CoCREATE Hub Projects

The Astronomy for Mental Health project explores how engaging with astronomy and the night sky can support mental wellbeing, promote personal reflection, and encourage connection. Working in collaboration with the Office of Astronomy for Development, the COCREATE Health Hub has held astronomy retreats that combine stargazing and astronomy activities with opportunities for reflection and connection. The study aims to explore the feasibility and acceptability of astronomy-based approaches as a novel way of supporting wellbeing, particularly in under-resourced contexts.

See publication here: Vertue, D. G., Thomas, N., Fish, T., Takalana, C., Govender, K., Macfarlane, S. A., & Hendricks, L. (2026). Looking up to Look Within: Preliminary Findings of the Restorative Effects of Astronomical Retreats in South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 23(8), 1016. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph23081016  

News: https://www.su.ac.za/en/news/under-southern-skies-how-stargazing-shaping-mental-health-research-south-africa 

The Men’s Mental Health project explores the help-seeking strategies young men use to support their mental wellbeing and examines the potential of nature-based social prescribing activities as an approach to promoting mental health.

Creative Resilience is a research project funded by Gilead Sciences which aims to co-design and develop an arts-based e-health intervention with and for young women living with HIV (YWLHIV) in low-resource settings. The intervention seeks to enhance resilience and coping strategies, improve mental health outcomes, and evaluate its scalability as a public mental health research approach. The project is a collaboration between Stellenbosch University (SU), Shout-It-Now, the Youth Research Group (YRG), and art therapist Gillian Lasker Lourenco from Counselling Hub. The project integrates arts-based approaches, digital health technologies, and community perspectives to develop an accessible and scalable intervention that responds to the mental health needs of YWLHIV. 

Bridging Worlds of Care is an international collaboration between Stellenbosch University and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, exploring how women understand and experience care, wellbeing and healing across different contexts. The project is important because it places women and communities at the centre of knowledge production, while critically examining how researchers can work more ethically, collaboratively and equitably across cultures.

The HAPPY (Holistic Approaches for Preventing Pregnancy in Youth) project is a community-based initiative working with pre-teens, parents, caregivers and communities in the Cape Flats. The project has been developed and led by local health promoters, the Department of Health, local schools, and SAPS in conjunction with the COCREATE Health Hub. Using participatory and creative approaches, the project aims to co-create age-appropriate resources and interventions that equip young people with sexual and reproductive health knowledge, allowing them to make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing. 

The Tuberculosis (TB) project evaluates the impact of a co-created virtual reality (VR) film as an innovative approach to reducing TB-related stigma across multiple settings, including medical education. 

StoryRx is an artificial intelligence-enabled storytelling project exploring how culturally responsive patient stories can support people living with chronic conditions. Delivered via WhatsApp, it connects people through short, relatable stories that reflect the emotions, challenges, and everyday realities of managing illness. The initial focus is type 2 diabetes, with a pilot involving 300 patients examining acceptability, engagement and potential health benefits. StoryRx aims to strengthen understanding, hope, confidence and connection to care, while creating a foundation for future clinical evaluation and expansion to other noncommunicable diseases. 

The Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Public Square creates an open and collaborative space to explore how relationships, inequality, culture, climate and the places where people live shape health and wellbeing. It brings together communities, researchers, practitioners, artists and decision makers through regular dialogue, participatory research and creative engagement. By connecting different forms of knowledge and experience, the Public Square generates new research questions, partnerships and practical responses to complex health challenges.