Welcome to Digital Youth
Nurturing young digital minds
Digital Youth introduction
Digital Youth introductionWhat does good involvement look like?
What is genuine collaboration?
Understanding risk in the digital world and collaborating with young people to help develop resilience
Being online and using social media has become integral to young people’s lives and creates both risks as well as opportunities for youth mental health. Our research, conducted in collaboration with our Young Person Advisory Group ‘Sprouting Minds’, aims to:
- understand what causes online mental health harms
- identify the biggest risks young people face
- find ways to build online resilience
- create effective online mental health support and interventions
Our research will inform how we design and regulate a safer online digital world for young people and how engaging digital interventions can increase effective youth mental health support.
Praveetha Patalay
Praveetha Patalay is Professor of Population Health and Wellbeing at University College London in the UK. Her research focuses on mental health through the lifecourse and drivers of health inequalities, with an interest in examining these across different contexts including time and place. She is interested in how we can achieve better health and wellbeing through our lives and the preventive measures and structural changes that might be needed to support this. She leads a multidisciplinary research group at UCL, and is working towards improving the diversity of disciplines, individuals and countries represented in mental health science with the goal to accelerate progress in improving population mental health. Praveetha leads a work package in our project focussed on identifying factors that confer resilience in the face of digital risks (such as online bullying) and how the effect of these might be different across different groups of young people. In non-research time she paints, makes jewellery and pottery.
Latest news
What our members say
What our members say 
“It is time to understand the role played by “digital engagement” in the emotional lives and mental health of adolescents, so that policymakers and practitioners can tailor their support effectively.”
— Professor Sonia Livingstone
“I have a strong interest in mental health and the impact it has on young people. Being part of Digital Youth is allowing me to use my skills and knowledge for good, and be an advocate for other young people, creating opportunities to shape their futures when it comes to mental health especially those from less represented backgrounds.”
— Sarah Doherty, Sprouting Minds Co-Chair, Co-Investigator on Digital Youth
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