At the end of the meeting, the first author presented a summary of the main points previously agreed (which are listed in Table 4 ), and then asked the attendees to raise a hand to indicate whether they agreed with each point being raised. This is line with the phenomenological methodological framework that was used to gain an emic or “insiders” perspective of the attendee’s experiences, knowledge, and expertise of working with university students with ADHD [ 81 , 82 ]. The consensus meeting started with an overview of the neurobiology of ADHD to set the scene, then invited speakers presented on the following topics:

The effectiveness of stimulant medication in treating ADHD.

Academic coaching for university students with ADHD.

The SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC) guidelines for the assessment of ADHD in university students.

Tele-psychiatry: Internet based treatment services for university student with ADHD.

The student experience: What is it like to be a university student with ADHD?

The attendees and speakers consented to the presentations and discussions being audio recorded. After the meeting, the recording was transcribed verbatim with care taken to remove all identifiable information. Authorship of the manuscript was based on involvement during the meeting, a willingness to work on the manuscript after the meeting, clinical and professional expertise in the assessment and treatment of ADHD in university students. The first author (JSM) consolidated the presentations, data from the transcripts and notes relevant to the main points agreed in the meeting, into a manuscript that was circulated amongst the authors for review, revision, final agreement, and approval. This manuscript reflects the clinical experience and expertise of the authors and is supported by published literature.

Results and consensus outcome

The series of questions and summary of main points addressed during the meeting were collated and are discussed below. A summary of the main recommendations is listed in Table 10 .

Only one study was found that reported on the prevalence of ADHD in UK university students. In this study Pope et al. [ 83 ] used the Conners’ Adult ADHD Self-Rating Scale to assess for symptoms of ADHD in 1185 undergraduate psychology students from four UK universities. The findings revealed that about 7% of these students self-reported above-threshold symptoms of ADHD. In a study from the USA, DuPaul et al. [ 84 ] reported that at least 25% of college students with disabilities were diagnosed with ADHD. Among university students in China ( n  = 343), and in the USA ( n  = 283), ADHD was reported to be around 5% in the USA cohort and 8% in the Chinese cohort [ 85 ]. These data clearly depict variability, with some reported rates suggesting a higher prevalence of ADHD among university students, when compared to the reported worldwide prevalence estimate of 2–3% for ADHD in adults [ 10 ]. However the studies that reported higher prevalence estimates (e.g., Norvilitis et al. [ 85 ] did seem to have determined the presence of ADHD based on a count of symptoms alone, and did not assess functional impairments to meet full diagnostic requirements for ADHD. Perhaps if functional impairments had also been considered, prevalence rates of ADHD in university students may have been similar to the prevalence rates reported for adults [ 86 ].

University students with ADHD are part of a much bigger group of disabled students that are represented within the widening participation (WP) strategy that forms a major component of higher education policy in the UK [ 87 ]. The WP strategy requires HEIs in the UK to collect, analyse, and respond to data on disabled students. To do so, HEIs utilise UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), codes and categories of disability listed in Table 5 . As shown, ADHD is listed “ G – Specific Learning Difference e.g., dyslexia, dyspraxia, or ADHD .” The Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA, https://www.hesa.ac.uk ) also collect, process, and publish data about disabled students within higher education in the UK. Figure 1 depicts percentages of the HESA Data for “ UK domiciled students’ enrolments by disability and sex” based on a total number of 307,975 for the academic years 2014/15–2018/19 [ 22 ]. From this data it is also not possible to ascertain a prevalence estimate for ADHD among university students or even to identify if ADHD exists within higher education.

Disabled university students in the UK. Source: Table 15: UK-domiciled student enrolments by disability and sex , for the academic year 2018-19, (total number of disabled students 316,380) [ 22 ]. NB: There are high rates of overlap between ADHD and both SpLDs and mental health conditions, but the prevalence of ADHD is unknown, because there is no separate category for it

Figure 2 depicts in percentages published data from 25 HEIs in Ireland, based on a total number of 12,630 university students who declared a disability for the academic year 2016/17 [ 88 ]. There are clear similarities between this data and the HESA data depicted in Fig. 1 . But there are also differences in the numbers of university students who declared a mental health condition (27% in the UK vs. 13.9% in Ireland), a specific learning difference (UK 36% vs. Ireland 41.4%) and autism spectrum disorder/ASD (UK 4% vs. Ireland 5.4%). In Ireland, data is also collected on university students who declare a developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD, or dyspraxia, 6.1%) and ADHD (5.2%), but similar data is not collected in the UK. During the consensus meeting there was unanimous agreement that ADHD should no longer be subsumed under the category of a SpLD. The obvious consequence of continuing to do so is that a prevalence estimate for ADHD in UK university students will always be hard to ascertain.

Disabled university students in Ireland. Source: Fig. 3 Breakdown of students by Category of Disability 2016/17 (total number of disabled students 12,630) [ 88 ]

Recommendation 1. The categorisation of ADHD

The expert group recommends that ADHD should no longer be subsumed under the category of a SpLD in HESA data return categories or by university services and should be coded or categorised separately. If ADHD continues to be coded or categorised as an SpLD then no specific data about the numbers of university students who declare ADHD as a disability within UK HEIs will be collected. ADHD is a mental health condition and not a SpLD. ADHD has specific diagnostic criteria within the DSM-5 [ 6 ], and ICD-11 [ 7 ], as well as efficacious treatments (medication and psychosocial interventions) [ 89 , 90 ]. A separate code to categorise ADHD within UK HEIs could result in greater recognition of the disorder and increase understanding about how it impacts on academic performance and achievement.

What are the differences between ADHD and SpLDs?

Dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and dyspraxia (or DCD) and ADHD are all categorised as SpLDs within UK HEIs. However, in the DSM-5, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dysgraphia are grouped together under a single diagnostic category of “specific learning disorder” (SLD, or learning disorder), whilst DCD is classified separately as a motor disorder and ADHD as a neurodevelopmental disorder [ 6 ]. SpLDs are not synonymous with SLD, but a university student who has been diagnosed with a SLD can also expect to meet criteria for a SpLD, be registered as disabled and qualify for reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010. Specifiers and characteristics of SLD and typical SpLD terms used in higher education are listed in Table 6 . Unlike ADHD, there are no known medical treatments for SLD (or SpLDs), therefore reasonable adjustments (or accommodations) are required to limit their impact within educational settings. Reading disorder (RD, e.g., dyslexia) is the most prevalent SpLD reported to account for up to 80% of all SpLDs [ 91 ]. Bidirectional comorbidity between RD and ADHD which is estimated at 25–40%, is likely due to shared genetic risk factors [ 92 ]. This may also explain why deficits in executive function are seen in both ADHD and RD [ 93 , 94 ]. Executive functions (EF) are described as a set of top-down mental skills essential for academic performance. In Table 7 , EFs are conceptualised in terms of their organisational and regulatory functions. The three commonly described EFs are inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility [ 95 , 96 ]. Although research suggests that deficits in EF can adversely impact academic functioning due to the problems they can cause with sustaining attention, forgetfulness, procrastination, organisation skills, prioritising, regulating alertness, emotional and behavioural self-control, psychometric tests of EF are still not sensitive enough to assess for the core deficits of ADHD [ 97 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 ].

