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Press & publications

Dr. Kent is a frequently invited speaker at public events and on international news media, most recently contributing to Dan Osman’s Ramblings of a Madman Podcast ‘Identity, Discipline & Digital Authenticity with Dr. Rachael Kent-Aitken’, and featuring in global news and media outlets such as BBC News, ITV News, The Standard and more for her class action trial against Apple beginning January 2025. Kent has given papers at a wide range of international multi-disciplinary conferences, delivering conceptual and complex ideas to a variety of inter-disciplinary and multi-cultural audiences.

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Since 2015, Kent has been project lead on the European Research Council funded Ego-Media Project which examines the role and impact of new media upon self-presentation

Dr. Kent is committed to embedding academic research within cultural settings, as well as exploring innovative ways to communicate academic knowledge and expertise. Kent has collaborated with cultural institutions, including exhibiting two films on her research at the Somerset House ‘Dear Diary’ Exhibition (2017), available to view here. She has also hosted events (‘Life Online’) at the Science Museum ‘Lates’ evenings.

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2020

Metric Life, (Nov 2020) 'COVID-19, Toxic Productivity & Technology Overload: Our New Visceral Digital Life'

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Metro Newspaper (Nov 2020) 'Lockdown 2.0: Staying the Course'

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Metro UK (Oct 2020) 'Bullying, eating disorders and death, the dark side of a decade of Instagram

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Forbes Magazine, (May 2020) 'Should we all social media detox after the pandemic'

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Spotlight on COVID-19, (May 2020) Investigating COVID-19's Effect on Digital Behaviour

King's College London A&H Research

 

The Know Show Episode14, (April 2020) 'The Impact of COVID-19 on Communication & Socialising'

Academic publications

(2024) (In) visibility of health and illness: Instagram as an unregulated public health platform. Anthropology & Medicine, 1–16.

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(2023) ‘The Digital Health Self: Wellness, Tracking and Social Media’. Bristol University Press.

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(2023) Frey AL, Baines R, Hunt S, Kent R, Andrews T, Leigh S. Association Between the Characteristics of mHealth Apps and User Input During Development and Testing: Secondary Analysis of App Assessment Data. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. Nov 22 ;11:e46937. doi: 10.2196/46937. PMID: 37991822; PMCID: PMC10701645.

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(2022)‘From the Welfare State to DigitalSelf-Care: Historical Context of Tracking Healthand Quantifying Bodies’. In (Ed) Ajana, Btihaj. The Quantification of Bodies in Health.Emerald

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(2022) Tutorful Reports: How to Improve Learning Using Digital Technology, Chapter 6.

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Kent, R. (2021) 'Digital Food Tracking: Combining Traditional and Digital Ethnographic Methods to Identify the Influence of Social Media Sharing of Health and Food Upon Users’ Everyday Lives' In Krogager, S, G, Stinne. and Leer, Jonatan. (eds) Research Methods in Digital Food Studies. Routledge.

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Kent, R. (2020) ‘Self-Tracking Health Over Time: From the Use of Instagram to Perform Optimal Health to the Protective Shield of the Digital Detox’, Social Media +Society Special Issue: Studying Instagram Beyond Selfies

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Kent, R. (2020) Self-Tracking and Digital Food Cultures: Surveillance and Representation of the Moral ‘Healthy’ Body. In Lupton, Deborah and Feldman, Zeena. (eds.) Digital Food Cultures. Routledge.

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Kent, R. (2018) Social Media and Self-Tracking: Representing the ‘Health Self'. In: Ajana B. (eds) Self-Tracking. Palgrave Macmillan: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65379-2_5

The Digital Health Self: Wellness, Tracking, and Social Media (Quantified Societies & Selves Series)
Hardcover – 30 May 2023 PRE-ORDER HERE

This is a detailed analysis of how understandings of health management past, present and future has transformed in the digital age. Since the mid-20th century, we have witnessed ‘healthy’ lifestyles being pushed as part of health promotion strategies, both via the state, and through health tracking tools, and narratives of wellness online. This marks a seismic shift from a public welfare state responsibility for health towards individualised practices of digital self-care. Today health has become representative of ‘lifestyle corrections' which is performed on social media. Putting the spotlight on neoliberalism and digital technology as pervasive tools that dictate wellness as a moral obligation, Rachael Kent critically analyses how users navigate relationships between self-tracking technologies, social media, and everyday health management.

Kent V Apple

For more information regarding Dr Kent's lawsuit against Apple Click Here

Meet the British Academic Taking on Apple in 1.5bn Legal Challenge - The I Paper

Apple’s UK users deserve app price compensation, claim says – BBC News

Apple faces billion-pound legal action over App Store charges – Press Association

Apple Faces UK Class Action for Overcharging 20 Million Users – Bloomberg

Apple faces £1.5billion legal battle after being accused of 'overcharging' millions of UK customers for apps in its App Store – Daily Mail

Apple reveals it rejected or removed over 1MILLION malicious apps from its App Store in 2020 and stopped more than $1.5billion in potentially fraudulent transactions – Daily Mail

Apple accused of breaking UK competition law by overcharging for apps – The Guardian

Apple sued over ‘exorbitant’ fees on smartphone apps – The Times

Apple accused of iPhone app store overcharging – The Telegraph

I-MOAN - Millions of UK iPhone users ‘could get £75 payout EACH’ from Apple over ‘unfair’ app prices – The Sun

Apple App Store Sued for £1.5bn – The Sun

Apple facing £1.5bn legal claim with millions to get refunds for overpriced apps – The Mirror

Apple Faces UK Class Action Over App Store Charges – Dow Jones Institutional News

Apple faces UK legal claim over App Store charges – AFP

Apple faces £1.5bn claim for ‘overcharging’ on apps – Metro

Millions of Apple customers could be owed cashback in App Store ‘overcharging’ lawsuit – Evening Standard

Apple hit with £1.5bn UK lawsuit over ‘excessive’ app store charges – City A.M.

Apple: ‘Our App Store approach strengthens our privacy measures’ – i

Lecturer sues Apple over 'unlawful' fees – i

UK Apple CPO representative says digital trace will reveal losses – PaRR

Apple Dispute: A New Era of UK Class Actions? – Law.com

Hausfeld and Litigation Funder Launch £1.5 Billion Group Action Against Apple – Law.com

Apple faces collective action lawsuit seeking compensation for 20 million UK users – Mashable

Apple Hit With £1.5B Lawsuit Over App Store Charges – Law360

Apple slapped with UK class action over app payments – Proactive Investors

Apple faces UK class-action over "excessive" App Store charges – IT Pro

Apple hit with £1.5bn UK class action over alleged App Store overcharging – The Global Legal Post

UK class action lawsuit targets Apple's "anti-competitive practices" – Games Industry

UK consumers seek £1.5B from Apple – Mobile World Live

Apple hit by £1.5bn lawsuit over App Store 'overcharging' – Mac World

PODCASTS & interviews

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