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Emma Soneson

@emmasoneson.bsky.social

1.5K followers 970 following 85 posts

Senior Postdoc @ Oxford Psychiatry & Fulford Junior Research Fellow @ Somerville College. Researching children & young people's mental health, with a focus on the intersections of mental health & education 🌻 (she/her)

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 19

Are adolescents sensitive about sensitive data?

In our new @oxwell.bsky.social publication, we explore students' concerns about taking part in research including sensitive topics such as mental health & maltreatment.

Headlines below, w/ substantial implications for research design & analysis ⬇️

Are Adolescents Sensitive About Sensitive Data? Exploring Student Concerns About Privacy, Confidentiality, and Data Use in Health Research

We quantitively explored adolescents' concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and data use in health research and their potential impact on the accur…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · 10d

A fascinating project + you'd be hard pressed to find a better supervisory team than this one!

Come join our team @oxchildpsych.bsky.social! 🌻

Holly Bear @drhollybear.bsky.social · 10d

🚨 Interested in a fully funded DPhil at Oxford?
🌏 We’re recruiting for an MRC iCASE studentship on conversational AI for youth mental health.

Join an amazing team using youth voice to shape global digital health.

⏳ Deadline: 2 Dec 2025
💡 Get in touch to chat!

🔗 More info: tinyurl.com/4ua4j46h

Reposted by Emma Soneson

Prof Alexandra Pitman @alexandrapitman.bsky.social · Aug 28

⏰Post-doctoral #qualitative job alert! (closes 14/9/25).
@uclpsychiatry.bsky.social is recruiting for a #Qualitative Post‑Doctoral Research Associate to join our #suicide & #selfharm research team on a @nihr.bsky.social grant investigating acceptability of close obs www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · Aug 18

PAID OPPORTUNITY:

🏠 I'm looking to speak with some #homeschooling families (parents & carers / children & young people) in the UK about a potential research project around mental health and wellbeing in this community.

Please share & get in touch ([email protected]) for more details!

Reposted by Emma Soneson

Darío Moreno-Agostino @dmorenoagostino.bsky.social · Jun 18

📢 Job opportunity! 📢

I am recruiting a 2-year postdoc to join me at @clscohorts.bsky.social to work on a SUPER exciting project on the quantitative study of intersectional inequalities in youth mental health across time and place!

See www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/... for more info and how to apply!

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Reposted by Emma Soneson

Somerville College, Oxford @somervillecollege.bsky.social · May 28

It's fifth week in Oxford, which - naturally - means alpacas! Somerville JCR's welfare team organised the visit of these lovely guys, along with some sheep, goats, and other animals. We hope all our students got the chance to say hello!

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 27

Very fortunate to have shared two years at @somervillecollege.bsky.social with the wonderful Jan Royall & adore her new (hot pink!) portrait from Tania Rivilis, revealed last week 🎀🌸💓

Jan Royall (Principal, Somerville College) and Emma Soneson in front of Jan's new portrait by Tania Rivilis. Portrait portrays Jan in Pink jacket against pink background.

Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 20

Thanks for your kind words Ola ☺️

Hadn't thought about the specific tie to girls being 'more willing' to report sx but that's a really interesting link.

Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 19

With thanks to @simonrwhite.bsky.social & @minafazeloxford.bsky.social for another fun collab & to our fantastic summer intern Puneetha Goli for her important contributions!

Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 19

Key takeaway?

Research-related concerns are common amongst adolescents & have implications for data accuracy and completeness.

Deliberate design & analysis that incorporates this complexity are needed to ensure we are accurately capturing the voices of all young people.

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 19

🗝️ MISSING DATA was more common amongst those who reported that their concerns affected their accuracy (aORs wrt those not reporting impacted accuracy = 1.53 - 3.38).

🗝️ Substantial VARIATIONS in SCORE distributions on measures of mental illness & adversity according to presence/absence of concerns.

Graph shows a 5x3 panel of plots where rows represent the 5 concerns and columns represent the three measures of mental illness and adversity (L-R Short Child Maltreatment Questionnaire, RCADS-11, DAWBA eating disorder screening questions). The general trend shown is that those without concerns have score distributions quite separate (better mental health; less adversity) from those reporting concerns (regardless of whether they said the concern impacted their accuracy). This is particularly striking for the RCADS-11.

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 19

🗝️ Concerns were MORE PREVALENT amongst gender diverse students (aOR wrt boys = 5.7), gender non-disclosing students (aOR = 4.4) & girls (aOR = 2.5) BUT gender diverse adolescents less likely to report that their concerns prevented them from answering accurately.

🗝️ Less variation by age/ethnicity.

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 19

🗝️ 46.0% (8,160/17,729) of students endorsed ≥1 concern related to privacy, confidentiality, and data use & 28.8% (5,300/17,729) ≥2.

🗝️ 29.2% (2,379/8,160) of those with concerns reported that their concern(s) prevented them from answering '100% accurately'.

Graph (Fig 1 here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X25001107) shows proportion of students endorsing five different research related concerns, including concerns about parents, someone at home, and peers seeing their answers; a concern that the survey was not actually confidential; and a concern about how data would be used. Graph also shows whether students reported that their concern impacted the accuracy of their answers.

Most common concern is about adults at school seeing answers (31.1%), followed by belief that survey was not actually confidential (21.4%). Approx. 30% of individuals with each concern between 21.9 & 28.7% reported that the concern impacted the accuracy of their answers.