The Baddeley and Hitch [ 107 ] conceptual model of working memory (WM) in Fig. 3 , proposes that WM is a core EF for storing and manipulating information, and with a central role in attention, allocating data to its slave systems (phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad), performing task switching, mental arithmetic, problem solving and interfacing with long-term memory through the episodic buffer. The episodic buffer acts as a temporary store for the phonological loop, which processes spoken and written information, whilst the visuo-spatial sketchpad processes visual imagery. Although this model can be used to understand the importance of WM in academic tasks such as reading, comprehension, verbal reasoning (phonological loop), navigation (visuo-spatial processing) and problem-solving (central executive) [ 107 , 108 , 109 , 110 , 111 ], the model can also be used to understand how deficits in WM might occur in both ADHD and reading disorder [ 93 ]. Reading disorder (e.g., dyslexia) is defined by deficits in decoding the speech sounds of words and structure of language (phonological weakness), fluency (an inability to ready quickly with appropriate expression) and processing speed [ 11 , 91 , 93 , 102 ].

Model of Working Memory (Adapted from Baddeley [ 111 ]

Processing speed (PS) is not an EF per se, rather it is said to be a cognitive ability that describes the amount of time it takes to identify, understand, react, or respond to information received, whether it be visual (letters and numbers), auditory (language) or movement [ 112 ]. Since PS is surmised to impact on WM, phonological loop and visuo-spatial sketchpad processes, and the fine motor co-ordination associated with DCD, it’s impact on academic performance is also said to be direct [ 113 ]. PS is an index score on the WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale), measured by rapid automatized naming of pictured objects, letters, numbers, and colours [ 112 ]. Slow PS or PS deficits, often identified by a low PS score on the WAIS, has been associated with reading disorder [ 102 ], ASD and ADHD [ 114 ]. This also means when a student is identified with PS deficits on the WAIS for instance, certain academic tasks, such as an examination which requires “ an ability to quickly come up with an answer and retrieve information from memory ”, may take longer to complete, hence these students tend to be awarded extra writing time for examinations as a reasonable adjustment [ 115 ], p4). PS deficits are also implicated in the comorbidity between ADHD and reading disorder [ 116 ], the combined effect of which may produce more severe learning problems than when each of these disorders occurs on its own [ 11 , 117 , 118 ]. High rates of comorbidity are also reported between ADHD and other SpLDs (e.g., dyscalculia and dysgraphia), and other disorders such as DCD and ASD, with similar combined effects as those surmised between ADHD and RD, but a paucity of research limits understanding of the severity of cognitive deficits in these comorbidities and their impact on academic functioning [ 8 , 14 , 70 , 119 , 120 , 121 ].

Recommendation 2. ADHD and SpLDs

Comorbidity between ADHD and other neurodevelopment disorders, which include SpLDs, adversely impacts on academic functioning. The expert group therefore recommends screening for ADHD as part of routine practice for university students who report learning difficulties that seem to be associated with dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia and/or ASD, not only because these conditions are highly likely to co-occur [ 8 , 11 , 14 ], but ADHD can be missed if a student is only screened for SpLDs and/or ASD. For students that screen positive for ADHD, a referral for treatment and management by a suitably qualified mental health professional (e.g., student health GP, psychiatrist, or mental health nurse/practitioner) is important. Although ADHD on its own can provide an explanation for learning problems within higher education, it can also add complexity to the learning problems associated with SpLDs, DCD or ASD. These complexities need to be considered when assessing for, and/or awarding reasonable adjustments. Screening tools that are used in routine practice are listed in Table 8 .

What are the differences between ADHD and other mental health conditions?

It is equally important to differentiate ADHD from other mental health conditions and to consider the impact of these conditions on university students with ADHD when they do co-occur. Year-on-year increases in the number of students declaring a mental health condition at university have been observed, with current prevalence estimates of 27% amongst university students who declare a mental health disability before or during their programme of studies (see Fig. 1 ). A study by Anastopoulos et al. [ 16 ] examined rates and patterns of co-occurring disorders in 443 university students with ADHD. The findings of this study revealed that 55% of these students had at least one comorbidity whilst 32% had two or more, and that commonly reported comorbidities with ADHD were depressive and anxiety disorders. These elevated rates differ from rates reported in an epidemiological study conducted in 20 high, medium, and low-income countries involving 26,774 adults with ADHD. This study found that 23% of these adults with ADHD had at least one mental health comorbidity, while 14% had two or three comorbidities, and that commonly reported comorbidities with ADHD were also anxiety disorders (34%), mood disorders (22%), as well as behavioural disorders (15%) and substance use disorders (11%) [ 10 ]. Similar findings were reported in qualitative studies, although the participants in these studies, also reported positive aspects of ADHD such as high levels of energy and drive, creativity, hyper-focus, agreeableness, empathy, self-acceptance, and a willingness to assist others [ 132 , 133 ].

During the consensus meeting the discussion mostly focused on university students who frequently reported anxiety and depression. Different types of anxiety (e.g., generalised anxiety disorder, social anxiety, specific phobias, agoraphobia, panic disorder, substance/medication induced anxiety ), or depressive disorders (e.g., mood dysregulation disorder, major depressive disorder, dysthymia, premenstrual dysphoria, substance/medication induced depression ), were discussed in relation to ADHD. Major depressive disorder (MDD) does show some overlap with ADHD symptoms such as poor concentration and working memory performance, but in MDD these characteristics are episodic and only arise during periods of low mood, anhedonia (loss of interest/enjoyment in ordinary experiences), or when there are ruminations dominated by negative content, and appetite disturbances, which are not characteristic of ADHD [ 134 ]. In contrast, people with ADHD usually present with attention regulation problems. This means they may be able to focus during highly stimulating or interesting tasks and activities, but problems with concentration will remain regardless of mood state [ 19 ]. Poor concentration and restlessness are also symptoms that are shared between anxiety disorders and ADHD. Anxiety disorders are characterised by fluctuations in pathologic worry, fear, and somatic symptoms, which drive concentration problems, whereas in ADHD, problems with attention and restlessness, drive concentration problems and reflect persistent traits that are independent of anxiety [ 134 ].

