Guidance

Register of interests for the members of the Expert Panel for Growing up in an Online World

Published 26 May 2026

The current register of interests for each of the members of the Expert Panel for Growing up in an Online World.

Professor Russell Viner

Appointments

Professor Viner currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments

• Chief Scientific Advisor at Dept for Education (January 2023 to January 2026)

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Professor at the University College London

Non-executive Director at the Adolescent Health Study

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

Not applicable  

Professor Amy Orben

Appointments

Professor Orben currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments:

• Paid Membership of Advisory Board: Digital Futures for Children Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, December 2024, Ongoing
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board: ESRC Smart Data Research UK Programme Board, May 2023, Ongoing
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board: British Academy Public Policy Committee, January 2022 to February 2025
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board: Department for Education Science Advisory Council, October 2024, Ongoing
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology College of Experts, December 2021, Ongoing
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board :Department for Culture, Media and Sports College of Experts, Dec 2021, Ongoing
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board: Australian eSafety Commissioner Social Media Restriction Evaluation Advisory Board, April 2025, Ongoing
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board: UK Department of Health and Social Care Mental Health Diagnosis Review, January 2026, Ongoing
• Unpaid Membership of Advisory Board: UK Department for Education Under 5s Screen Time Guidance Review, January 2026 to May 2026

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Research Professor at the University of Cambridge

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

As an academic I publish routinely on this topic as part of my job. You can find an up-to-date list of publications on Google Scholar. 

Professor Rosie Flewitt

Appointments

Professor Flewitt currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments:

• Not applicable

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Not applicable

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

As an academic who has led research in the field of young children’s uses of technology, I regularly write about and publish academic articles and books regarding research findings on this topic. Please see my academic profile for a clearer understanding of my research activity and research outputs.  

Professor Pete Etchells

Appointments

Professor Etchells currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments:

• Member of DCMS College of Experts 2025 to present
• Member of the Academic Advisory Group supporting the Australian eSafety evaluation of the Social Media Minimum Age law 2025 to present

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Staff governor, Bath Spa University (unpaid), 2024 to present 

Parent governor, Manor Church of England Primary School (unpaid), 2024 to present 

Associate member of the Association of British Science Writers

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

I am the author of 2 popular science books, “Lost in a Good Game” (2019) and “Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (and how to spend it better)” (2024) for which I receive royalty payments on sales.

I have published 3 articles in major news outlets in the past 2.5 years on the topic of screen time and its impacts, based on my second book:

• January 2024 – New Scientist – “We aren’t addicted to our phones and we don’t need a ‘digital detox’” 

• March 2024 – The Observer – “Scroll on: why your screen-time habits aren’t as bad as you think they are” 

• January 2025 – Wired – “How to build a healthier relationship with your screen” 

In addition, I am regularly asked to provide comments for news articles relating to social media, screen time and video games. Recent examples of this include: 

• March 2026: ITV News 
• February 2026: The Spectator 
• January 2026: New Scientist 
• July 2025: BBC News 

I was on Radio 4’s The Briefing Room in February 2026 to discuss whether the government should ban social media for young people.

I have a presence on most social media platforms (X, Bluesky, LinkedIn and Instagram). Relevant to this role, I am mostly active on Instagram.

Professor Sonia Livingstone OBE

Appointments

Professor Livingstone currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments:

• Occasionally paid a fee for giving a talk or consultancy e.g. NSPCC.
• Member of various professional bodies – British Academy, British Psychological Association, International Communication Association, Royal Society of Arts, etc.
• Member of Ursula van der Leyen’s special panel on children’s online safety, the UN’s scientific panel on AI, and similar.

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

I publish a lot of independent academic research and commentary on the topic related to this role but do not believe any are a conflict of interest.   

Professor Netta Weinstein

Appointments

Professor Weinstein currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments

• Not applicable

Register of interests

Personal interests

Non-executive director (October 2023 to present) of a research methodology consultancy (Przybylski Consultations LTD).

