Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference 2026 Workshop (Half-day)
AI systems increasingly shape children’s learning, from adaptive platforms and classroom analytics to GenAI used for creative and academic support. Alongside promises of personalisation and engagement, these systems raise persistent concerns for children’s rights, including privacy, play, protection from commercial exploitation, and non-discrimination in the presence of bias. This workshop focuses on designing rights-respecting, child-centred AI for learning. Bringing together researchers, designers, educators, policymakers, and practitioners, it examines how concepts such as privacy, participation, play, and fairness can be operationalised in AI design. Through case studies and structured activities, participants will surface shared design challenges, articulate practical design principles and methods, and identify priorities for future child-centred AI research and practice for the IDC community.
Call for Participation
AI systems are increasingly shaping children’s educational experiences, from adaptive learning platforms and assessment tools to GenAI technologies embedded in classrooms. These tools promise personalisation and efficiency, yet they also raise critical concerns about children’s rights, safety, and agency in digital learning environments. Previous IDC workshops initiated dialogue on the importance of playful and ethical child-AI design. Building on this foundation, this workshop focuses on operationalising children’s rights within AI for learning. The workshop will examine how rights-based principles can be embedded across the conceptual, ethical, technical, and design dimensions of AI for learning. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- Design principles and frameworks for child-rights-centred AI in education;
- Participatory and co-design approaches with children, educators, and caregivers;
- Challenges of policy and governance in aligning AI with children’s rights;
- Case studies, prototypes, or applications translating principles into practice;
- Ethical and practical concerns, including risks of bias, surveillance, and inequity.
We invite submissions of posters or abstracts up to four pages (excluding references) in the IDC Submission format. Submissions may include position papers, case studies, or posters addressing the topics.
To submit your proposal, please email it to A.Atabey1@lse.ac.uk (main contact: Ayca Atabey).
Participants will be selected based on the relevance of their submission and to ensure a diverse range of perspectives across disciplines, career stages, and experiences.
At least one author of each accepted submission must attend the workshop, and all participants must register for both the workshop and the main conference (Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference 2026).
- Submission Deadline: April 5, 2026 (midnight, Anywhere on Earth time).
- Notification of acceptance: May 1, 2026
The IDC conference will take place June 22–25, 2026, in Brighton, United Kingdom. Our half-day workshop will be on June 22, 2026.
We hope to see you at IDC in Brighton, UK!
Workshop organizers
Ayça Atabey (main contact) is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh, working with children on personal data literacy in school settings. She received a PhD Enrichment Award from the Alan Turing Institute, where she worked on Child-Centred AI. Her interdisciplinary research spans Law and HCI, with a focus on fairness in design and AI governance. She also worked at the Digital Futures for Children centre, LSE, on AI–EdTech design and child rights, and has led child-centred design workshops at venues such as CHI and IDC.
Natalia I. Kucirkova is a professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway, and at The Open University and University College London, UK. Her work spans academia, industry, and the third sector, focusing on personalisation in early childhood and an industry–academia spin-out integrating learning sciences with EdTech design. She chairs the International Collective of Children’s Digital Books and is widely published on EdTech evidence, with work featured in Scientific American, Newsweek, and The Washington Post, and contributions to the World Economic Forum and The Guardian.
Mariya Stoilova is the manager of the Digital Futures for Children centre, LSE. Her work focuses on multi-method evidence generation and cross-national analyses at the intersection of child rights, digital technology use, well-being, family support, and social inequalities. She led LSE research on children’s perspectives on GenAI in Global South countries in 2025 and advises international organisations including the EU Commission and UN bodies.
Kim Ringmar Sylwander is a researcher at the Digital Futures for Children centre. Her research examines how children navigate technologically mediated environments, with a focus on gendered and sexual harm and children’s rights at the intersection of design and policy. She has worked with the UN, civil society organisations, and human rights institutes, and currently serves as an expert research advisor to UNESCO, UNICEF, and the European Commission.
Sonia Livingstone DPhil (Oxon), OBE, FBA, FBPS, FAcSS, FRSA, is a full professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She has published 21 books and advised governments and international organisations, including the UK government, European Commission, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, OECD, ITU, and UNICEF, on children’s media use, risks, opportunities, literacy, and rights. She directs the Digital Futures for Children centre, Global Kids Online (with UNICEF), and leads the Child Rights by Design project at LSE.
Ellen Helsper is a professor of Digital Inequalities in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE, where she also serves as Doctoral Programme Director and sits on the management committee of the Digital Futures for Children centre. Her research focuses on social and digital inequalities, mediated communication, participatory immersive digital spaces (e.g., VR and AR), and methodological innovation.
Toshie Takahashi is a professor at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, and an Associate Fellow at the University of Cambridge. She conducts cross-cultural, transdisciplinary research on the social impact of AI and robots, focusing on youth and ethical innovation. She leads major projects with the UN and Japan’s Moonshot Program toward human-centred AI futures, including at Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University and advises Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on AI policy.