The Digital Age has brought about rapid changes to our way of life often compared in scale to the Industrial Revolution. The so-called Digital Revolution has profoundly changed how we all learn, work and play. We don't yet fully understand how these developments will influence the future for our children, but we do know that the pace of change and development can cause anxiety and concern.

This conference offers a time to come together as teachers and psychologists to pause and reflect on what we need to know and do to help our children survive and prosper in this new age. We have brought together thinkers and educators who are engaged in research in this area, alongside providers of technological solutions to educational challenges.

We can promise an energising and thought provoking day and we hope you will be able to join us.

To book please complete the booking form using this link: Conference Booking Form

Costs:

Early Bird bookings before 17th May: £145

Full price after 17th May: £165

Catalyst Contract bookings: no additional charge (but please complete the booking form to secure your place)

Students (limited number of places): £50

Confirmed speakers

Professor Gordon Harold, Professor of Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex

The Nurture Network: Promoting Children's Mental Health in a Digital World

Gordon holds the Andrew and Virginia Rudd Chair and is Professor of Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex. He is also the inaugural Director of the Rudd Centre for Adoption Research and Practice at the University. He received his PhD from Cardiff University in 1998, was appointed Lecturer in Psychology the same year and Professor of Psychology in 2008. He has held appointments as the Alexander McMillan Chair and Professor of Psychology at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and Professor of Quantitative Behaviour Genetics at the University of Leicester. He is an Associate Member of the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, and at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics at Cardiff University. His primary research interests focus on examining the impact of early rearing adversities (e.g. inter-parental conflict, negative parenting, parent mental health) on child and adolescent mental health outcomes (e.g. depression, anxiety, conduct problems), the interplay between genetic factors, pre-natal, post-natal rearing experiences and children’s mental health, utilising advanced statistical methods to examine longitudinal data/cohort longitudinal resources, informing and implementing research-led practice and policy recommendations focusing on early rearing influences on child and adolescent mental health outcomes. He is a member of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), is a Special Advisor and member of the Evidence Panel of the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF), and is Treasurer of the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH). He is also a consultant and advisor to several government departments in the UK and internationally.

Dr Linda K. Kaye, Department of Psychology, Edge Hill University

Linda is a Senior lecturer in Psychology at Edge Hill University with research interests int he following areas: Social and contextual effects in digital gaming; Psychosocial impacts of new and emerging technologies; Gender issues in stigmatised settings.

What is cyberpsychology and what are the opportunities for understanding how it may support well-being?

"Cyberpsychology is a vastly developing sub-discipline of Psychology, which helps us understand how we experience and are affected by new and emerging technologies, especially regarding our Internet activities. This talk will introduce some of the prominent areas of cyberpsychology, and will draw on empirical examples to demonstrate how insights from this field can help us develop further insight into how different technologies and Internet affordances may help us understand aspects of well-being.  This can include types of digital gaming and online communication platforms such as WhatsApp. These insights will be considered through a critical perspective, to argue that a degree of specificity is needed within these areas of enquiry, to more fully understand how and why our online and technological experiences may relate to everyday psychological functioning."

For example: What your emoji says about you

Dr Tom Harrison, The School of Education, University of Birmingham

Tom Harrison’s specialist interests are character education and virtue ethics, character, virtue and the internet, youth social action and citizenship. He has published extensively in these areas as well as developing resources and training programmes for schools and other organisations. He has recently authored the following books;  ‘Educating Character Through Stories’; ‘Teaching Character in Primary Schools’; ‘Teaching Character and Virtue in Schools’; and ‘The Theory and Practice of Virtue Education (eds)’. 

Confirmed exhibitors

CPen Reader: The C-Pen Reader is a scanning pen which reads text out aloud or discretely through earphones, which are provided. It has a built in Collins English dictionary so word definitions are a button press away. This popular product is ideal for for those who suffer from reading difficulties such as dyslexia.

Crick Software, including Clicker

Pearson Clinical

Special iApps: award winning educational apps