Sbaffi, Laura, Dr

Dr Laura Sbaffi

BSc (Urbino), MSc (Urbino), MA (Manchester Metropolitan), PhD (Trieste)

Information School

Senior Lecturer in Health Informatics

l.sbaffi@shef.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2686

Room C238, The Wave

Full contact details

Dr Laura Sbaffi
Information School
Room C238
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
91̽��
S10 2AH

Profile

I joined the Information School in June 2016. I started my academic career as Visiting Scholar at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge between 1996 and 2000. In the years following my PhD degree I held research positions at the University of Urbino (Italy), the University of East Anglia (UK) and the Australian National University (Australia).

I then worked as research Scientist at the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (Geoscience Australia) for several years. In 2012 I completed my MA in Library and Information Management at Manchester Metropolitan University and, immediately after, I joined the Department of Information and Communications there, where I worked in the Information and Interactions Research Group.

In June 2015 I joined Ashfield Insight and Performance in Macclesfield as Healthcare and Scientific Researcher, where I specialised in current pharmaceutical market research strategies.

In 2021 I was promoted to Senior Lecturer.

University Responsibilities

Head of the Health Informatics Research Group
Unfair Means Officer
Member of the Senate Discipline Panel

Research interests

I have a number of ongoing research interests:

I have been working on digital trust formation in relation to health information, by focussing on what modalities and cues young adults follow when looking for online health information and how they differ from those of more mature people. I have also worked on gender attitudes towards online information and trust judgements.
I am conducting research both in the UK and Malawi (GCRF QR grant) to address the information needs of informal carers of people with degenerative conditions such as dementia and HIV. I am also looking at ICT solutions to promote the development of Shared Health Records to improve health data use for action within the Uganda health system.
I am looking at strategies to reduce information overload in healthcare workers and, at the moment, am focusing on NHS emergency doctors and the factors influencing such perceived overload.
I recently completed a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Fund grant (217871/Z/19/Z) with Dr Jonathan Foster and Prof Suzanne Mason to improve our understanding of the factors that influence patients to consent to sharing their personal data for purposes beyond their direct care, e.g. research and planning.

I am also interested in topics beyond health informatics:

I have been exploring the attitudes of academics towards open access publishing and regularly collaborate with Taylor & Francis on similar topics.
I am interested in the Research Data Management policy and practice in countries around the world and currently focussing on China.

I would be interested in supervising PhD topics in the following areas:

Information needs of informal caregivers from BAME groups
Needs of informal caregivers in national and international settings, with a particular interest in the developing world
Digital inclusion of under-represented groups