University students with ADHD can present to medical, counselling, and disability services with problems related to anxiety and/or depression, because challenges of university life can also play an important role in affected mental health. Both anxiety and depression are frequently co-occurring conditions in adults with ADHD [ 10 ], as well as in university students with ADHD [ 16 ]. However, it is still important to be aware that symptoms of ADHD can mimic both anxiety and depression [ 19 ], and that anxiety and depression can in turn affect attention, concentration, processing speed, and motivation, giving rise to poor performance on reading, writing, attending classes and group work [ 135 ]. University students with ADHD can also be prone to “test anxiety” and experience disabling levels of worry, emotional and somatic symptoms, that exacerbates their ability to focus and perform during evaluative assessments such as examinations. This may further increase the risk that they achieve poor grades, or delay completing their programme of studies [ 136 , 137 ]. More generally, symptoms of ADHD can be misdiagnosed for anxiety, mood, or personality disorders. This may be an issue for females with ADHD whose symptoms are more likely to reflect internalising symptoms and emotional dysregulation [ 138 ].

Emotional dysregulation is a prominent feature in ADHD and is listed in the DSM-5 as a characteristic that supports the diagnosis of ADHD [ 6 ]. Research suggests that up to 80% or more adults with ADHD report significant levels of emotional dysregulation/lability marked by irritability, volatility, a hot temper, low frustration tolerance and sensitivity to criticism [ 139 , 140 , 141 ]. These attributes do reflect a part of the normal range of mood symptoms for people with ADHD, but if severe, then they can also be misconstrued for MDD, bipolar disorder or a personality disorder. Emotional lability (EL) in adults with ADHD tends to manifest as short-lived emotional outbursts, or feelings of irritability, frustration, or anger that is often (but not always) in response to daily events [ 140 ]. Studies on EL in adults with ADHD also suggest that it is more closely linked to the development of low self-esteem and poor self-concept, when compared to the other core features of ADHD [ 140 , 142 ]. University students with ADHD who have problems with EL are more likely to encounter additional challenges with making and maintaining academic and social relationships [ 143 ], or with participating in group work, team sports, societies, or other activities at university, especially if they frequently express anger, sadness, or anxiety when with others [ 144 ].

University students with ADHD who do not cope well with anger or sadness may also use tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, or other drugs; sex, gambling, or gaming as coping strategies [ 145 , 146 , 147 ]. Some students with ADHD may not be able to control their alcohol intake for instance, and binge drink often or report more drinking-induced blackouts, loss of friends or romantic partners as a result of their drinking habits [ 147 ]. In the study by Rooney et al., [ 148 ], although students with ADHD did not report higher levels of alcohol use, they did report more dangerous/hazardous use. In another study when university students with ADHD escalated their substance use, they increasingly skipped classes and reductions in their academic grades were observed [ 149 ]. Although similar problems are seen in clinical practice with other drugs of abuse such as cocaine [ 150 ], some drugs are used to control symptoms of ADHD. For example, cannabis may help reduce some ADHD related problems such as restlessness, EL and problems getting to sleep [ 151 ]. In contrast to poor mental health, emotional wellbeing is increasingly being viewed as important for enhancing a student’s motivation to learn, academic performance and interpersonal skills. Studies have shown that reducing stress, and increasing enthusiasm, contentment, joy, hope, pride, exuberance, and elatedness are linked to improvements in academic self-efficacy, interest, effort, engagement, performance, and achievement [ 152 , 153 , 154 , 155 , 156 ]. There are also positive aspects of ADHD that can be useful at university [ 133 ].

Recommendation 3. ADHD and mental health conditions

The expert group recommends that university students who present with enduring anxiety and depression, and report persistent problems with learning or studying, should be screened for ADHD. ADHD can mimic these conditions, and likewise, anxiety and depression can mimic ADHD. Anxiety and depression may also reflect a normal stress response to the educational and psychosocial impairments of ADHD. Screening for ADHD should therefore be conducted in all students diagnosed with, or frequently complaining about, anxiety or depression (or other chronic mental health problems), particularly when they are taking medication and there is no or only limited improvements in their mental state. For students that screen positive for ADHD, a referral for treatment and management by a suitably qualified mental health professional (e.g., student health GP, psychiatrist, or mental health nurse/practitioner), is important.

What is the impact of stigma on university students with ADHD?

Stigmata are the beliefs, attitudes and structures that interact at an individual, group, or institutional level, to discriminate against a person based on a perceivable social characteristic that sets them aside from others [ 157 ]. ADHD, a diagnostic label, is a perceivable social characteristic that can be stigmatised as laziness, bad behaviour, or as having “special needs” [ 158 , 159 ]. There are lingering myths, misconceptions, negative stereotypes, and labels associated with ADHD [ 160 ]. Some medical professionals in the UK, Europe, and Australia, have expressed doubts about whether ADHD is real, over-emphasising the aetiological role of parenting, or questioning the role of stimulant medication in its treatment [ 161 ]. In one study a group of university students were asked to rate the likelihood of interacting with, collaborating on a group project with, getting to know, becoming friends with, living with, working with, or dating a peer with either ADHD, a general medical condition, or an ambiguous flaw such as perfectionism. Peers with ADHD were rated as less socially desirable than peers in the other two groups [ 162 ]. In young people with ADHD, although self-stigma can present as a sense of feeling different from same age peers or by negative self-evaluations, some young people have also challenged ADHD related stigma by openly disclosing and talking about their diagnosis [ 163 ].

