Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children
Welcome to the website for our research on children's digital play and well-being!
Across the globe, children are engaged in diverse forms of digital play as part of their everyday routines, but what does that digital play look like and is it good for them in terms of their well-being?
Our team of 21, working across the UK, South Africa, Australia and Cyprus, sought to find out by making multiple research visits to 50 children and their families.
Read more about our project below.
What is the 'RITEC' project?
'RITEC' stands for Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children. Between 2020 and 2024, a team of scholars lead by Dr. Fiona Scott at The University of Sheffield have been delivering innovative, international research focused on children’s digital play and well-being.
Funded by the LEGO Foundation and working alongside the LEGO Group and UNICEF Innocenti, the team has delivered in-depth case study research with 50 families, across four countries.
The ‘RITEC’ project’s ultimate goal is to change how digital games are designed, putting children’s well-being at the centre of international policy and game design processes.
How is our research unique?
Past research has often emphasised the risks of children’s digital play and has also highlighted the important learning that takes place when children play digitally.
The RITEC project looked more broadly at how aspects of children’s well-being connect with particular digital play experiences. This was achieved through detailed research with 50 children aged 6-12 and their families. Following an ecocultural approach, the research tools were designed to investigate digital play holistically. The research team sought to understand children’s digital play within the complex contexts of their broader everyday lives.
The team of 20 researchers have made 240 in-depth research visits to 50 families in four countries.
Who was involved?
In Sheffield, the team comprises Principal Investigator, Fiona Scott, alongside Co-Investigator, Dr. Liz Chesworth, researchers Dr. Shabana Roscoe, Mr. Daniel Kuria, Dr. Cath Bannister and Dr. Yao Wang. The team has been supported in Sheffield by Research Administrator, Miss Cat Hartley.
The project team includes three further Co-Investigators, leading the research in: Australia (Professor Karen Murcia, Curtin University), South Africa (Professor Karin Murris, Oulu University) and Cyprus (Associate Professor Stavroula Kontorvourki, University of Cyprus), alongside their respective research teams. Read more about all 21 members of the team on the 'Our team' page.
Sheffield’s case study research project built on Phase 1 research, delivered by UNICEF Innocenti and Western Sydney University.
The research that has been led by Scott at Sheffield was also delivered alongside two 'sibling' research projects with a shared focus. Collectively, these form Phase 2 of the RITEC programme.
The other Phase 2 projects were headed by New York University’s CREATE Lab/ City University of New York and the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.
How is the research being used?
UNICEF published the findings of the RITEC project's Phase 2 in April 2024. You can read the Phase 2 report here.
In Phases 3 and 4 of the initiative, academics from across the team will are working game designers and policy makers to make sure their empirical findings inform future game design. Some of this work is being led by the Joan Ganz Cooney Centre.
All of the photographic images on this page are representative of the interests and activities families told us about and are not taken from the dataset. They are all free to use images sourced via Unsplash.com (https://unsplash.com/). Unsplash photos are made to be used freely. All photos can be downloaded and used for free for commercial and non-commercial purposes and no permission is needed (although attribution is appreciated). For 'Welcome to the website': Katherine Hood on Unsplash. For the banner: Surface on Unsplash. For 'What is the 'RITEC' project?': Ralston Smith on Unsplash. For 'How is this research unique?': Zhenzhong Liu on Unsplash. For 'Who was involved?': Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash and Jason Goodman on Unsplash. For 'How is the research being used?': Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.