Speakers
Dr Ulrik Lyngs
Workshop
Digital devices are essential to university life. Yet, many students struggle to use their devices without constant distraction from notifications, endless content feeds, or the compulsive urge to check. In this hands-on session (bring a smartphone and laptop!), Dr Ulrik Lyngs and Jozef Sen share the research behind the Reduce Digital Distraction (ReDD) workshop — a practical intervention developed at the University of Oxford and piloted with over 3,000 students and staff in Higher Education. We identify personal and institutional digital challenges and explore how "digital focus tools" — apps and extensions that strip away addictive features while keeping what we value — empower students to get back in control. Peer-reviewed evaluations suggest that by using such tools to tailor digital environments to their needs, struggling students on average increase digital self-control by 58% and reduce daily wasted device time by 1.5 hours.
You'll leave the session with an overview of evidence-based strategies for mitigating digital distraction, and a practical, scalable method to make them available to your own students and teams.
Dr Ulrik Lyngs is a research fellow at the University of Oxford, visiting researcher at the University of Copenhagen, and Director of the Reduce Digital Distraction Project. He was awarded Oxford University’s 2024 MPLS Early Career Research Impact for his work on the ReDD Project. In Denmark, Ulrik serves as research representative on the national Media Council for Children and Young People, which disseminates knowledge about digital media use.
Jozef Sen is Head of Counselling at the University of Leeds and an experienced therapeutic practitioner and clinical leader with over 17 years’ experience in HE. He specialises in student, staff and organisational wellbeing, with a strong focus on clinical leadership, strategic development and service innovation. Jozef leads multidisciplinary teams and is particularly interested in advancing both established and innovative approaches to wellbeing.