Rate My Professor Beth Bell

Bell employs a mixed-methods interdisciplinary approach to research youth wellbeing in the digital age, examining risks and opportunities of digital media and technologies on adolescent mental health, including body image, self-harm, disordered eating and exercise, social media interactions, and harassment experiences among racially minoritised girls. She co-designs, develops, and evaluates interventions to enhance digital wellbeing literacy and promote positive technology use in educational and technological settings, alongside multi-sector collaborations for youth health. Her work has secured funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Nuffield Foundation, City of York Council, and third-sector organisations. Bell led a REF 2021 impact case study on improving adolescents’ body image and digital literacy; her Body Image in the Digital Age initiative has been delivered to thousands of young people. Key publications include “Digital Bodies: A controlled evaluation of a brief classroom-based intervention for reducing negative body image among adolescents in the digital age” (British Journal of Educational Psychology, 2021), “It’s Better Saying I Look Fat Instead of Saying You Look Fat: A Qualitative Study of U.K. Adolescents’ Understanding of Appearance-Related Interactions on Social Media” (Journal of Adolescent Research, 2021), and “Understanding the role of healthy eating and fitness mobile apps in the formation of maladaptive eating and exercise behaviors in young people” (JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2019). She holds two editorial board memberships and organised the Mental Health and Education conference in 2023.