Research cluster

Children, Interaction, and Design (CID)

The Children, Interaction, and Design (CID) Cluster leads in interdisciplinary research and design of technologies for, and with, children that benefit their lives.

“We’re seeing a rapid growth in technologies for children in their early years. Our goal is to bring together all those who are passionate about understanding their influence and designing better”

Andrew Manches, Uta Hinrichs, Susan Lechelt (CID cluster leads)

Priorities

We draw together academics and non-academics across disciplines and organisations who seek to understand how children interaction with digital, and non-digital, designs across settings, and how we can use this knowledge to develop, with children, more beneficial products and experiences.

We adopt a critical approach, whilst also pursuing opportunities to scale the impact of our work, including through commercialisation where we consider beneficial.

We strive to include multiple partners and children in our research and design process, striving to ensure our work benefits all children.

We are based in Edinburgh but seek to engage with all those interested in this growing field nationally and internationally. We align closely with international communities: Child-Computer Interaction (CCI) and Interaction Design and Children (IDC).

Events

Upcoming

Past

Upcoming events and workshops will be posted here.

CID monthly reading groups

If you are interested in getting involved in our reading groups, we’d love to hear from you.

They are typically held on the second Wednesday of each month.

Get in touch

Projects

Our projects explore how children interact with their world, how we can design to influence interaction positively, and then scale this work to positively impact children’s everyday experiences. 

Featured

Report

Grasping data: empowering young children to understand and benefit from their personal data

Illustration of a girl using a tablet, with icons showing her personal details, friend network, likes and dislikes, location, screen time, and spending habits being shared or tracked digitally.

This project aims to contribute knowledge to early learning, cognitive psychology, child-centred design, data ethics, data visualization and computer science. 

Meet our associates

Andrew Manches headshot

Andrew Manches

Professor of Children & Technology
Moray House School of Education and Sport
Ayça Atabey headshot

Ayça Atabey

Post-Doctoral Research Associate
School of Law
Cara Wilson headshot

Cara Wilson

Lecturer in Children and Technology
Edinburgh College of Art
Dushani Perera headshot

Dushani Imesha Perera Ushettige

Research Associate
School of Informatics
Headshot of John Vines

John Vines

Centre Co-Director, Centre for Investing Innovation | Chair of Design Informatics
School of Informatics
Johnathan Hancock headshot

Jonathan Hancock

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Moray House School of Education and Sport
Kate Farrell headshot

Kate Farrell

Director of Curriculum Development and Professional Learning
Moray House School of Education and Sport

Kay Tisdall

Chair of Childhood Policy
Moray House School of Education and Sport
Lisa Golds headshot

Lisa Golds

Innovation Fellow
School of Health in Social Science
Megan Baker headshot

Megan Baker

Research Project Administrator
Moray House School of Education and Sport
A young man with glasses, short light brown hair and a beard, wearing a white shirt, smiling in front of a blurred background with soft blue and white tones.

Rayo Verweij

PhD Candidate
School of Informatics
Rea Michalopoulou

Rea Michalopoulou

PhD Candidate
School of Health in Social Science
Serdar Abaci headshot

Serdar Abaci

Lecturer in Data and Digital Literacy
Moray House School of Education and Sport
Susan Lechelt headshot

Susan Lechelt

Lecturer in Design Informatics
Edinburgh College of Art

Our external associates

Discover more at Edinburgh Futures Institute

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RESEARCH

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PUBLIC SErvices

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MEET OUR WRITER-AT-LARGE

Join us to challenge, create, and make change happen.

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