Recovery Colleges are a relatively recent initiative within mental health services. The first opened in 2009 in London and since then numbers have grown both in England and globally. They are based on principles of personal recovery in mental health, co-production between people with lived experience of mental health problems and professionals, and adult learning. Student eligibility criteria vary, but all serve people who use mental health services, with empirical evidence of benefit. Previously we developed a Recovery College fidelity measure and a preliminary change model identifying the mechanisms of action and outcomes for this group, which we refer to as service user students. The Recovery Colleges Characterisation and Testing (RECOLLECT) 2 study is a five-year (2020–2025) programme of research in England. The aim of RECOLLECT 2 is to determine Recovery Colleges’ effectiveness and cost-effectiveness and identify organisational influences on fidelity and improvements in mental health outcomes.The aim of RECOLLECT 2 is to develop the evidence base for Recovery Colleges in England and understand how they can provide the most benefit to people who use mental health services. Findings will help refine the previously developed RECOLLECT change model. This aim will be addressed through several studies (work packages). In this collection we describe and include data from Work Package 1 of the RECOLLECT 2 project. Work package 1 comprises both quantitative and qualitative studies: 1. A written survey of Recovery Colleges in England about how they are organised and funded 2. A written survey of Recovery Colleges from 28 countries (excluding England) about how they are organised and funded 3. Interviews with recovery college managers to explore how the College is organised and how they think this might influence its effectiveness

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