Dr Debbie Watson, School for Policy Studies

Product design and research with children: supporting children in care

This lecture will present an AHRC REACT funded sandbox project that I have been involved in this year. The project involves a collaboration between academics at UoB and Bath and a creative designer and technologist at the Pervasive Media Studio in the Watershed. The aim of the project is to develop a physical keepsake that allows children to tag and record narrative to their precious and loved objects using Raspberry Pi and RFID technologies. As such this is an unusual research approach as it involves both product development and research. The lecture will report on the process of co-production with three groups of children, including children in public care and adopted children as we believe the product has particular relevance to these groups of children many of whom may have strong attachments to objects from their birth history but lack familial reminders of the significance of treasured belongings. Beyond product development and testing this project provides insights into the co-productive role of children in research and development processes, the challenges of interdisciplinary research, identity maintenance for looked after children and the role of material culture to identity processes and all of these will be reflected upon in the lecture.

Tickets available through EventBrite, or at the door on a first-come basis.

Check out the rest of the 2015 BoB Lectures at www.boblectures.org.uk.