From playtime to screen time, today’s youth are growing up in a world of swipes, scrolls, and constant connection. But at what cost?
Join award-winning host and producer of All in the Mind, Sana Qadar, as she moderates a compelling panel of leading psychologists, psychiatrists and industry experts. Together, they’ll explore how digital technology is shaping the mental health and wellbeing of children and teens, unpacking the science behind addictive design, the rising prevalence of mental disorders, and the real-world harms linked to online behaviour.
But it’s not all doomscrolling. This timely conversation will also highlight how technology is being used to support young people — from early interventions to innovative digital tools that improve access to mental health care.
As digital technology becomes ever more embedded in young people’s lives, discover how the risks can be better understood, the benefits harnessed, and young minds supported in navigating an increasingly connected world.
LIVE EVENT & VENUE INFORMATION
Leighton Hall (map ref G19) is located inside the John Niland Scientia Building at UNSW Sydney's Kensington Campus. Please note this is a live event only and will not be available via livestream.
Sana Qadar is an award-winning podcaster and journalist whose work has featured on the ABC, BBC, SBS, Al Jazeera, and NPR to name a few. Sana hosts All in the Mind on ABC Radio National, and co-hosts the SBS podcast Eyes on Gilead, which won a 2019 Australian Podcast Award for Best Fancast.
Professor Eapen is Chair of Child Psychiatry, UNSW Sydney and Clinical Academic at South-Western Sydney. As a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Leadership Fellow focusing on neurodevelopmental disorders, she leads an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence. Valsa is Stream Director for Early Life Determinants of Health (ELDoH) with SPHERE, a NHMRC Advanced Health Research and Translational Centre; President, International Neuropsychiatric Association; Co-Chair, Section on Psychiatry in Developing countries and Oceania Zonal representative, World Psychiatric Association; and Chair, Faculty of Child Psychiatry, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry (RANZCP).
Associate Professor Susanne Schweizer is a Scientia Associate Professor and ARC DECRA Fellow at the UNSW School of Psychology, where she leads the Developmental Affective Science Lab. Susanne’s research explores why people are more vulnerable to the onset of mental health problems during certain periods in the lifespan, in particular adolescence and the perinatal period. Her research translates insights from her work in basic cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychology to design novel treatments for depression and anxiety. Before joining UNSW, she held fellowships at the University of Cambridge and University College London, was an Investigator Scientist at the Cambridge MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar.
Jesse Waller is the Co-Founder and CEO of InnerSteps, a pioneering mental health platform renowned for its evidence-based approach to childhood anxiety through AI-powered personalised storytelling. Passionate about making quality therapeutic support accessible to all children, Jesse has guided InnerSteps to be recognised as the Global E-Learning Platform of the Year, Australian Education Solution of the Year, and listed in the Forbes 30 Under 30. Under his leadership, the platform has demonstrated clinical effectiveness across 5,000 cultural contexts and 100+ languages, transforming how children engage with CBT principles through tailored therapeutic narratives.
Dr. Alexis Whitton is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Depression Treatment Precision at the Black Dog Institute. A leader in the field of mental health, she co-wrote Australia’s first tailored smartphone-based tool for managing depression – now used by over 200,000 people. With more than 80 scientific publications, Dr. Whitton combines the latest advances in artificial intelligence and digital technology to help create mental health tools that are better tailored to each person’s unique needs.
