Self-harm and digital technologies Supervisors:  Dr Jon Bird, Department of Computer Science Dr Helen Bould, Bristol Medical School Dr Lucy Biddle, Bristol Medical School Email: be16095@bristol.ac.uk

‌Project Summary:

My PhD will focus on adolescent mental health, specifically I will be working to understand self-harm behaviour and related factors. I hope to explore the role of digital technologies in both the research of and relationship to self-harm. I am interested in the role of technology in enhancing the assessments of psychological phenomena in the wild; more specifically the use of technology to facilitate Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). My project will involve participatory design to work with adolescents with lived experience of self-harm to develop design guidelines for an app specific for the EMA of self-harm and related variables among adolescents. This app will then be used to explore self-harm and screen time use among adolescents. Qualitative experiences of being involved in an EMA study will be then explored.

General Profile:

After graduating from University of Bristol with a master’s degree in applied Neuropsychology, I pursued a career in mental health. Having experienced working both on a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit and in a Community Mental Health Team based within a prison, I am interested in researching mental health more broadly.