Some professionals may fear treating a “fake disease” or causing a drug dependency by prescribing stimulant medication, even though there is no empirical evidence to support these views [ 50 , 158 , 164 ]. Missing or failing to identify ADHD is more likely to happen in university students who are intellectually gifted, getting good grades, or in those, particularly females, who may be misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, eating or personality disorders [ 50 , 138 , 158 ]. Some studies from the USA suggest that university students without ADHD can malinger for the purposes of obtaining a prescription for stimulant medication for use as “study drugs” [ 165 , 166 ]. Malingering with ADHD for this purpose may be a phenomenon more often observed in the USA, where ADHD is more commonly diagnosed and treated in primary care. This is not the same as in the UK and Europe more generally, where ADHD in adults is an under-diagnosed and under-treated condition and suitably qualified and trained medical or non-medical prescribers (e.g. mental health nurses or pharmacists) treat ADHD [ 19 ]. From the perspective of the expert group, concerns about malingering can further stigmatise university students with ADHD in the UK, as well as discourage disclosure, bias the way a screening or diagnostic assessment is conducted and result in a failure to recognise a legitimate disorder with an effective treatment. The experience of the expert group is that malingering with ADHD is not common (even unusual) for university students in the UK. Instead, they tend to work exceptionally hard to overcome their deficits associated with ADHD and still experience academic outcomes that fall below that expected from their general intellectual ability. The need to tackle the stigma associated with ADHD was discussed during the consensus meeting, in terms of how it deterred disclosure, seeking a formal diagnosis, taking medication, or seeking additional support. Concerns about disclosing ADHD (or other mental health conditions) were also noted in the Institute for Employment Studies report to the Office for Students [ 52 ].

Recommendation 4. ADHD and stigma

The expert group recommends that targeted programmes of training for university student support staff should include psychoeducation, how to screen for ADHD and use recommended strategies for supporting university students with ADHD. This training can also be used to raise awareness about the potential stigma associated with ADHD, its consequences and potential impact on the screening and diagnostic process, willingness to disclose ADHD at university and accept treatment.

What is best practice for supporting university students with ADHD?

In the UK, clinical guidance recommends that the medical diagnosis of ADHD must be done by a suitably qualified practitioner, and with primary care staff providing support through shared care protocols [ 50 ]. The expert group is aware that at present, waiting times for access to treatment via specialist NHS adult ADHD clinics can be anything of up to two years or longer in some areas of the country. Given the high cost of tuition fees for university and living expenses, plus added pressures to complete a university degree on time, students with ADHD simply cannot afford to wait two or more years to access treatment in specialist NHS services, without risking poor academic performance, failure, drop-out or increased burden of illness. For some of these students the misuse of caffeine products, cannabis, alcohol, or stimulants (licit or illicit) may seem like attractive options for self-medication. Seeking an educational diagnosis of a SpLD, funded through the university disability service, maybe an attractive option that can enable access to educational support. But if the core symptoms of ADHD remain untreated, students with ADHD can continue to experience learning (and possibly other) problems during their time at university.

In one systematic review of 176 studies about the long-term educational outcomes of untreated versus treated ADHD, academic outcomes were found to be worse in students with untreated ADHD when compared to their non-ADHD peers, after controlling for IQ [ 18 ]. Another finding was that academic outcomes improved significantly when multimodal treatment was used, in comparison to when pharmacological or non-pharmacological treatments were used alone [ 18 ]. The provision of rapid access to treatment for university students with ADHD maybe challenging for clinicians working in specialist NHS services. But the expert group has found that some HEIs are using funds from their disability services budget to fund private diagnostic assessments for their students, and are commissioning medical treatment (e.g., bespoke services through the NHS or privately). These HEIs in turn note these initiatives in their “access and participation plans” (APPs) for the OfS, to demonstrate how they are improving equality of opportunity for students with ADHD, who traditionally experience poor educational access, achievement, and attainment [ 21 ].

Recommendation 5. Service provision

The expert group recommends that a rapid access pathway of care for university students with ADHD be developed collaboratively between university central support services, and NHS primary and secondary care, or private providers. University disability services currently fund diagnostic assessments for SpLDs. This budget could also be made available to university students with ADHD to enable them to at least obtain a diagnostic assessment and reasonable adjustments. The expert group provides an example of a potential support pathway for university students with ADHD, which is presented in Fig. 4 .

Potential Support pathway for university students with ADHD

Which screening tools and diagnostic assessments are useful?

Screening tools are used to indicate if symptoms of ADHD and/or any other co-occurring conditions that are likely to complicate the learning problems that university students with ADHD are present or not. Screening for ADHD and other potential comorbidities is done routinely in clinical practice, because it’s important to differentiate the conditions underlying the student’s presenting symptoms and consider whether they may or may not require additional reasonable adjustments or support from other services (e.g., GP, mental health, or counselling). A widely used screening tool for ADHD based on DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, is the World Health Organisation Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRSv1.1) [ 122 ], now updated to an online DSM-5 version (see Table 8 for further details and weblinks). The 18-item ASRS consists of all the diagnostic symptoms of ADHD and is useful as a screener for gathering information about ADHD symptoms that can be examined more in-depth during a diagnostic assessment. If the ASRS screener is positive for ADHD, and there are indications of sustained difficulties with attention, motor restlessness/overactivity or impulsive behaviour, then it must trigger a full diagnostic assessment by a suitably qualified practitioner.

The SpLD Assessment and Standards Committee (SASC) guidance for the assessment of ADHD, also states that “ practitioner psychologists and specialist teacher assessors who have relevant training can identify specific learning difficulties and patterns of behaviour that together would strongly suggest a student has ADHD; and in this situation they can make relevant recommendations for support at Further and or Higher Education institutions. Such diagnostic assessments should be accepted by SFE in support of an application for Disabled Students’ Allowance ” [ 167 ], p.2). This means university students can have indicators of ADHD identified as part of a SpLD diagnostic assessment and then use their diagnostic report to apply for reasonable adjustments and DSA (Disabled Student Allowance). However, even with additional educational support in place (e.g., DSA, reasonable adjustments, or sessions of study skills), ADHD can continue to impair academic functioning if it remains untreated [ 18 ]. In a few cases it can be hard to tell if ADHD with or without co-occurring learning disorders or mental health symptoms, including intellectual giftedness, are different facets of the same condition or reflect separate disorders [ 168 ]. For instance, a student with undiagnosed ADHD who keeps performing badly academically, despite studying extra hard, may start to worry excessively or feel like a failure and then become depressed. This student may seek help because they are feeling anxious or depressed, but in fact the underlying condition is ADHD.

There are effective screening tools for anxiety, depression and substance misuse that can be used with university students with ADHD. The 10-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) can be used to screen for anxiety and depression [ 125 ], or the 16-item Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) can be used to screen for pathological worry, which is a dominant feature in generalised anxiety disorder [ 126 ]. There are useful screening tools in the appendices of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) manual, including the Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-2, GAD-7), Panic Disorders Severity Scale (PDSS), and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, for depression) [ 128 ]. The Simple Screening Instrument for Substance Abuse (SSI-SA) (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 1994) is widely used as a brief screen by practitioners and assessors with little experience of substance misuse [ 127 ]. NICE clinical guidance [CG123] also offers very clear advice and guidance for screening common mental health disorders, and recommends that if a practitioner conducting the screen identifies a possible anxiety disorder or depression, and they are not competent to perform a full mental health assessment, then they must refer the student to an appropriate healthcare professional [ 169 ].

