Lydia Plowman retired from the Centre and university during 2020-2021. She is a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Strategic Advisory Network, with a particular interest in social, cultural and ethical issues, and was formerly a member of the grants assessment panel for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). She is an invited member of the National Toy Council and is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
Lydia was a teacher of English in Norfolk secondary schools for nine years before completing a PhD. Awarded in 1992, this was on designing for group use of interactive media, with a particular emphasis on the role of narrative - and while the laserdisc technology under investigation has long been obsolete, many of the concerns relating to learning, collaboration, pedagogy and design are similar many years later. Since then, she has gathered more than twenty years’ experience of conducting research with children and digital media, including several projects funded by the ESRC. She is interested in young children’s learning in a range of formal and informal settings, particularly in the ways in which technology is integrated into family life and used for leisure, work and educational purposes in the home.
Email: lydia.plowman@ed.ac.uk