UniVRse is a Virtual Reality (VR) intervention targeting social anxiety in students using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques - specifically graded exposure. Participants will have access to UniVRse for a month post-randomisation and it is recommended they complete 6 sessions each 30-minutes long over this period. Exposure to the intervention will be reached if participants complete 2 30-minute sessions. UniVRse is a self-help intervention meaning that participants can engage in the intervention independently. Participants will be supported to progress through the UniVRse programme by a virtual mentor called Sam that will take on the role traditionally undertaken by the 'therapist'. Sam's function will be to provide psychoeducation, provide instruction on how to use the VR kit and interact with the virtual environment, and provide support and encouragement. Participants will be able to complete the intervention either on campus or at home.

We will be using a wait list control group. The wait list control group will receive treatment as usual for the duration of the trial. Treatment as usual may include active monitoring, meetings with academic advisors, psychiatric medication, and/or support from an NHS mental health team. We will not withhold treatment from the control group, but prospective participants may not be eligible to take part if they have current or confirmed plans to receive a psychology therapy (see exclusion criteria). Once the trial has ended, the participants in the control arm will be the first to be offered UniVRse when it is taken up by university support services.

UniVRse uses well-established evidence-basedcognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques - specifically graded exposure - to reduce fear and worries about social situations. People work towards overcoming their anxiety in a step-by-step fashion, building up to the most feared situation. In the context of UniVRse, students will be presented with four university-based scenarios that our coproduction team identified as being the most anxiety-induing for students:

1. Attending a lecture;
2. Group work in a seminar;
3. Delivering a presentation;
4. Contributing to an online seminar.

The UniVRse programme has been designed with our co-production team comprised of tirst-generation students with social anxiety, CBT therapists, and a VR design company.

The Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) (Connor et al., 2000) is a 17-item questionnaire measuring social anxiety.

We have used the LSAS-SR as the basis for developing a social anxiety scale that is specific to the university environment. The modified version of this scale has a list of different university-based situations and participants are asked the extent to which they fear and avoid each of the situations.

The PHQ-9 (Spitzer et al., 1999) measures levels of depression.

Developed by the same research team as the PHQ-9, the GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 2006) is a brief screening tool used in primary care to assess the severity of generalised anxiety symptoms.

The EDAPT (Mc Glanaghy et al., 2021) was developed via a Delphi consultation with experts by experience and profession. The EDAPT is a checklist of 42 items each reflecting a potential adverse event that could occur after receiving a psychological therapy.