Some students may have additional problems related to a SpLD (e.g., dyslexia) or ASD. Useful screeners for these conditions are the Adult Dyslexia Checklist which is available for free from the British Dyslexia Association website [ 124 ], and the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ-10), is also available for free download [ 123 ]. If a student with ADHD screens positive for a SpLD or ASD, then a shared decision with the student can be made about the usefulness or value of a referral for a diagnostic assessment of these comorbid conditions. It might be for example, that a positive screen of either condition and careful questioning about functional impairments, will be enough to assess their impact on studying and how best to mitigate them with additional support (e.g., counselling, specialist mentoring, academic coaching, extra writing time for examinations). There is also evidence which suggests that once the core symptoms of ADHD are treated, problems related to co-occurring SpLDs, ASD traits, anxiety or depression may in turn improve [ 9 , 158 , 170 ]. During the shared decision-making process, an agreement with the student can be also reached about whether to include results of a positive screen for a SpLD and/or ASD in their diagnostic report, which can include a write-up about the potential complexities these conditions might add to a student’s ability to study effectively. Further details and weblinks for the screening tools are provided in Table 8 .

At present there are no neuroimaging, genetic, neurochemical, or neuropsychological diagnostic tests for ADHD that are sufficiently sensitive or specific. Neuropsychological tests such as Stop Signal Reaction Time, IQ, or various computerised tests of executive functions (e.g., CANTAB) or QB-Test, can however, complement a diagnostic assessment for ADHD and provide additional information about cognitive performance [ 171 ]. Some authors (e.g., Brown [ 98 ], conceptualise ADHD as a disorder of executive function (EF), and many learning problems that university students with ADHD experience may be due to deficits in EF (e.g., poor organisation, planning and time management skills, inattention, or emotional lability) [ 172 ]. Although these EF deficits are not well reflected in cognitive performance tests [ 173 ], an assessment of EF behaviours such as those captured by the BRIEF questionnaire are strongly related to ADHD and associated functional impairments [ 174 ]. The recommendation of the expert group (and all national/international guidelines) is that a diagnostic assessment for adults with ADHD should be based on self-reported symptoms, which are best obtained by using a semi-structured in-depth diagnostic interview. An example of such a tool is the “Diagnostic Interview for Adult ADHD” (DIVA-5), which is based on the symptom and impairment criteria of the DSM-5 [ 129 ]. The ACE+ is another diagnostic tool that can be useful, and it has the option to use either DSM-5 or ICD-11 diagnostic criteria [ 130 ]. The DIVA-5 is available for a one-off fee of 10 Euro whereas the ACE+ is free to download, with digital versions in English and other languages (see Table 8 for further details and weblinks). Collateral information can also be obtained from informants such as close friends or relatives, and school records, especially for the evaluation of age of onset.

ADHD in adults is diagnosed when 5 or more symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity are present, and with several of them being present before 12 years old. These core symptoms must have persisted for at least 6 months, and in clinical practice the expectation is of a chronic trait-like course from the age of onset during childhood or early adolescence. The symptoms of ADHD should be to a degree that is inconsistent with the developmental level for that individual and must cause functional impairments in 2 or more settings (e.g., at home, university, work, with friends or relative, or in other activities) [ 6 ]. During the diagnostic process conducting a detailed evaluation of how the student’s presenting symptoms impact on their academic productivity is essential. Potential education-related impairments due to ADHD are listed in Table 9 . Individually assessing and writing about education-related problems in the student’s diagnostic report will help practitioners working in student disability services to devise personalised support, as well as allow for the effectiveness of this support to be evaluated. The Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale – Self Report (WFRIS-S), is a useful tool for assessing and monitoring changes in functional impairments associated with ADHD in different domains [ 131 ].

Practitioners and assessors need to be aware that ADHD symptoms and functional impairments present differently in each student and their impact can also change over the course of their programme of studies [ 19 ]. The experience of the expert group is that some students meeting diagnostic criteria for ADHD may not want to take prescribed medication in the first instance. But as their programme of studies progresses this may change, and the student may want and require medication to reduce core symptoms of the disorder. While psychoeducation, and environmental modifications (including reasonable adjustments) can help support university students with ADHD (and may be sufficient in some cases), only medication has been found to reduce core symptoms [ 89 ]. It is the experience of the expert group that university students with ADHD often have well developed compensatory strategies such as being overly organised, almost in an obsessive manner, or studying extra hard for long periods of time to ensure adequate performance. They may also have lost the usual structured support of parents and school when they were younger, so that impairments can increasingly accrue as their course develops. During diagnostic assessments, some students can find it hard to remember what their ADHD symptoms and impairments may have been like during childhood. When this happens, it is best to focus on their presenting symptoms and establish whether at least 5 or more of them are currently present and cause impairment, then track back in time to establish as far as possible an age at which current symptoms started.

In most cases of ADHD an individual is unable to identify a clear age of onset and they have the perception that the symptoms were always present. A typical response is that the symptoms have been present for as long as they can recall. Remembering symptomatic behaviours in childhood is especially hard when the student’s parents or other care givers have given them a lot of support during their academic career, or provided them with structure and routine, or when the student, had predominantly inattentive symptoms in childhood, that were not noticed either by their parents or teachers. This is more likely in females (and some men) with ADHD, who tend to present with predominantly inattentive symptoms and few hyperactive-impulsive symptoms or less disruptive behaviour [ 50 , 138 , 175 ]. The gender bias in ADHD seems to become less skewed in adulthood when women with ADHD may be diagnosed, often for the first time [ 138 ]. Practitioners and assessors conducting a diagnostic assessment need to be aware that female students can present with study related problems due to ADHD for the first time whilst at university. These students may or may not have a previous diagnosis of another mental health condition, which will need to be reviewed if they are diagnosed with ADHD [ 138 ].

During face-to-face diagnostic assessments, compensatory strategies can be minimised. For instance, the student may not recognise that sustaining attention or organisation is problematic for them, when a more objective appraisal suggests that this is a persistence problem. This can occur because symptoms of ADHD reflect lifelong traits, or because the student has well developed compensatory strategies. When this happens, it’s best to assess the degree of effort that the student needs to put into maintaining a compensatory strategy (for example, if the student did not put in extra effort to be organised then what would happen ?). Students with severe ADHD may be easier to screen and diagnostically assess, but if these students have developed good compensatory strategies (as discussed in the section on intellectual giftedness), it can be hard to determine how severe and impairing their ADHD symptoms are in other functional domains (e.g., social relationships). It may also be at a time when compensatory strategies are sufficient to mitigate ADHD related impairments, but this may not always be the case as their programme of studies progresses. Some students may present with “subthreshold symptoms” of ADHD (i.e., symptoms just below the threshold for a diagnosis of ADHD to be made), yet they appear to be significantly impaired by these symptoms and therefore need additional support, and perhaps treatment. The experience of the expert group is that impairments are also informed by co-morbidities and that several sub-threshold comorbidities (particularly of neurodevelopmental disorders) can be more impactful than a single disorder above the diagnostic threshold [ 176 ].

