About Us
The Digital Determinants of Health refer to the ways in which digital environments - including platforms, algorithms, data practices, and governance - shape health, wellbeing and equity across the life course.
Our Mission
To understand how digital environments shape young people’s health and wellbeing, and to produce rigorous causal evidence that can be communicated, interpreted and used responsibly.
Our Vision
A future in which digital platforms and policies affecting young people are shaped by robust evidence, ethical research practice and responsible public communication.
Our Values
The Hub’s work is guided by a small set of core commitments:
Methodological rigour and clarity.
Independence and transparency.
Meaningful youth involvement and co-production.
Equity, inclusion and public benefit.
A collaborative research culture that values care, integrity and critical thinking.
Responsible communication and use of evidence.
Why a Hub?
Research on digital harms and benefits is often fragmented, methodologically limited, or communicated in ways that overstate certainty and obscure complexity. Correlational findings are frequently interpreted as causal, while structural drivers, such as platform design, algorithmic amplification and regulation, receive less attention.
The Digital Determinants of Health Hub was created to address these gaps. It brings together public health, causal inference and digital data science to study digital environments as population-level determinants of health, while prioritising careful interpretation, transparency and responsible communication.
How We Work
The Hub focuses on three interconnected priorities.
Understanding how digital exposure shapes health and wellbeing
Evaluating the real-world effects of digital governance and regulation
Advancing ethical, participatory research with young people
Responsible Evidence and Communication
The Hub is committed to producing and communicating evidence accurately, proportionately and ethically. We are explicit about uncertainty and limitations, avoid sensationalism, and distinguish clearly between evidence and interpretation.
Scientific independence, transparency around funding and conflicts of interest, and strong governance are central to how the Hub operates.