Date: Thursday, November 5, 2026
Time: 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: Online
The Policy Institute at KAUST invites you to a timely discussion with Dr. Luis Sevilla, senior research scientist at the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Sevilla leads the Survey and Social Media Research practice areas within NORC’s International Programs Department and currently serves as NORC project director for the Australia Social Media Ban Research Study.
This discussion comes at a time when age-based social media restrictions are rapidly emerging as a policy challenge globally. Following recent legislative actions in Australia and advancing regulations across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, countries are grappling with how to regulate youth social media access amid growing concerns about mental health, digital safety, and online risks such as bullying and exploitation.
Despite this policy momentum, critical evidence gaps remain about whether such restrictions achieve their intended goals and what unintended consequences may emerge.
In this session, Dr. Sevilla will present NORC’s flexible research toolkit for evaluating youth social media policies. The toolkit employs longitudinal mixed-mode surveys combining parent and youth interviews to capture data across four interconnected domains: digital parenting practices, child well-being and mental health, youth lived experiences and adaptation strategies, and policy implementation and compliance patterns.
Drawing on NORC’s social media research portfolio, Dr. Sevilla will demonstrate how existing research designs can be adapted to diverse contexts and policies, including potential applications for Saudi Arabia. Key topics include sampling strategies, ethical protocols for interviewing minors, data donation protocols, and analytical frameworks for capturing both intended policy effects and behavioral adaptations over time.
This Speaker Series session will be moderated by Professor Leena Ali Ibrahim, Assistant Professor of Bioscience at KAUST Biomedical Sciences Division, where she leads the Neurocircuits Lab. She conducted postdoctoral research on cortical circuits at Harvard Medical School and received the 2024 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Middle East Young Talents Award.
In addition to moderating the session, Professor Ibrahim will discuss the neuroscience of adolescent brain development and the potential neurological effects of social media exposure.
The Policy Institute at KAUST greatly values your participation in this discussion and hopes you will be able to join the session.
KAUST Policy Institute
