Speaker Bio
Janet currently directs the UCLan Research Centre for Digital Life and leads the Child Computer Interaction Research group. These roles align with her current research interests which include the design of positive technology with and for children and the broader remit of understanding how digital technologies fit into all our everyday lives.
Before joining academia, Janet spent ten years teaching secondary mathematics. Her PhD at UCLan was the first research to consider how handwriting recognition could be used to support children's writing and this work brought her into the then new community of academics looking at interactive technology for children. She hosted the first Interaction Design and Children Conference (IDC) in Preston in 2003 and then repeated this in 2016, hosting it with the BBC. She founded the Fun and Games conference series at UCLan which later became the ACM CHIPlay conference series and has also hosted the British HCI conference.
As a leader in Interaction Design and Children she has chaired the IFIP TC13 working group on Child Computer Interaction, has co-authored the first text book in the area, co - founded the first International Journal, and has delivered courses on Child Computer Interaction in over a dozen countries across the world.
Janet has been influential in bringing Child Computer Interaction to the attention of media and industry; she has spoken on the BBC on several occasions and has worked on funded projects with companies in France, Portugal, Spain and the UK.
25 years of doing HCI with children - lessons learned, hurdles cleared and still a shed load of questions
Janet Read, University of Central Lancashire
Wednesday 6th May 2026. 14:00. MVB 0.3.
Over the last twenty five years, Janet has worked with children on design, evaluation, and research studies with a constant wish to ensure their time is well spent, their contributions are recognised and that as many children as possible can be included and empowered in HCI research while having a fabulous time. This talk will bring together empirical studies around the inclusion of children as design partners, methods for the better treatment of children’s ideas, contributions, and practical advice on gaining informed assent with children.