Bep Uink, MA
Bep Uink is studying a Master of Applied Psychology (Clinical) and P.hD. at Murdoch University, Western Australia. Her area of research is in developmental psychopathology- a field that looks at individual and systemic risk and protective factors for youths’ healthy and unhealthy development. Her interest in how people are using technology stems from her research program, where, with a research team, she lent disadvantaged adolescents smartphones for a week so that they could report on their daily stressors, positive events, contexts and emotions. Here, it became apparent to her that the integration of technology in psychological research holds many promises, and that much remains unknown about the potentially beneficial ways that people are using technology in modern life.
Lynette Vernon, PhD
My research and leadership career has encompassed primary and secondary schools, education support facilities and tertiary institutions. I have worked with students from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including Indigenous students, and those with special needs. Within my leadership roles I have helped promote best practice across the whole educational community, including teaching and non-teaching staff, professional and academic staff and external agency support structures. I successfully managed and directed Murdoch’s Aspirations and Pathways for University (MAP4U) project, a five million dollar grant over four years, working to promote an inclusive culture across schools, universities and the wider community. I have a vibrant and productive research program, generating impactful research both on problematic use of technology for adolescents and aspirational capacities of students in low SES region, as indicated by my recent partnership with the ABC to conduct Australia’s Biggest Smartphone Survey. My research has relevance for parents, teachers, psychologists across the lifespan for healthy development.
Kathryn Modecki, PhD
I am a faculty member in developmental psychology at Griffith University and an honorary research fellow at Murdoch University. I study adolescents' pathways in and out of risky behaviors-and nowadays-you'd be hard pressed to find an adolescent without a smartphone in their pocket (if not in their hand)!
Technology constitutes a central part of adolescents' existence, and as researchers, we are only now catching up! Here, our team is focused on charting development in the modern age, and what modern life means across generations, and across time.
We will continue to provide updates from ABC's Biggest Smartphone survey, and welcome your comments and suggestions. Our team also has exciting research planned-and we hope you'll join us and contribute to future scientific endeavors.