Publications

Journal articles

Marincowitz C, Hasan M, Omer Y, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Goodacre S, Bath PA, Fuller G, Sbaffi L & Wallis L (2024) . African Journal of Emergency Medicine, 14(1), 51-57.
Fuller GW, Hasan M, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Goodacre S, Bath PA, Sbaffi L, Omer Y, Wallis L & Marincowitz C (2023) . PLOS Digital Health, 2(9).
Sbaffi L & Zhao X (2022) . Frontiers in Psychology.
Sbaffi L, Walton J, Blenkinsopp J & Walton G (2020) . Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(7).
Aylward K, Sbaffi L & Weist A (2020) . Health Information and Libraries Journal.
Huang Y, Cox A & Sbaffi L (2020) Research Data Management Policy and Practice in China.. Int. J. Digit. Curation, 15, 1-18.
Millares Miller P & Sbaffi L (2019) . Health Informatics Journal.
Cox A, Pinfield S, Kennan MA, Lyon L & Sbaffi L (2019) . Journal of Documentation.
Cox AM, Kennan MA, Lyon EJ, Pinfield S & Sbaffi L (2019) . International Journal of Digital Curation, 14(1), 126-135.
Cox AM, Gadd E, Petersohn S & Sbaffi L (2019) . Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 51(3), 746-762.
Sbaffi L & Bennett J (2019) . Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.
McKinney P, Cox AM & Sbaffi L (2019) . Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Sbaffi L & Zhao C (2019) . Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.
(2019) . Information Development, 35(2), NP1-NP1.
Joung KH, Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2019) . Information Development, 35(2), 191-202.
Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G (2019) . Health Information & Libraries Journal, 36(1), 60-72.
Almanea A, Bath P & Sbaffi L (2019) . Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, 171(Suppl), 3-3.
Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2018) . Journal of Information Science, 44, 644-657.
Mazalan L, Bell AJ, Sbaffi L & Willett P (2018) . ChemMedChem, 13(6), 582-587.
Sbaffi L, Hallsworth E & Weist A (2018) . Health Information and Libraries Journal.
Sbaffi L & Rowley J (2017) . Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(6).
Rowley J, Johnson F, Sbaffi L, Frass W & Devine E (2017) . Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(5), 1201-1211.
Rowley J, Johnson F & Sbaffi L (2016) . Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 68(1), 36-47.
Johnson F, Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2016) . Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 67(4), 824-840.
Johnson F, Sbaffi L & Rowley J (2016) . British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(6), 1243-1258.
Rowley J, Johnson F, Sbaffi L & Weist A (2015) . Library & Information Science Research, 37(4), 338-345.
Sbaffi L, Johnson F, Griffiths J, Rowley J & Weist A (2015) . The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(2), 201-206.
Sbaffi L & Rowley J (2015) . Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 47(2), 104-116.
Rowley J, Johnson F & Sbaffi L (2015) . Health Informatics Journal, 21(4), 316-327.
Johnson F, Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2015) . Journal of Information Science, 41(4), 415-429.
(2009) . Nature Geoscience, 2(2), 127-132.
Heap AD & Sbaffi L (2008) . Continental Shelf Research, 28(16), 2174-2187.
Post AL, Sbaffi L, Passlow V & Collins DC (2007) Benthic foraminifera as environmental indicators in Torres Strait-Gulf of Papua. Special Paper - Geological Association of Canada(47), 329-347.
Hayes A, Kucera M, Kallel N, Sbaffi L & Rohling EJ (2005) . Quaternary Science Reviews, 24(7-9), 999-1016.
Marchal O, Cacho I, Stocker TF, Grimalt JO, Calvo E, Martrat B, Shackleton N, Vautravers M, Cortijo E, Van Kreveld S , Anderson C et al (2002) Apparent long-term cooling of the sea surface in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean during the Holocene. GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA, 66(15A), A482-A482.
Marchal O, Cacho I, Stocker TF, Grimalt JO, Calvo E, Martrat B, Shackleton N, Vautravers M, Cortijo E, van Kreveld S , Andersson C et al (2002) . Quaternary Science Reviews, 21(4-6), 455-483.
Sbaffi L, Wezel FC, Kallel N, Paterne M, Cacho I, Ziveri P & Shackleton N (2001) . Marine Geology, 178(1-4), 39-62.
Cacho I, Grimalt JO, Canals M, Sbaffi L, Shackleton NJ, Schönfeld J & Zahn R (2001) . Paleoceanography, 16(1), 40-52.
McKenzie JA, Sbaffi L, Wezel FC & Tamburini F (1998) . Rendiconti Lincei, 9(4), 293-313.
Sbaffi L, Wezel FC & Shackleton NJ (1998) . Rendiconti Lincei, 9(3), 177-200.
Rousaki A, Zamani ED, Sbaffi L, Hamblin K & Black R () . Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Marincowitz C, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Fuller G, Goodacre S, Bath P, Sbaffi L, Hasan M, Omer Y & Wallis L () LMIC-PRIEST: Derivation and validation of a clinical severity score for acutely ill adults with suspected COVID-19 in a middle-income setting. PLoS ONE.
Sbaffi L, Zamani E & Kalua K () Addressing the information needs of informal carers in Malawi: a healthcare intervention based on co-creation. Journal of Documentation.
Marincowitz C, Sbaffi L, Hasan M, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Fuller G, Goodacre S, Bath P, Omer Y & Wallis L () External validation of triage tools for adults with suspected COVID-19 in a middle-income setting: an observational cohort study. Emergency Medicine Journal.
Ives G, Sbaffi L & Bath P () Can all healthy adults use the current evidential breath alcohol analysers? An investigation using a large spirometry database.. Medico-Legal Journal.
Sbaffi L, Zamani E & Kalua K () . Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Sbaffi L, Hargreaves S & Ford N () Information seeking amongst informal caregivers of people with dementia: a qualitative study. Journal of Documentation.
Huang Y, Cox A & Sbaffi L () . International Journal of Digital Curation, 15(1), 18-18.
Huang Y, Cox A & Sbaffi L () Research Data Management policy and practice in Chinese University Libraries. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.
Sbaffi L, Rowley J, Sugden M & Gilbert A () Factors influencing researchers’ journal selection decisions. Journal of Information Science.
Sbaffi L & King K () Living with endometriosis: the role of the Internet in supporting the diagnosis and treatment process. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet.
Sbaffi L, Rowley J, Gilbert A & Sugden M () Investigating gender differences in journal selection decisions: a survey of academic researchers. Learned Publishing.
Sbaffi L & Hargreaves S () The information trust formation process for informal caregivers of people with dementia: a qualitative study. Journal of Documentation.

