Emily Widnall is a Senior Research Associate in Public Health with particular interests in young people's mental health and well-being, the impacts of the school environment on mental health and evaluating school-based interventions.

Her current research focuses on developing better support systems for young people at risk of self-harm and suicide well as continuing to develop the South West - School Health Research Network (SW-SHRN) which aims to provide research evidence to schools on how to improve the health and wellbeing of their pupils.

Emily also received funding to research the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on young people's mental health, with a particular focus on the role of peer and school connectedness.

Prior to joining the University of Bristol in 2020, Emily worked at Kings College London co-designing a digital mood-monitoring and life event tracker for school-aged children and at the University of Exeter evaluating a novel well-being focused talking therapy for depression.