University of Central Lancaster

is the director of the Child Computer Interaction (ChiCI) group at UCLan which is one of the largest research groups of its kind specialising in the design and evaluation of interactive technologies for children with an emphasis on whole school approaches.  At UCLan, Prof. Read teaches on an advanced MRes course in Child Computer Interaction where she runs courses on children and play as well as on the evaluation and design of products with children.  These themes have developed from recent funded projects including the EU FP7  UMSIC project which considered the design of musical interfaces for children with communication needs, the EPSRC TakTeen project which developed heuristics for cool design with the emphasis being on teenagers and the EU LLLP projects SELEAG and SEGAN which have focussed on play and children in serious games contexts.  Prof Read is best known for her work on the Fun Toolkit, a suite of products for evaluating fun with children and for her work on the ethical and inclusive engagement of school classes of children in participatory design and participatory evaluation of products.   Her specialism is on the design of digital ink technologies for children with the emphasis being on the design of handwriting recognition technologies customised for children.

Last update: September 2014