Recommendation 6. Screening tools and diagnostic assessments

The expert group recommends that practitioners and assessors be given training in how to screen for and diagnostically assess ADHD using robust and evidence-based rating scales, screening tools, and standardised clinical interviews. This training should include how to conduct a detailed evaluation of education related functional impairments, write up a diagnostic report with recommendations for reasonable adjustments and make a direct referral for medical treatment if requested, to a suitably qualified practitioner with expertise in the management and treatment of ADHD in adults (e.g., a psychiatrist or mental health nurse/pharmacist non-medical prescriber). A list of standardised screening and diagnostic tools are presented in Table 8 below.

What pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions are useful?

Following initial psychoeducation about ADHD and its impact, NICE guidance [ 50 ] recommends making “environmental modifications”. In the context of university students with ADHD environmental modifications can take the form of “reasonable adjustments” to programmes of study under the Equality Act 2010. Potential learning problems associated with ADHD and potential reasonable adjustments are listed in Table 9 . Adjustments can also be made to study environments (e.g., making available a quiet study room in the library, recommend taking frequent breaks when studying, breaking down daily targets, using digital diaries and reminders, regular forms of exercise) [ 172 ]. If these adjustments/ modifications have been applied and functional impairments continue in at least one domain (e.g. academic performance, or studying/learning difficulties), then medication should be considered.

NICE guidance [ 50 ] recommends psychostimulant medication (i.e., methylphenidate or lisdexamphetamine) as first-line medical treatment for ADHD in adults. Psychostimulant medications are among the most effective medications in use within adult mental health [ 89 ], and among the most efficacious of all common medical drugs [ 177 ]. Stimulant medications often produce a substantial reduction in ADHD symptoms and associated impairments. However, stimulant medications can also have adverse effects, which in most cases are either dose-related, mild, or transient such as headache, reduced appetite, nausea, palpitations, difficulty falling asleep and dry mouth [ 89 ]. In a few cases, these adverse effects may be undesirable, and an individual may decide to stop using stimulant medication. Stimulant medications can also increase blood pressure and heart rate, therefore people who take these medications are assessed at baseline and monitored during their treatment [ 50 ]. Empirical research about the efficacy of treating university students with ADHD is rare and the extent to which prescribers consider the unique demands of university life when prescribing medication to students is unknown [ 178 ].

The first randomised controlled trial of lisdexamphetamine with a sample of 24 university students diagnosed with ADHD was conducted by DuPaul et al., [ 179 ]. In this study, lisdexamphetamine was administered over a 5-week period and large reductions in the students ADHD symptoms were observed, alongside improvements in their task management, planning, organisation, use of study skills and working memory. Although the short duration of this study precluded an assessment of academic functioning over the long-term, in other studies, university students with ADHD who took medication did report improvements in their note taking, scores on tests, writing output and completion of course work [ 180 ]. In a pharmaco-epidemiological study from Sweden young people with ADHD taking medication were also found to have better scores in standardised university entrance examinations when compared to peers with ADHD not taking medication [ 181 ]. It is noted, however, that a substantial number of university students with ADHD do not take their medication as prescribed [ 182 ]. Some university students with ADHD may use their medication flexibly, with optimum dosing during times of writing assignments or studying for examinations and then no medication on days without academic work, e.g., at weekends or during holidays [ 183 ]. When treating university students with ADHD, prescribing practitioners therefore need to be open to discussing the benefits and drawbacks of flexible dosing with students and be willing to offer appropriate guidance and advice [ 184 , 185 ].

Non-pharmacological interventions

The view of the expert group is that non-pharmacological interventions are particularly important for university students who want or need to learn how to best manage their ADHD and overcome the learning difficulties that they experience. Medication alone maybe sufficient for a subgroup of university students, but persistent difficulties are more often seen, and additional support maybe required. Non-pharmacological interventions begin with psychoeducation. The experience of the expert group is that newly diagnosed students are keen to have a conversation about their diagnosis, including whether or not to disclose it to academic staff or future employers, the benefits, and drawbacks of taking medication, including flexible dosing, “drug holidays”, effects of medication on alcohol or other drugs, the positive attributes of ADHD (e.g., creativity), psychological interventions and reasonable adjustments. Research about the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for adults with ADHD is mixed and inconclusive, but positive effects have been reported for mindfulness on core symptoms of ADHD including mind wandering [ 186 ], dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) [ 187 , 188 , 189 ].

Although research about non-pharmacological interventions for university students with ADHD is limited, new studies have been published. For instance, Anastopoulos et al. [ 190 ] and Eddy et al. [ 191 ] reported on the findings of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) that examined the efficacy of a CBT based program called ACCESS (Accessing Campus Connections and Empowering Student Success) for university students with ADHD. During the ACCESS program - psychoeducation, cognitive and behavioural strategies targeting executive function (EF) and patterns of maladaptive thinking, were delivered. Participants, who met DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for ADHD and were taking medication, were recruited from two large public universities in the USA and randomly assigned to either the ACCESS program group ( n  = 119) or a Delayed Treatment Control (DTC) group ( n  = 131). The findings revealed that the ACCESS program group participants self-reported significant improvements in their knowledge of ADHD, symptoms of inattention, EF, utilisation of disability accommodations (or reasonable adjustments), as well as a moderate decline in maladaptive thinking, when compared to DTC group participants. However, neither ACCESS program and DTC group participants reported significant improvements in their interpersonal functioning and educational outcomes (grade point average/GPA and course grade completion). The authors concluded that the ACCESS program made a large difference to the participants core symptoms of ADHD and EF.