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Professor at the University of Reading

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

I am a full-time employee of the University of Reading as a professor. I have published a number of relevant publications, including: 

• Weinstein, N., Itzchakov, G., & Maniaci, M. R. (2025). Exploring the connecting potential of AI: Integrating human interpersonal listening and parasocial support into human-computer interactions. 
• Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 4, 100149.  David, L., & Weinstein, N. (2024).
• The how and how much of technology use in the classroom: A motivational approach to teachers’ technology use. European Journal of Education, 59(4), e12674. Wiita, F., Ho, A. K., & Weinstein, N. (2024).
• Web-Based Intervention Using Self-Compassionate Writing to Induce Positive Mood in Family Caregivers of Older Adults: Quantitative Study. JMIR Formative Research, 8, e52883.  David, L., & Weinstein, N. (2024).
• Using technology to make learning fun: Technology use is best made fun and challenging to optimize intrinsic motivation and engagement. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 39(2), 1441–1463. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-023-00734-0  Liefgreen, A., Weinstein, N., Wachter, S., & Mittelstadt, B. (2024).
• Beyond ideals: Why the (medical) AI industry needs to motivate behavioural change in line with fairness and transparency values, and how it can do it. AI & SOCIETY, 39(5), 2183–2199. Johannes, N., Nguyen, T. V., Weinstein, N., & Przybylski, A. K. (2021).
• Objective, subjective, and accurate reporting of social media use: No evidence that daily social media use correlates with personality traits, motivational states, or well-being. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(2), 1-14.  Mitev, K., Weinstein, N., Karabeliova, S., Nguyen, T.-V., Law, L., & Przybylski, A. (2021). 
• Social Media Use Only Helps, and Does not Harm, Daily Interactions and Well-being. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(1).  Ijzerman, H. R., Lewis, N. A., Przybylski, A. K., Weinstein, N., et al. (2020).
• Use caution when applying behavioural science to policy. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(11), 1092-1094. (Q1; IF 4.01)  Orben, A., Weinstein, N., & Przybylski, A. K. (2020). 
• Only Holistic and Iterative Change Will Fix Digital Technology Research. Psychological Inquiry. (Q1; IF 10.03)  Weinstein, N., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019).
• The impacts of motivational framing of technology restrictions on adolescent concealment: Evidence from a preregistered experimental study. Computers in Human Behavior, 90, 170-180.     

Professor Bernadka Dubicka

Appointments

Professor Dubicka currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments:

• Not applicable

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Current posts:

• Substantive post: Hull York Medical School University of York
• Honorary posts: University of Manchester, Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, Pennine Care Foundation Trust

Advisor on technology to RCPsych – lead on position statement; previous chair of child and adolescent faculty: have been advocating for online safety and CYPMH through the college for 10 years, lack of research in vulnerable groups, and data sharing/digital tax to fund research; as past chair have been involved in numerous advisory roles on policy and was a spokesperson for RCPsych on CYPMH

Current editor in chief Journal Child and Adolescent Mental Health – published on COIs in technology research and need for transparency

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

Please refer to my publications list on Research Gate. 

Professor Deborah Fry

Appointments

Professor Fry currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments:

• Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
• Pending chair for the next year’s advisory committee on child safety for the International Panel on the Information Environment.

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

I am a core author and also commissioner for the Lancet Commission on Violence Against Women and Violence Against Children where I led the technology-facilitated violence submission. This report is currently under peer review but was part of a five-year commission process (unpaid)

I am a voluntary expert supporting the Indian government’s AI Safety Expert Engagement Group that culminated in February’s AI Summit in Delhi with continued work with various government counterparts including the India Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) and the Ministry of Electronics and Telecommunications (MeiTY) around next steps and legislative reform (2026).

I am working with the National Coordinating Center for Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (NCC OSAEC), which is a multi-sector government agency, to develop an evaluation framework for their 5 year strategic plan on OSAEC and in developing a national baseline study on OSAEC (2026).

I am a volunteer on the advisory group for the Together for Girls and Brave Movement, Out of the Shadows Index, which is an index measuring government solutions and responses to childhood sexual violence (2025 to 2026).

I am on the advisory group (paid £1k) for the Safe Futures Hub, a consortium of Together for Girls, the Sexual Violence Research Initiative and the We Protect Global Alliance which is focused on building the evidence base around solutions to ending sexual violence against children (2024 to 2026).

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

Not applicable  

Dr Akshi Kumar

Appointments

Dr Kumar currently holds, or has previously held, the following appointments:

• Not applicable

Register of interests

Personal interests

Not applicable

Financial interests

Not applicable

Employment, appointments and outside occupations

Not applicable

Political activity

Not applicable

Any other relevant interests or activities

I have published research and contributed written evidence to UK Parliament inquiries on artificial intelligence, misinformation, and public trust. These contributions are academic and evidence-based in nature and are aligned with promoting transparency, accountability, and ethical use of AI.