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 19

Are Adolescents Sensitive About Sensitive Data? Exploring Student Concerns About Privacy, Confidentiality, and Data Use in Health Research

We quantitively explored adolescents' concerns about privacy, confidentiality, and data use in health research and their potential impact on the accur…

www.sciencedirect.com

1 5 16

Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · May 2

Went to my first May Morning at @magdalenoxford.bsky.social yesterday! It was a truly magical thing & I'm so grateful to Hinako for the invite 🌸🌷🌻🪻

Photo of Emma, Hinako, and Mina standing in front of the wisteria at Magdalen college.

Photo shows a crowd on their feet looking up to the Magdalen tower for the choir.

Reposted by Emma Soneson

Amy Orben @orbenamy.bsky.social · Apr 11

New Paper! I'm truly excited to share @natematias.bsky.social and my new Policy Forum in Science published yesterday.

We evaluate science's ability to address technological harms, and offer recommendations for what could be done to improve on the status quo: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Fixing the science of digital technology harms

Technology development outpaces scientific assessment of impacts

www.science.org

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Reposted by Emma Soneson

Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social · Apr 9

The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards are a university-wide celebration of our outstanding people. We’re pleased that members from the Department of Psychiatry have been shortlisted across four categories. Learn more about our nominees 👇

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Reposted by Emma Soneson

Oxford Child & Adolescent Psychiatry @oxchildpsych.bsky.social · Apr 3

It's been a busy 48 hours for our senior postdocs @drhollybear.bsky.social & @emmasoneson.bsky.social, who were invited by BBC South Today & Radio Oxford to talk about the latest Oxfordshire Director of Public Health Annual Report on Children & Young People's #mentalhealth.

Links below👇

Photo shows a behind-the-scenes shot from the BBC South Today filming, with a desktop computer showing multiple camera angles. The largest angle is a closeup of Holly smiling.

Photo shows a behind-the-scenes shot from the BBC South Today filming, as a wide angle of Holly and host Tom sat on a rounded sofa posed to discuss the Director of Public Health Report.

Screenshot from a news article (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7vn6821e6eo) that shows Emma smiling outdoors in Somerville College, and text including a quote from Emma bout the importance of inequalities in mental health.

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Reposted by Emma Soneson

Somerville College, Oxford @somervillecollege.bsky.social · Apr 3

Our brilliant JRF Dr Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social was on the BBC last night discussing the mental health of Oxfordshire's children and young people: "When people think about Oxfordshire they think of this magnificent university town and forget about a lot of the inequalities."

Children's mental health 'worse in deprived Oxfordshire areas'

The director of public health presented an overview of the mental health of children to councillors.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Emma Soneson

Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social · Apr 2

A report by Oxfordshire County Council has found children living in poorer areas are more likely to experience mental health issues.

It drew on Oxwell Student Survey findings & our senior postdoc @emmasoneson.bsky.social spoke to the BBC about it.

Read the story 👇
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · Apr 2

Addressing #inequalities across the county is essential for shifting the dial in children & young people's #mentalhealth.

Great to see this as a focus of the new Director of Public Health Annual Report for Oxfordshire. Lots of work to be done, but equally, lots to be hopeful about.

Children's mental health 'worse in deprived Oxfordshire areas'

The director of public health presented an overview of the mental health of children to councillors.

www.bbc.co.uk

Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · Mar 28

👏

Emma Soneson @emmasoneson.bsky.social · Mar 25

New findings from @oxwell.bsky.social reinforce calls to shift to a more nuanced view of teens + tech.

Interesting read from colleagues @drhollybear.bsky.social, @minafazeloxford.bsky.social & @drskripka.bsky.social!

Holly Bear @drhollybear.bsky.social · Mar 25

Our latest paper is now out in Current Psychology:
🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Based on data from over 14,000 adolescents we found: It’s not just how much time young people spend online-it’s what they’re doing & what they’re exposed to that matters.

Isolation despite hyper-connectivity? The association between adolescents’ mental health and online behaviours in a large study of school-aged students - Current Psychology

Smartphone use has risen rapidly amongst adolescents over the last decade, as has the rates of common mental disorders. This has raised widespread concerns about direct links between adolescents’ gene...

link.springer.com

Reposted by Emma Soneson

OxWell Study @oxwell.bsky.social · Mar 19

Great to see Lea Satala presenting her OxWell findings at the @nihr.bsky.social Undergraduate Internship Programme Celebration Event in London this morning!

Lea undertook an 8-wk internship with @oxchildpsych.bsky.social last summer & did some really impactful work around adolescent self-harm.

Lea presenting findings from her OxWell internship at a conference.

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Reposted by Emma Soneson

Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford @oxfordpsychiatry.bsky.social · Feb 28

In the Department of Psychiatry, we're proud to have research teams working on a range of projects to understand more about the experiences and particular mental health needs of LGBT+ people. Read more 👇
tinyurl.com/3mtz3evw
#LGBTHistoryMonth @emmasoneson.bsky.social

LGBT+ Research in the Department of Psychiatry

A summary of what some of how some of our research groups are undertaking research with LGBT+ people in the department.

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Emma Soneson

Oxford Child & Adolescent Psychiatry @oxchildpsych.bsky.social · Feb 27

So proud of our shining star Anne Stewart 🌟 (& CAP friends Caz Nahman and Joanna Adams), whose book - Overcoming Worries About Body Image and Eating - launched today at @brasenoseoxford.bsky.social 📚

Huge potential to make a huge difference for young people!

L to R: CAP team members Holly Bear, Anne Stewart, and Hinako Irei smiling and holding copies of Anne's book

Caz, Joanna, and Anne speaking on a panel about their book

Panel of six authors and editor of the two books

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