The Amsterdam Centre for Health Communication (ACHC) is hosting an autumn symposium on Thursday, November 13th. This year’s theme is ‘Social Media and Mental Health’. The symposium will be led by Mieke Oldeman, Brittany Chan, and Eline Smit.

The symposium will commence at 11:45 a.m. and conclude at 5:00 p.m., with free entry. During this period, the latest research on social media and mental health, focusing on young people, will be presented. There will be a discussion about the potential risks and benefits of various kinds of social media and how we can ensure that young people grow up safely online.

So far, speakers from both science and practice have agreed to share their insights. From the scientific community, Esther Rozendaal from Erasmus University Rotterdam will discuss how the Healthy Screen Use guideline can help ensure that children and young people not only understand how to use social media safely but also actually do so. Additionally, Mieke Oldeman from the University of Amsterdam (UvA) will speak about her PhD project, which focuses on social media use by young people with anxiety and depression. Lastly, Karolien Poels, who works at the University of Antwerp, will join us to talk about her scientific research.

To bridge the gap between science and practice, Jessica Piotrowski and Amber van der Wal (UvA) will share their work during an interaction session. Afterwards, our practical speakers will take the stage. So far, Rebecca Wald and Thibaut Coenegracht from the Netherlands Youth Institute have been confirmed, but we anticipate welcoming more speakers from the field that day.

Call for Blitz presentations!

Finally, the programme also allocates space for a few “Blitz presentations,” where recent research or “work in progress” is shared in an accessible way within five minutes. Would you like to give a Blitz presentation? Please send a short abstract (up to 150 words) to ACHC-fmg@UvA.nl by 22 September at the latest.

As we also want to invite an audience from the field, the working language will be Dutch/Flemish.