iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Opening the email containing the AIHW's Sexual and Reproductive Health Monitoring Framework and Data Strategy like it is a gift for me 🎁 So excited to progress national level surveillance of important indicators of quality and access to SRH!!! 🎉

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

They are now clear they only fund research for terminal illness. Important stuff! And donors can choose what they support, but it does makes me think about the palatability of young people's sexual autonomy. It's a challenge that we still have roads to go in Aust, not in research but society broadly

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Sometimes I think about the time my project proposal led to a children's health research grant updating their guidelines. My proposal was improving awareness and access to sexual and reproductive health services through peer support. Not what they wanted!!

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

I had to add two more... Okay I better stop now, save it for the meeting

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Am I TOO passionate about data visualisation, I wonder after creating 10 options for presenting the same data with detailed critiques about how it could be interpreted compared to what we might want to emphasise

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

An indirectly, soon after my residency, I used my honed journalism and communication skills to launch new research with Lucy Barbour - which lead to over 30 appearances in other media and millions of views across the country! www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12...

abc.net.au

Family Planning report reveals abortion deserts across regional NSW

Family Planning Australia has analysed data on medical terminations across NSW, highlighting how access to abortion remains a postcode lottery.

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Here are some of the things I got to do as a direct result of the program! A segment for The Health Report I produced with supervision from Tegan Taylor www.abc.net.au/listen/progr... A feature on The Health Report about my research on period tracking apps www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

abc.net.au

Is a chemical used in plastic affecting female fertility? - ABC listen

You might have heard about people ditching plastics – worrying that they might be leaching chemicals into their food or drinks. And if you have heard of this, you’ve probably heard the acronym BPA. ...

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

ABC Top 5 applications are now open!!! Last year I was part of the top 5 science, doing a residency at the ABC Sydney headquarters. If you have a PhD and are interested, go for it (or hit me up to chat) www.abc.net.au/about/media-...

abc.net.au

Applications are now open for early career PhD researchers - About the ABC

Applications are now open for early career PhD researchers in Science, Arts & Humanities. ABC Radio National is once again searching for Australia’s next generation of inspiring research communicato...

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

And the fact that research expertise is just one of MANY kinds of expertise that is valued. It really takes away from the hierarchy and competitiveness so ingrained in that research academia culture. It's so refreshing to have that true collaboration with peers in policy, health promotion & medicine

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

I still get to collaborate with academic researchers (helloooo 📩), conduct research, publish papers. But I am placed somewhere were I can directly support and influence practice and policy. It has been so rewarding, and still very challenging (but let's be real I need that)

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Another thought I have about post-academic life is that by their metrics, I'm an 'early career researcher'. But the dynamics are so different on the other side, I'm no longer infantilised. I'm not a junior/novice researcher - I have an expertise that is highly valued and am only 1 of 2 PhDs at work

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Working outside of academia in a translational research space embedded with non-researchers has been amazing. I haven't had the scale of "traditional outputs" while I've been adapting, but I have contributed to some really influential decisions that make me so proud.

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Cliché opening to a speech/presentation 30 years ago: "Oxford dictionary defines..." Cliché opening to a speech/presentation today: "I asked ChatGPT to tell me..."

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

I'm giving side eye!!! 👀 The system is broken, yet it is still so vital that we publish. I accept it's hard to negotiate this tension but far out...

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Dr Emma on ABC Radio National!? I'm locked IN 🎧

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

"I think we should all be more concerned about finding methods of contraception that women do feel comfortable with, rather than trying to persuade them to be more comfortable with what we’ve got" end thread 🧵

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

They are eager to understand how their bodies work because their education was lacking this, and apps pretend to provide this. I love the quote by Dr Janet Barter finishing off the Guardian article. It sums up where we need to be, listening and taking action (see next & final post)

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

When we meet people where they are at, we discover systemic issues in contraceptive choice. These systemic issues are being profited on by app companies who claim a silver bullet solution. Some people feel ignored, out of options, and desperate for something else.

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

This prompts concern and shock for those people using less effective contraception that is failing them. This spirals into Discourse™ about the anti-hormonal contraception sentiment from social media. A reliable blanket blame for a seemingly insurmountable problem.

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

This kind of statement has VERY HIGH stakes for the user - but the constant condemnation from experts and medical professionals isn't stopping people from using them. This adds to a new study whose press release exclaims the rise of fertility apps in abortion seekers (www.scimex.org/newsfeed/ris...

scimex.org

Rise in 'natural' contraceptive strategies among women seeking abortions

Rise in 'natural' contraceptive strategies among women seeking abortions There has been an increase in women seeking abortions in the UK who report using no contraception or 'fertility awaren...

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

🧵 Fertility smartphone apps - we love to hate them! But shaming women just digs the hole even deeper 🕳 A new report in the Guardian covers a study examining the tidal wave of false claims that these apps are effective at preventing pregnancy. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

‘Young women can fall pregnant very easily’: inside the wild west of smartphone fertility apps

Observer analysis finds unregulated products being promoted as contraception despite concerns about their accuracy

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Got my IUD a year ago today and I love it. I made these pics nervously before the Big Moment.

Scientific diagram of a uterus with a copper IUD inside. Text at the bottom reads "abandon all hope ye who enter here"

Cartoon diagram of someone inserting their finger into the vagina to check a uterus string. Text at the bottom reads "there's no such thing as too much bling!"

An x-ray image of the pelvis with an IUD visible. The text reads "I am on my way to bionic womanhood"

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Messaging on Teams is so 2022. We are over here sending text and pics in a shared PowerPoint file

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Heaps important. I'm giving it a listen this morning. Great work!

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

New Father John Misty album came out riiight when I have a big deadline which calls for heaps of time sitting at my desk lost in the numbers. So blessed so grateful

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Got to do my fave thing today: making data visualisations that people NEED AND USE, and getting good feedback on it #ChartArt 📈💅

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

I LOVE a little walk-and-talk-to-myself-break because I am not great 'on the spot' so I like to work out what I think or respond with

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Dr Emmalee Ford @emmaoolemma.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Just joined 🫡 science girlie searching for people to follow who post about: reproductive health & rights, menstrual health, sex education, fertility, femtech, big data in health, abortion, contraception, sexology, menopause, cervical/vaginal health and anything adjacent!!

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