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Bongiwe Ncube is one of the R-NEET project’s Associate Doctoral Researchers, and here shares the rationale behind her PhD project. South Africa is often celebrated as one of Africa’s most progressive democracies. Our Constitution is robust, our laws are protective on...

There’s something urgent, hopeful, and deeply necessary about the R-NEET study. In a world where young people are facing increasing socio-economic instability, climate threats, and mental health burdens, our investigation of the resources that help youth who are not in education, employment and training (NEET) to resist depression and maintain hope is critical. With the help of two wonderful doctoral research assistants (Albee Ofosu and Morenike Oyenub), we’ve created an infographic to show what we’ve done so far.

The R-NEET study is a multidisciplinary collaboration, and the people involved range from seasoned scientists to up-and-coming researchers. We have psychologists, public health researchers, social and political scientists, criminologists, mathematical, statistical and environmental scientists all working together to uncover the resilience pathways that could protect vulnerable youth from mental health challenges.

My research proposal has been accepted! This is great news and marks the beginning of the next phase of my research career.

In this blog post, I share the project: a PhD study that explores something both urgent and deeply personal: what enables resilience to depression among young women in South Africa who have lived through gender-based violence (GBV).

In his lovely 2023 article on the ways in which we might be able to make the most of proverbial wisdom from indigenous Africa(n) contexts, Richard Appiah proposes that taking proper account of these forms of wisdom can help us to create more culturally-affirming and sustainable psychological interventions. Appiah suggests that there are six distinctive characteristics of proverbial wisdom in Africa(n) contexts.

Hi, my name is Kudzayi Badisi, and welcome to my R-NEET blog post, where I share my journey in creating an R-NEET video to help us recruit more participants to the project. As an unemployed young person and a Youth Advisory Committee member of R-NEET, I was given the chance to try something new and exciting.

In the R-NEET project, we recognize the importance of handling, processing, and storing data responsibly. With a large, international, and interdisciplinary research team, we have developed a robust data protocol to ensure our data is accessible, secure, and beneficial for future research. At the core of our approach are the FAIR principles—Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability—which guide how we structure, document, and share our data.

The International Association for Youth Mental Health (IAYMH2025) is a conference that brings people from all over the world together with a focus on turning the tide and creating a global blueprint for prevention and integrated care in Youth Mental Health. The symposium, which was funded by the Wellcome Trust and I was a part of, was titled Partners Not Participants.

Our team has grown considerably over the past six months, and at the same time we have started to identify some common training needs. Fanfare, then, for the National Centre for Research Methods offering a six-week, online course on creative methods at exactly the right time! We only wish there had been more spaces for all of our team members!

Optimism can be a powerful predictor of wellbeing when we’re stressed. Whether that stress comes from unemployment or a family crisis (or both), maintaining a positive attitude towards the future and our ability to shape that future can protect us against loneliness and depression. Add into the mix a family network that supports us, and our ability to experience resilience increases.

Leading the Nigerian team and working closely with the Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) has been a transformative experience. For too long, young people aged 18–24 have been denied a meaningful voice in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta.

10 October marks World Mental Health Day. This year the focus was on mental health in the workplace.
But, what about the mental health of the many people who are not employed? Likewise, what about the mental health of those who not in employment, education or training (i.e., NEET)?
Across Africa, at least 1 in 5 young people is NEET. In Nigeria and South Africa, where we are conducting the R-NEET study, the numbers are even higher: at least 1 in 3 young people is NEET.