Elena Vaughan

If you google “marketing to children,” the top results are how-to manuals 🤦🏼‍♀️

Rigorous reviews like this one are key to building a research agenda aimed at limiting the harms of marketing to children’s health, wellbeing, and rights.

Butterflies on a blue sky

THREAD

The numbers are in. @bsky.app research sharing volumes vs X Formerly Twitter

In March 2024, on most days, Bluesky hosts more posts linked to research published in 2025 than X.

By quite a lot.

Release the Kraken...

#AcademicSky #HigherEd #Altmetrics
1/11

Great to see our first findings from the CLICKBITE project published, starting with a systematic scoping review exploring children and parents' attitudes and awareness of digital food marketing.

Read the full study here: academic.oup.com/heapro/artic...

The NIH’s Grant Terminations Are ‘Utter and Complete Chaos’ The Trump administration is rapidly canceling hundreds of grants, in the most aggressive attack yet on American science.

Speechless.

www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Screenshot of tweet from @AlecStapp “Too many people take biomedical innovation for granted.” Below this is a screenshot from an article on the Atlantic.com. Highlighted is the text: “A child born with cystic fibrosis in the 50s could expect to live until age 5. In the 70s, age 10. In the early 2000s, age 35. With Trikafta came a quantum leap. Today those who begin taking the drug in early adolescence, a recent study projected, can expect to survive to age 82.5 - an essentially normal lifespan.”

I remember the cystic fibrosis patients I took care of 20 years ago.

I also remember the dedicated HIV wards in the hospitals, and that Princess Diana made headlines for shaking hands with AIDS patients.

Progress has been incredible.

Miracles are where you choose to see them.

🚨 CONFERENCE NEWS
From Awareness to Action: Advancing #Sexualhealth Promotion
Next week we will launch our Conference Website with registration and abstract submission platforms. Looking forward for oral presentation / poster / workshop proposals.
Thanks for sharing the news! ☘️
#HPRC2025

Mike spotted this before the rest of us. 🫡

Publications from 2025 are shared more on Bluesky than on X/Twitter.

In these harshly challenging times for scientific endeavour, global aid and health, in particular of marginalised communities, it’s great to see my former employer @aidsmap.bsky.social return with its top quality HIV news reporting.
And they’re now on Bluesky!
#CROI2025

6/ Reviews like this are a lot of work and very much a team sport -- big shout out to my colleagues and co-authors in @galwayhprc.bsky.social @uniofgalwaycmnhs.bsky.social and colleagues in Open University

A scoping review of children’s and parents’ attitudes to and awareness of digital food marketing Abstract. Digital food marketing (DFM) of unhealthy foods and beverages (high in saturated fats, sugar and salt) to children and young people influences br

5/ As digital marketing grows more sophisticated, how can we protect children and empower parents?

Read the full study here: academic.oup.com/heapro/artic...

📖 #PublicHealth #DigitalMarketing #HealthEquity

4/ Our findings call for:
✅ More research on evolving marketing tactics
✅ Stronger digital literacy programmes for kids & parents
✅ Advocacy & policy action to regulate DFM effectively 🚀 #ChildHealth

3/ Parents are often unaware of how DFM targets their kids. Studies show mixed views on regulation, highlighting the need for greater digital literacy & policy advocacy. 📲⚖️ #FoodPolicy #Parenting

2/ Many kids & teens struggle to recognize digital food ads, especially influencer promotions & native advertising on social media. These tactics shape brand recall, attitudes & food choices—often favoring unhealthy options. 🍔🥤 #CDoH

1/ 🚨 New publication! 🚨 Our systematic scoping review published in @healthpromint.bsky.social examines digital food marketing (DFM) and its impact on children, young people, and parents. What did we find? A thread 🧵👇 #FoodMarketing #PublicHealth

Special thanks to Dr. Carmen Kealy for her talk today on "Megatrends of Migration and Urbanization and it's impact on Health and Well-being", a really fascinating and important piece of work. #migration #urbanization #DIFI

🚨 SAVE THE DATE!
Our next Health Promotion Annual Conference will take place on 26 June 2025 (Thursday). Please pencil the date in your diary and share the news with colleagues. We are looking forward to seeing you in Galway!
#HealthPromotion #SexualHealth #SexualHealthPromotion #HPRC2025

We are looking forward to welcoming the #sexualhealth community to @universityofgalway.bsky.social for our 29th annual #HealthPromotion conference on June 26th. Abstract submission details available soon.

🚨🚨🚨
Fellow researchers: Download any CDC data you might want to use ASAP.

YRBS is already gone.
🚨🚨🚨

#AcademicSky #academicchatter #research

CDC removal of databases on sexual orientation, gender identity sparks alarm Data from an expansive federal survey on youth behavioral habits, including their sexual orientation and gender identity, have been removed from the website of the CDC.

Pretty alarming stuff happening in the US. Solidarity with our US colleagues ❤️
www.statnews.com/2025/01/31/c...

Delighted to have this piece published today in which I write about HIV stigma in healthcare settings and share some findings from me and @andraskolto.bsky.social

(Headline not mine mind you! Our findings only a small part of the stigma puzzle!)

Delighted to have this piece published today in which I write about HIV stigma in healthcare settings and share some findings from me and @andraskolto.bsky.social

(Headline not mine mind you! Our findings only a small part of the stigma puzzle!)

Earlier this year we completed a project looking at how food poverty is communicated on the island of Ireland, including how it is framed in the media. Great to see this output published, which looks at radio and TV news depictions of the topic.

On a little Winter staycation.. A little calmer on the Atlantic today after #StormDarragh

Cervical Cancer Mortality Among US Women Younger Than 25 Years This study examines trends in cervical cancer mortality in US women aged younger than 25 years before and after the introduction of human papillomavirus vaccines.

The HPV vaccine has been recommended in the US since 2006. New study out today shows that cervical cancer deaths in young women in the years that followed have plummeted, decreasing 15% per year from 2013-2015.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Fewer women dying of cervical cancer due to HPV vaccine "The HPV vaccine prevents cervical cancer by protecting against the high-risk HPV types," cancer researcher Ashish A. Deshmukh said.

Researchers have found a steep drop in deaths from cervical cancer, all thanks to the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine.

We’re no experts but this sounds like it might be suboptimal for disseminating research.

Re-upping this to share with new followers with an interest in HIV stigma.

Our findings suggest that increasing awareness & acceptance of U=U would be an effective intervention against HIV stigma.

So it's worth shouting it from the rooftops this upcoming World AIDS day.

Bluesky is emerging as the new platform for science - Mike Young Academy Scientific Twitter is about to find its true successor. And it is not X. This, our latest release, shows that the Bluesky network of scientists is growing — and growing.

A mapping of how Bluesky is becoming the new Scientific Twitter

mikeyoungacademy.dk/bluesky-is-e...

A new starter pack

Women commenting on a range of topics relating to health, care and the determinants of health and inequalities.

go.bsky.app/FDUBGFf

We heard you and we are verified on Bluesky!

Follow the World Health Organization here for public health updates.🎉