Advising policymakers on young people and digital technologies: reflections from the front line, Amy Orben
Watch the recording of the 2026 Digital Good Network annual keynote:
Recorded: 30 April 2026
Abstract
In a rapidly evolving digital world, there is growing interest in the impact of digital technologies, including social media, on the mental health of young people, and researchers are under increasing pressure to produce evidence that can inform policy and practice. In this talk, Professor Orben discusses what the existing evidence tells us, the challenges in influencing policy that result, and ways in which the evidence-policy relationship could be improved, to the benefit of everyone.
Drawing on her extensive knowledge, Professor Orben reflects on existing evidence, the types of evidence that policymakers often seek, and the ways in which evidence differs across individuals and populations. Given this, influencing policy is challenging. Professor Orben shares what she has learnt from providing scientific advice to national government in this context, highlighting both the unique challenges and opportunities of this work. She discusses her own experiences advising national policymakers, emphasising the importance of building trust, practising humility, and understanding the needs of different stakeholders to ensure that scientific insights are heard and translated into meaningful change.
Professor Orben’s extensive experience of informing policy notwithstanding, there are fundamental difficulties in studying rapidly evolving technologies. She discusses her ideas about how to fix what she describes as “the Science of Technology Harms” problem (Orben and Matias 2025). She proposes a “minimal viable evidence” model for the evidence-policy relationship which is dynamic and enables both policy and research to keep pace with technology developments, including through participatory, citizen-science type approaches. The talk concludes with reflections on the particular challenges and opportunities of conducting and communicating research in a highly politicised area that attracts intense media scrutiny.
Biography
Professor Amy Orben is a Research Professor at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and Fellow of St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge. She leads a research programme investigating the links between mental health and digital technology use in childhood and adolescents. She routinely advises policymakers and public servants around the world, for example as Director of a 2025 UK Government independent research commission on this topic and as a member of the Science Advisory Council at the UK Department for Education. Professor Orben completed her DPhil in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and MA in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She has received a range of prestigious awards including the Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award (2024), Medical Research Council Early Career Impact Prize (2022) and the British Psychological Society Award for Outstanding Contributions to Doctoral Research (2019). She also received the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science Mission Award (2020) for her work to improve scientific practice and research culture in her field.