Dr Laura Sbaffi

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

School of Information, Journalism and Communication

Senior Lecturer in Health Informatics

Laura Sbaffi
Profile picture of Laura Sbaffi
l.sbaffi@shef.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2686
Room C238, The Wave

Full contact details

Dr Laura Sbaffi
School of Information, Journalism and Communication
Room C238
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
Profile

I joined the 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

  • Duffin S, Bath P & Sbaffi L (2025) . Journal of Documentation.
  • Zhao X, Sbaffi L & Cox A (2025) . Electronics, 14(6).
  • Rousaki A, Zamani ED, Sbaffi L, Hamblin K & Black R (2024) . Journal of Medical Internet Research, 26.
  • 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.
  • Zamani E, Sbaffi L & Kalua K (2024) . Journal of Documentation, 80(1), 131-157.
  • 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).
  • Marincowitz C, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Fuller G, Goodacre S, Bath P, Sbaffi L, Hasan M, Omer Y & Wallis L (2023) . PLoS ONE, 18(6).
  • Ives G, Sbaffi L & Bath P (2023) . Medico-Legal Journal, 91(4), 180-185.
  • Marincowitz C, Sbaffi L, Hasan M, Hodkinson P, McAlpine D, Fuller G, Goodacre S, Bath P, Omer Y & Wallis L (2023) . Emergency Medicine Journal, 40(7), 509-517.
  • Sbaffi L, Zamani E & Kalua K (2023) . Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25.
  • Hargreaves S, Sbaffi L & Ford N (2023) . Journal of Documentation, 79(2), 281-300.
  • Sbaffi L & Zhao X (2022) . Frontiers in Psychology, 13.
  • Sbaffi L & Hargreaves S (2022) . Journal of Documentation, 78(2), 302-319.
  • Rowley J, Sbaffi L, Sugden M & Gilbert A (2022) . Journal of Information Science, 48(3), 321-335.
  • Huang Y, Cox A & Sbaffi L (2021) . Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 72(4), 493-506.
  • Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2021) . Learned Publishing, 34(3), 294-304.
  • Huang Y, Cox AM & Sbaffi L (2020) . International Journal of Digital Curation, 15(1), 1-18.
  • Sbaffi L & King K (2020) . Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 24(4), 370-390.
  • Aylward K, Sbaffi L & Weist A (2020) . Health Information and Libraries Journal, 37(3), 216-227.
  • Millares Miller P & Sbaffi L (2020) . Health Informatics Journal, 26(3), 1898-1911.
  • Sbaffi L, Walton J, Blenkinsopp J & Walton G (2020) . Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(7), ---.
  • Huang Y, Cox A & Sbaffi L (2020) Research Data Management Policy and Practice in China.. Int. J. Digit. Curation, 15, 1-18.
  • 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 & Information Science, 51(3), 746-762.
  • McKinney P, Cox AM & Sbaffi L (2019) . Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(8).
  • Sbaffi L & Bennett J (2019) . Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 41(6), 600-618.
  • Joung KH, Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2019) . Information Development, 35(2), 191-202.
  • Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G (2019) . Health Information and 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, 35(1), 50-63.
  • 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, Sbaffi L & Rowley J (2016) . British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(6), 1243-1258.
  • Johnson F, Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2016) . Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 67(4), 824-840.
  • Rowley J, Johnson F, Sbaffi L & Weist A (2015) . Library & Information Science Research, 37(4), 338-345.
  • Johnson F, Rowley J & Sbaffi L (2015) . Journal of Information Science, 41(4), 415-429.
  • Sbaffi L, Johnson F, Griffiths J, Rowley J & Weist A (2015) . The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41(2), 201-206.
  • Rowley J, Johnson F & Sbaffi L (2015) . Health Informatics Journal, 21(4), 316-327.
  • Sbaffi L & Rowley J (2015) . Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 47(2), 104-116.
  • (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.
  • Sbaffi L, Wezel FC & Shackleton NJ (1998) . Rendiconti Lincei, 9(3), 177-200.
  • McKenzie JA, Sbaffi L, Wezel FC & Tamburini F (1998) . Rendiconti Lincei, 9(4), 293-313.
  • Sbaffi L & Zhao C () . Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology.
  • Cox A, Kennan MA, Lyon E, Pinfield S & Sbaffi L () . Journal of Documentation.

Book chapters

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

Conference proceedings

  • Cao C, Wu Y, Fang XZ, Liang Z, Mamykina L, Sbaffi L & Xu X (2025) . Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp 1-24)
  • Cao C, Wu Y, Fang XZ, Liang Z, Mamykina L, Sbaffi L & Xu X (2025) MedAI-SciTS: Enhancing Interdisciplinary Collaboration between AI Researchers and Medical Experts.. CHI (pp 537:1-537:1)
  • Zhao X, Xie H, Roberts A & Sbaffi L (2024) . Wisdom, Well-Being, Win-Win, Vol. 14598 (pp 65-76). Changchun, China, 22 April 2024 - 22 April 2024.
  • Cai A, Bentley CM, Zamani E, Naiseh M & Sbaffi L (2023) . Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (pp 1-8)
  • Cao C, Sbaffi L, Zhao X & Hopfgartner F (2023) . SIGCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2, Vol. 2 (pp 1417-1417). Toronto, ON, Canada, 15 March 2023 - 15 March 2023.
  • 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). Online conference, 25 October 2020 - 25 October 2020.
  • Cameron D, Sarda Gou M & Sbaffi L (2020) Trust in robot-mediated health information. 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (Ro-Man2020) : Workshop on Trust, Acceptance and Social Cues in Human-Robot Interaction (SCRITA). Virtual conference, 31 August 2020 - 31 August 2020.
  • Bates J, Cameron D, Checco A, Clough PD, Hopfgartner F, Mazumdar S, Sbaffi L, Stordy P & de León ADLV (2020) . FAT* '20: Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp 425-435). Barcelona, Spain, 27 January 2020 - 27 January 2020.
  • Almanea A, Bath PA & Sbaffi L (2019) . MEDINFO 2019: Health and Wellbeing e-Networks for All, Vol. 264 (pp 1893-1894). Lyon, France, 25 August 2019 - 25 August 2019.
  • Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G (2018) . Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Media and Society (pp 217-221)
  • 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. Sheffield, UK, 25 March 2018 - 25 March 2018.
  • 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
  • Ahmed W, Bath PA, Sbaffi L & Demartini G () . Transforming Digital Worlds (pp 10-16). Sheffield, UK, 25 March 2018 - 25 March 2018.

Theses

  • 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.
  • Zhao X & Sbaffi L (2022) , Center for Open Science.
  • Cameron D, Gou MS & Sbaffi L (2020) , arXiv.
  • Sbaffi L, Walton J, Blenkinsopp J & Walton G (2020) , JMIR Publications Inc..
  • McKinney P, Cox AM & Sbaffi L (2019) , JMIR Publications Inc..
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, Sheffield
  • CILIP HLG Conference 2018, Keele
  • EAHIL Conference 2018, Cardiff
  • iConference 2019, Washington
  • iConference2020, BorÃ¥s

Other roles

  • PhD external examiner at Sheffield 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