What’s Happening at the Lab

The Digital Wellness Lab’s Hannah Chidekel and Dr. David Bickham will be presenting on a webinar entitled Digital Wellness & Real Life Wellness Go Hand in Hand: Integrating Students’ Digital Lives and Habits into K-12 Mental Health Education, Mental Health Supports, & Wellness Literacy.

Digital Wellness Lab Scientist Dr. Michael Carter and Research Associate Laura Marciano will be attending and presenting at Communication and Inequalities in Context, the 76th Annual ICA Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Lab’s Executive Director, Cori Stott, will be taking part in this summit hosted by the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Social Media and Youth Mental Health Center of Excellence. The Summit will gather clinicians, educators, researchers, nonprofit leaders, policymakers, parents, youth, and more to share knowledge and discuss hot topics around social media and youth mental health. 

How can we foster connection in social gaming spaces? In Fall 2025, Roblox and Prosocial Design Network brought together more than 40 academics and Roblox team members, all inspired by that question and about the possibility of catalyzing new research. In a day of small group workshopping, participants co-imagined design solutions to promote prosocial engagement – from cooperating to teaching – that could lead to connection, belonging and wellbeing. The convening then produced six research projects, funded by Roblox, to explore and test several of the ideas that emerged from the day’s discussions.

In this Inspired Internet Pledge Research Roundtable we will hear from the convening’s co-hosts to learn about the design ideas generated during the day and from the project teams who will share initial findings from their research. Presentations will be followed by breakout groups where we hope to explore the potential of adapting and adopting the design ideas presented – and also how we can catalyze yet more actionable research toward hosting healthy online spaces.

Join the Lab’s Nicole Powell, Katrina Ho, and Cori Stott for a series of free, drop-in hands-on workshops in the Verizon Store at 3100 N Miami Avenue from 12:00 – 4:00. You’ll leave with digital wellbeing plans and some great prizes! Plus, just for attending, you’ll be entered into a sweepstakes to win World Cup tickets!

Learn more and register →

The Lab’s Executive Director, Cori Stott, will be two-stepping her way through the Young Futures Block Party, a community-powered celebration designed to bring together YF innovators, youth leaders, funders, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and partners, in the spirit of building something bigger than any one program, project, or institution.

Adolescent care is rapidly evolving—and clinicians are navigating increasingly complex clinical, developmental, and psychosocial challenges. Adolescent Medicine Updates 2026 is a dynamic one-day virtual conference designed to equip healthcare professionals with practical, evidence-informed strategies they can apply immediately in practice. Dr. Michael Rich will be joining to share about problematic media use and how he and his colleagues identify and address it in the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders.

Learn more and register →

Digital wellbeing and the work of keeping kids healthy and safe online is a cross-functional discipline. For two days, our colleagues from across the Hospital will be joining the Lab to share clinically-informed guidance and ideas for building emerging tech that is designed with kids’ wellbeing in mind.

The Digital Wellness Lab’s supporters will be gathering to discuss our recent findings in AI-focused studies. 

Digital Wellness Lab Scientist Zhiying (Zoey) Yue will be in London to meet with Lab supporter the Huo Family Foundation.

A webinar for Mass General Brigham’s The Parenting Series featuring the Digital Wellness Lab’s own Dr. Michael Rich. He’ll address the physical, social, and mental ways that online media can affect kids.

A team from the Lab will be in Toronto for this conference: Brinleigh Murphy-Reuter, Innovation Strategist; Sam Schwamm, Clinical Research Manager; and Kaitlin Tiches, Knowledge Manager. Brinleigh will be in a roundtable event entitled The Future of Research on Social Media, Tech, and Adolescent Development. Sam will be presenting a poster about the impact of different types of school phone policies.

The Digital Wellness Lab’s Dr. Zhiying (Zoey) Yue will be giving a guest lecture on her recent research.

Dr. Zhiying (Zoey) Yue will be attending AERA 2026 in Los Angeles, connecting with a wide array of peers in educational research from around the world.