Welcome to FLOURISH !

FLOURISH is a module for all students in DCU starting in September 2022 and available on Loop. It delivers practical tips in the areas that impact your everyday wellness and happiness including your sleep, nutrition, work habits, procrastination, relationships with others, physical activity, positive psychology, critical thinking and others.

FLOURISH is now open for registration

FLOURISH is similar to other programs on wellness and the "science of happiness" at places like Yale and Berkeley in the US, but in addition to being all about you and your wellbeing it is also about your data, and how you can use your data for your benefit.

A survey in 2020 found that only 42% of young adults in Ireland are in the "normal" range for depression and anxiety, with University life, managing your finances and worrying about your future being the three main stressors. Despite the fact that the various support services across the Universities in Ireland received more than 11,000 requests from students for counselling during COVID, this is only a small percentage of those of you who are anxious and/or depressed. That means that there are a lot of you students out there keeping all that stress and anxiety to yourselves.

FLOURISH was open to Year 2 stuednts in DCU last year (2021-2022) and 169 students took part in the course.  Key findings from last year’s students were

  • 88% said taking the module improved their overall wellness
  • 70% said it improved aspects of their sleep
  • 70% said it improved aspects of their nutrition
  • 93% said it changed their understanding of their personal data so they can now make more informed decisions about their overall wellness
  • 98% would recommend FLOURISH to other students

This year we are making FLOURISH available to all DCU students in all Faculties and across all our campuses.

FLOURISH: Use Your Data for your Wellbeing was developed to see how harnessing your personal data could support you as a student to manage your life, to be well, and to reach your goals.

FLOURISH (module code CA290) was approved by the Faculty of Engineering and Computing Teaching and Learning Committee in December 2020 as an accredited standalone module. For 2021/2022 and again for 2021/2022 it is offered in unaccredited form and not part of any degree program, as a module on Loop.

Though it is not part of any particular undergraduate degree program and does not have any impact on your marks for your degree classification, it is on offer as an additional activity. It is full-year module on Loop, where you can gain a recognised digital certification or micro-credential worth 5 credits following its completion, if you so choose. FLOURISH is a pass-or-fail module, so there are no actual marks for completing it; if you complete enough of the assignments you pass. Most of the 10 topics within FLOURISH have some individual assignment which is very lightweight and typically involves you gathering and doing something with your own data, using yourself as a guinea pig for your own reflection, on yourself. If you successfully complete enough of the assignments, then you get the micro-credentials which you can add to your University portfolio, and if you don't then that's fine also. In fact we have a very relaxed approach to how you interact with FLOURISH. If you want to register and just dip into some of the topics and not do the assignments then that is fine, and if you want to do the assignments and get the micro-credentials then that is fine also. It is up to you, whatever suits you.

The module content is delivered by more than a dozen of DCU’s experts across a range of topics plus some colleagues from other Universities and from industry.

FLOURISH will encourage you to record data on some of your own activities such as your nutrition and your sleep and to use your own data to learn about yourself, guided by us. This process of data gathering and use by you has been approved by the University's Data Protection Office following a formal data protection impact assessment.

FLOURISH has strong endorsement from across the University with involvement and input from all Faculties. It is supported by the DCU Students’ Union, Student Support and Development, Senior Management including the President's Office, Educational Trust, and more.

President of DCU, Professor Daire Keogh said:

The development of FLOURISH reflects DCU's 'People First' values, and our focus on supporting students' wellness and personal development, alongside academic excellence. By offering them a structured way to manage their own physical and mental wellbeing, the module will help students to learn more about themselves and establish healthy habits for life. This can only benefit their overall university experience.

President of DCU Students' Union, Thomas O'Dowd said:

With the pressures that students face on a daily basis it is fantastic to see this module being rolled out to all students as it highlights the importance of wellbeing. I really look forward to seeing the impacts that FLOURISH has on students' wellbeing this year.

FLOURISH is based on more than two years of background work, even before the course starts, which involved interviews and group meetings with students, student leaders, and health experts within both DCU and our partner University in FLOURISH, UCD. A pilot version of FLOURISH was run in DCU in 2020/2021. Within DCU, Flourish is run by the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics, a research centre funded by Science Foundation Ireland.

For further information on FLOURISH, contact Prof. Alan Smeaton, who heads up the implementation of FLOURISH at DCU.

FLOURISH is now open for registration

FLOURISH is partly supported by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Number SFI/12/RC/2289_P2, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.