Chapters

Zamani ED & Sbaffi L (2020) , Information and Communication Technologies for Development (pp. 93-101). Springer International Publishing
Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G (2020) , Lecture Notes in Computer Science (pp. 447-458). Springer International Publishing

Conference proceedings papers

Zhao X, Xie H, Roberts A & Sbaffi L (2024) (pp 65-76)
Cai A, Bentley CM, Zamani E, Naiseh M & Sbaffi L (2023) . Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems
Cao C, Sbaffi L, Zhao X & Hopfgartner F (2022) . Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2
Marincowitz C, Sbaffi L, Hodkinson P, Mcalpine D, Hasan M, Fuller G, Goodacre S, Omer Y & Bath P (2022) . Emergency Medicine Journal, Vol. 39(12) (pp A976-A977)
Pretlove L, Cox A, Sbaffi L & Hopfgartner F (2020) . Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Vol. 57(1), 25 October 2020 - 29 October 2020.
Cameron D, Sarda Gou M & Sbaffi L (2020) Trust in robot-mediated health information. The 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication Ro-man, Workshop on Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human-Robot Interaction (SCRITA)
Bates J, Cameron D, Checco A, Clough P, Hopfgartner F, Mazumdar S, Sbaffi L, Stordy P & de la Vega de León A (2020) . FAT* 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp 425-435)
Almanea A, Bath P & Sbaffia L (2019) . MEDINFO 2019: Health and Wellbeing e-Networks for All, Vol. 264 (pp 1893-1894). Lyons, France, 25 August 2019 - 30 August 2019.
Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G (2018) . Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society
Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G (2018) Using Twitter for Insights into the 2009 Swine Flu and 2014 Ebola outbreaks. iConference 2018 Poster Descriptions, 25 March 2018 - 28 March 2018.
Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G (2018) (pp 10-16)
Sbaffi L, Wezel FC, Curzi G & Zoppi U (2004) . Global and Planetary Change, Vol. 40(1-2) (pp 201-217)
Almanea A, Bath PA & Sbaffi L () . Proceedings of the 18th international symposium on health information management research

Theses / Dissertations

Pretlove L (2022) iRun: a situational, neo-assemblage perspective of information and records in running..

Datasets

Cox A, Kennan MA, Lyon L, Pinfield S & Sbaffi L .

Preprints

Rousaki A, Zamani ED, Sbaffi L, Hamblin K & Black R (2024) , JMIR Publications Inc..
Zhao X, Sbaffi L & Cox A (2023) , Center for Open Science.
Sbaffi L, Zamani E & Kalua K (2022) , JMIR Publications Inc..
Marincowitz C, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Fuller G, Goodacre S, Bath PA, Sbaffi L, Hasan M, Omer Y & Wallis L (2022) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Marincowitz C, Sbaffi L, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Fuller G, Goodacre S, Bath PA, Hasan M, Omer Y & Wallis L (2022) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Cameron D, Gou MS & Sbaffi L (2020) Trust in robot-mediated health information, arXiv.
Zhao X & Sbaffi L () , Center for Open Science.
Sbaffi L, Walton J, Blenkinsopp J & Walton G () , JMIR Publications Inc..
McKinney P, Cox AM & Sbaffi L () .

Research group

Current PhD students

Aisha Alshammari: Exploring and understanding factors that affect the adoption of Personal Health Records among healthcare providers and patients in Saudi Arabia
Suzanne Duffin: A study of information needs and information sharing amongst people on the autism spectrum, using online support and discussion groups
Rosie Higman: Open Access and the Role of the National Library
Muntaha Alam Nafisa: Adoption of integrated medical dental records in the UK.
Lee Pretlove: The quantified runner: the long-term value and preservation of parkrunners' self-tracking fitness data from the perspectives of the parkrunner, self-tracking device manufacturers and archival institutions

Teaching activities

INF115 - Statistics for Insight

INF6029 - Data Analysis

Professional activities and memberships

Membership of professional bodies

CILIP

Journal and conference reviewing

Journals:

Online Information Review
Health Informatics Journal
Program, Perspectives in Public Health
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Sustainability
Journal of Medical Internet Research
BMC Medical Education
Journal of Information Literacy
JASIST

Conferences:

Next Generation Computing Applications 2017 July 19-21, Mauritius
iConference 2018, 91̽��
CILIP HLG Conference 2018, Keele
EAHIL Conference 2018, Cardiff
iConference 2019, Washington
iConference2020, Borås

Other roles

PhD external examiner at 91̽�� Hallam University and Huddersfield University
Reviewer for the Italian Register of Scientific Experts (REPRISE)
Advisor for the WellSpoken mark for quality accreditation of health online information