Indeed, as noted previously, EF deficits have been shown to mediate the association between ADHD and impairments in academic functioning [ 100 ]. The finding that the ACCESS program positively impacted on the participants EF is therefore encouraging. It also supports the findings of an earlier pilot study about a CBT based group intervention to enhance EF functioning in university students with ADHD [ 172 ], and strengthens a more recent finding about how steep temporal discounting may play a key role in the daily life challenges that university students with ADHD encounter. Temporal discounting (TD) describes how the subjective value of a reward significantly declines when the said reward is delayed [ 192 ]. In a pilot study by Scheres and Solanto [ 193 ], steep TD was not only associated with combined type ADHD, specifically the hyperactivity-impulsivity symptom domain, but also with poor utilisation of learning and/or study skills. TD was therefore postulated to be an important target for EF interventions for university students with or without ADHD [ 193 ], more so for interventions that were designed to activate and sustain motivation to pursue a long-term goal for a reward, such as pursuing and completing a university degree [ 194 ]. Findings like this could be useful for enhancing the effectiveness of CBT based interventions for university students with ADHD like the ACCESS program, by for example, tailoring EF interventions to also target TD. Maybe this could improve educational outcomes and perhaps interpersonal functioning of university students with ADHD, which in the study reported by Anastopoulos et al. [ 190 ] showed no significant improvements.

The report that the ACCESS program made a large difference to the students’ core symptoms of ADHD, seems to contradict what the World Federation of ADHD international consensus statement acknowledged about good treatments for ADHD being available, but even the best treatments are only partially effective [ 164 ]. Overall, there is only low-quality evidence that CBT interventions might be beneficial for treating core symptoms of ADHD in adults, in the short-term, or for improving co-occurring symptoms of anxiety and depression [ 164 , 195 ]. It was noted by Anastopoulos et al., [ 190 ], that participants in both study groups increased their use of ADHD medications over the course of the study. Perhaps this was the real reason that the participants core symptoms of ADHD improved. After all, this is what ADHD medications are designed to do and treatments for ADHD usually become more effective when medication is combined with a CBT intervention [ 195 ], or when multimodal interventions are used [ 196 ].

Hence academic coaching, which tends to be a derivative of CBT, could be another useful intervention for optimising coping strategies in university students with ADHD. For instance, coaching has been used to help identify study goals, develop study plans and strategies for achieving these plans, monitoring their progress towards attaining them and to foster self-determination [ 197 ]. In one study, academic coaches helped university students with ADHD to develop better time management, organisational skills, pay more attention in classes and to take good notes, and improvements in these skills were observed after 8 weeks [ 198 ]. In another study, university students with ADHD reported that academic coaching had helped to enhance their self-discipline, self-efficacy, study skills, ability to formulate realistic goals and to think more about long-term goals and maintain motivation to achieve them [ 199 ]. Additional benefits of coaching can be in helping university students with ADHD feel more in control of their emotions and behaviours in the face of external demands [ 200 ]. Academic coaching (or specialist mentoring, or specialist one-to-one study skills support), can also be funded via DSA as specialist access and learning facilitators (Band 4). Academic coaching, supportive counselling and/or CBT, whether delivered face-to-face or online can be effective non-pharmacological interventions for university students with ADHD [ 188 , 189 , 201 ], and the potential of these interventions to improve academic performance is evident in the promising results of recent studies e.g. [ 172 , 190 ].

Recommendation 7. Multimodal interventions

The expert group recommends multimodal interventions for university students with ADHD, that comprise a variety of interventions including environmental modifications, psychoeducation, medication, academic coaching, DBT, CBT, counselling and/or mindfulness-based interventions. University counselling and disability services do tend to offer a range of psychosocial interventions for students, whether delivered online, face-to-face or in a group.

What are the staff training and developmental needs?

In the Institute for Employment Studies report to the Office for Students, practitioners working in university disability services identified a need for training and development to enable them to both support university students with ADHD and the academic staff working with them [ 52 ]. The SpLD Assessments and Standards Committee (SASC) [ 167 ], also recommended that practitioner psychologists and specialist teacher assessors require appropriate training to identify “ specific learning difficulties and patterns of behaviour that together would strongly suggest that a student has ADHD ” (p.11). The need for staff training and development was discussed during the consensus meeting, and it included training in how to liaise with and refer university students with ADHD to a suitably qualified practitioner for a diagnostic assessment (e.g., a psychiatrist, mental health nurse/ pharmacist non-medical prescriber). Practitioners and assessors seemed keen to receive “certified training” as a way to achieve the SASC recommendations for “appropriate training”. A certified educational programme about ADHD at university level 6 or 7, could be developed and delivered for example online, as a post-qualification professional training or continuous professional development (CPD). But at present, no such course/programme exists in the UK. UKAAN offers training for healthcare professionals and can deliver bespoke training to practitioners and assessors who work with university students, and some disability services have already done so. During the consensus meeting some practitioners and assessors said they often gained relevant experience by having previously worked, or currently working, with university students with ADHD or through their own personal lived experiences, and that they made use of these experiences in their role.

Recommendation 8. Training and development

The expert group recommends that staff training, and development be prioritised under the inclusive practice agenda in higher education. This training should include psychoeducation, procedures for screening and assessing for ADHD, and useful strategies for supporting university students with ADHD. This will enhance the knowledge and skills of practitioners and assessors who work with and/or support university students with ADHD.

Discussion & conclusion

This was a report of the UKAAN expert consensus meeting about university students with ADHD, which was held before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the pandemic has altered higher education in a monumental way. When lockdown was first imposed in the UK, university campuses were suddenly closed. Students and staff had to quickly adapt to online delivery of lectures and classes, and there was uncertainty about being able to access digital technologies and quite places to study or work at home. There was also confusion among students about study expectations, assessments, workloads, retention, and completion [ 202 , 203 , 204 ]. Undoubtedly the pandemic has caused much suffering, frustration, fear, loss and other negative thoughts, emotions, and experiences for many people, including university students with ADHD [ 205 ]. However, findings about the impact of the pandemic on university students has been mixed. Frampton and Smithies [ 206 ], reported on a Students Minds survey about life during the pandemic involving 1100 university students. The findings of this survey revealed that 74% of respondents reported that the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing, whilst only 10% of respondents reported positive effects. In this survey, disabled and non-disabled students were also asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “ online learning has allowed me to engage with my course more positively ”, and the findings revealed that 59% of disabled students compared with 55% of non-disabled students disagreed with the statement. This also suggests that just under-half of these students agreed with the statement. In another study, 79 university students in one Faculty of Life Sciences were surveyed and participated in focus groups about how they experienced the sudden shift to online learning during the lockdown [ 207 ]. This study found that 75% of the students who participated in the study, reported that their life had become more difficult and 50% reported that learning outcomes would be hard to achieve, but after 12 weeks into the lockdown, corresponding rates changed to 57 and 71% respectively [ 207 ].

