Prof Amy OrbenAcademic

Biography

Professor Amy Orben is a Research Professor and Programme Leader of the Digital Mental Health Group at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of St. John's College. She leads a research programme investigating the links between mental health and digital technology use in adolescence, with a particular focus on cognitive, biological and social mechanisms. She completed her MA in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and her DPhil in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. She advises senior politicians, policymakers and public servants, including as Director of a 2025 UK Government independent research commission on digital technology and young people's mental health, and as a member of the Science Advisory Council at the UK Department for Education. She is also known for co-founding ReproducibiliTea, a grassroots open-science journal club that has grown to more than 100 locations worldwide, and for her advocacy for robust, transparent scientific practice.

References

1. 1.Amy Orben – MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge — Current role title, organisation, policy advisory roles including 2025 UK Government commission and DfE Science Advisory Council membership
2. 2.Professor Amy Orben – St John's College, Cambridge — Fellowship at St John's College, educational background, awards including APS Rising Star (2024), MRC Early Career Impact Prize (2022), BPS Outstanding Doctoral Research (2019), SIPS Mission Award (2020)
3. 3.Professor Amy Orben – Curriculum Vitae — Detailed academic positions timeline (Research Professor from Oct 2025, Programme Leader from Jul 2024), ORCID, institutional email format, oral evidence to HoC Select Committee March 2026
4. 4.About – ReproducibiliTea — Co-founding of ReproducibiliTea at Oxford in spring 2018 with Sophia Crüwell and Sam Parsons, and its international growth
5. 5.Amy Orben – winner of the BNA 2021 'credibility prize' – MRC CBU

Expertise

Cited on

• Mental health

Stated areas of expertise

• Adolescent mental health
• Digital technology and social media effects
• Screen time policy
• Open science and research reproducibility
• Developmental psychology
• Evidence-based digital health policy

Notable achievements

• Appointed Director of a 2025 UK Government independent research commission on digital technology and young people's mental health Source ↗
• Co-founded ReproducibiliTea at the University of Oxford in 2018, a grassroots open-science journal club that has grown to more than 100 locations worldwide Source ↗
• Won the British Neuroscience Association Researcher Credibility Prize (2021) for work on open science Source ↗
• Won the 2022 UK Reproducibility Network Dorothy Bishop Early Career Researcher Prize for contributions to open research Source ↗
• Won the British Psychological Society Award for Outstanding Contributions to Doctoral Research (2019) Source ↗
• Gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee inquiry on social media age restrictions (March 2026) Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “This study is a world first to try to look at that question. We know that if we take away social media for one adolescent, that might have a very different impact than if we take it away for their whole friendship group for a certain period of time.”

  University of Cambridge · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · UK study to examine effects of restricting social media for children ↗

• “co-led by the Bradford Institute for Health Research and the University of Cambridge psychologist Prof Amy Orben will examine changes in anxiety and sleep quality, time spent with friends and family, wellbeing, body image, social comparison, school absences and bullying”

  University of Cambridge psychologist · Mental health · 27 Aug 2026 · Hundreds of UK teenagers to trial six-week social media curbs for major study ↗

Source references

1. UK study to examine effects of restricting social media for childrentheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. Hundreds of UK teenagers to trial six-week social media curbs for major studytheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Websitehttps://amyorben.compublished here ↗
• Staff pagehttps://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/amy.orben/
• Xhttps://x.com/OrbenAmypublished here ↗
• ORCIDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2937-4183published here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.