Dr Fiona Scott

Fiona’s work is located in the field of digital literacies. Her research engages with sociomaterial theory to theorise very young children’s intra-actions with digital devices and texts. She is concerned with child and family practices in relation to the digital and, in particular, the role played by social class.

Fiona is also interested in research methods and methodologies, including the tensions associated with researching children’s lives in more-than-human contexts. Fiona’s PhD thesis, produced in collaboration with CBeebies, examined preschool children’s engagements with television and related media at home.

The thesis examined how both well-established and new verbal and non-verbal intra-actions constitute children’s unique social practices, practices that transform the meanings of materials at home and shape children’s very early experiences.

Her thesis included a new analytic framework and methodology for ‘sociomaterial nexus analysis’. Prior to beginning an academic career, Fiona worked as a Research Consultant, working on research projects for clients in the Further Education and Arts and Cultural Sectors (including the Learning and Skills Council and Arts Council). Some recent academic research projects Fiona has worked on include:

• Young Children’s engagement and learning with the AR coding app “Little Red” (with Twinkl Educational Publishing)
• Sounds of Childhood: Exploring young children’s sound perceptions to inform architecture and urban design (IIKE scheme funded project at TUoS)
• Exploring Play and Creativity in Pre-Schoolers’ Use of Apps (TUoS with CBeebies, Foundling Bird, Dubit and Monteney Primary School)
• Beyond Disorders (Interdisciplinary Research Futures funded project at TUoS)
• Energy Innovation in Deprived Communities (ERDF funded project at TUoS)
• Public Attitudes to Carbon Capture and Storage in United States and Canada (EPRI funded project at TUoS)