The findings of existing studies do suggest that during the COVID-19 lockdown, virtual learning for some university students may have had benefits such as enabling greater attendance, engagement, and participation in teaching sessions, especially for students who previously felt anxious about asking questions in front of others or some disabled students [ 202 ]. Students who were used to spending time online – on the Internet including social media platforms for example, seemed to exhibit strong motivation for eLearning, and reported lower levels of distress during the pandemic [ 208 ]. However, there are also concerning reports about ADHD being a risk factor for COVID-19 infection [ 209 , 210 ]. These reports are perhaps pertinent for university students with ADHD who may have participated in demonstrations during the pandemic such as Black Lives Matter (BLM), living arrangements in student halls of residence, sexual harassment, assault and “rape culture” in UK universities [ 206 , 211 ], or illegal COVID raves [ 212 ], or the COVID anti-vaccine and lockdown protests [ 213 ]. It can be argued that the pandemic may have longer-term negative consequences on current and future career prospects for university students with ADHD, but outside of this, no firm conclusions from the existing research can be drawn.

Evidence is stronger for poor education (or academic) performance and achievement having a long-term negative impact on mental health, wellbeing, and socio-economic outcomes [ 214 ]. Even though there is a paucity of research about university students with ADHD in the UK and rest of Europe, the importance of attending to the mental health of university students in the UK has been recognised. The Royal College of Psychiatrists recently published a college report on the mental health of higher education students, and Sedgwick-Müller et al., contributed a section on ADHD in this report [ 1 ]. The expert group is also aware that ADHD is a hidden disability within UK HEIs and its categorisation as a SpLD may be contributing to this, therefore university students with ADHD continue to be at risk of marginalisation and disadvantage. The expert group recommends that ADHD should be catered for under a separate category within UK HEIs, as this may enable greater recognition of ADHD and for its impact on learning within higher education to be adequately assessed and mitigated. With aspirations towards widening participation and inclusive practices in higher education [ 52 ], understanding exactly “what works” best for university students with ADHD is imperative. The four key stages in a student’s lifecycle are access to higher education (the extent to which students can gain entrance to different types of HEIs), retention (the likelihood of continuing or withdrawing from a programme of studies), attainment (the extent to which university students are enabled to achieve their full academic potential) , and progression (successful transitions within a programme of studies and afterwards into employment or further study )” [ 215 ], p.5). Each of these 4 key stages in a student’s lifecycle can be adversely affected by either having and/or not recognising ADHD, and by delaying access to a screening, diagnostic assessment, treatment, and educational support. Interventions in a student’s first year at university, according to Clery and Topper, should focus on enhancing their academic achievement because retention, attainment, and progression tends to be more favourable for university students who perform well academically in their first year [ 216 ].

In summary, UKAAN convened an expert consensus meeting to provide an informed understanding about the impact of ADHD on the educational (or academic) outcomes of university students and to highlight an urgent need for timely access to treatment and management. An overview of key issues, as well as expert advice and guidance has been offered. In Table 10 below, the main recommendations of the expert group are summarised. There is little doubt that university students with ADHD are struggling with long delays in accessing a diagnostic assessment, treatment, and personalised educational support. The provision of rapid access treatment and care pathways can be challenging for clinicians working in specialist NHS ADHD clinics, but examples of good practice are also beginning to emerge, with some university disability services drawing on their own budgets to support their students. Further work is needed to develop and evaluate efficient and cost-effective treatment and care pathways for university students with ADHD (for example see Fig. 4 ), and to adopt models of best practice across the sector. University students, including those with ADHD, are at a crucial transitioning stage in life and their success at university is likely to determine their success in highly competitive employment markets. This strengthens the argument to support all university students in an inclusive manner. Methods for inclusive teaching and learning are also likely to cater to disabled students, including university students with ADHD.

Availability of data and materials

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no data sets were generated or analysed during the study.

Abbreviations

ADHD Child Evaluation

Association for Higher Access & Disability

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

American Psychiatric Association

Autism-Spectrum Quotient

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Adult ADHD Self-report Rating Scale

Canadian ADHD Practice Guidelines

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in adults

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy

Disabled Students Allowance

Developmental co-ordination disorder

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version 5

Emotional lability

Executive Functions

Institutions of Higher Education

The Higher Education Statistical Authority

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies

Institute of Employment Studies

Major Depressive Disorder

Math Disability

National Health Service

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Office for Students

Panic Disorders Severity Scale

Patient Health Questionnaire

Processing Speed

Penn State Worry Questionnaire

Quantified Behavior Test

Reding Disability

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Special Educational Needs

Specific Learning Disorders

SpLD Assessment and Standards Committee

Specific learning differences

The Simple Screening Instrument for Substance Abuse

UK Adult ADHD Network

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale

Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale – Self Report

World Health Organisation

Working Memory

Writing Disability

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge JSM for facilitating the consensus meeting and preparing this manuscript, PA, UMS, for assistance in reviewing and editing drafts of this manuscript. We are grateful to Ms. Sue Curtis for recording the meeting and preparing the transcripts from the meeting.

This research did not receive any funding from public, private, or not-for-profit organisations or agencies.

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Jane A. Sedgwick-Müller

Adult Neurodevelopmental Service, Health and Community Services, Government of Jersey, St Helier, Jersey. Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Ulrich Müller-Sedgwick

School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

Marios Adamou & Rebecca Champ

Natbrainlab, Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, London, UK

Marco Catani

Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London, London, UK

Gísli Gudjónsson

Adult ADHD Service, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, Bristol, UK

Dietmar Hank

Adult ADHD and Autism Outpatient Service, South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

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Contributions

JSM conceived the work; PA, MC, RC were keynote speakers during the meeting; JSM, PA and UMS were involved in drafting the manuscript and critically revising it. A final draft was circulated by JSM to UMS, MA, MC, RC, GG, DH, MP, SY and PA, who endorsed the consensus and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jane A. Sedgwick-Müller .

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Competing interests

YES, “JSM, USM, MP, SY, PA have received honoraria and pharmaceutical funding for consultation, research awards, educational talks, study days and/or conference support. JSM is in receipt of an educational grant from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Foundation towards PhD tuition fees and received the 2020 RCN Muriel Fleet Award for outstanding professional development and 2020 Genius Within Award for Neurodiverse Research of the Year and all other authors have no other competing interests to disclose.”

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Sedgwick-Müller, J.A., Müller-Sedgwick, U., Adamou, M. et al. University students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a consensus statement from the UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN). BMC Psychiatry 22 , 292 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03898-z

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Received : 29 September 2021

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Published : 22 April 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03898-z

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