Keynote speaker

Dr Jan Eichhorn

Senior Lecturer in Social Policy, University of Edinburgh​

Keynote: A youth problem? Citizenship education in the context of political change

Workshops

Workshop 1: Artificial Intelligence in the primary classroom
Gemma Clark, Primary school teacher, Scotland

Discover practical strategies for primary teachers to integrate AI tools into curriculum planning and resourcing, enhancing teaching efficiency across all subject areas. This session connects digital citizenship education to AI, empowering educators to prepare young learners for responsible and ethical engagement in a rapidly evolving digital world.

​About Gemma: Gemma is an experienced primary teacher with a passion for leveraging Artificial Intelligence to enhance education. She has written extensively on AI in schools, as well as inclusion and equality in education. Passionate about gender equality, anti-racism, and building critical thinking in pupils, Gemma is committed to empowering teachers with innovative tools and fostering a more equitable and accessible learning environment for all pupils.

Workshop 2: Empowering Young Minds: Tackling Misinformation
Dr Yvonne Skipper, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Glasgow.

Misinformation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. This session will explore innovative, co-created interventions designed to help young people identify misinformation and stay safe online. Attendees will gain greater understanding of misinformation and explore tools which foster critical thinking and informed citizenship, empowering students to navigate information responsibly.

​About Yvonne: Dr Yvonne Skipper is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology based in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. She has published more than 30 articles and book chapters on educational psychology. She has expertise in working with partner organisations such as local education authorities, schools and charities to co-create interventions to improve educational outcomes. She is an award-winning educator, having been runner up in the UK Higher Education Psychology Teacher of the Year and winner of the Outreach Academic of the Year award. She has also received recognition of the impact of her research through an award for Mobilising Research into Action from Emerald International. She is passionate about knowledge exchange, engagement and outreach. 

Workshop 3: AI, Algorithms and Critical Thinking

Jane McGarrigle, Webwise, Ireland
Empowering learners to safely and ethically navigate algorithms and GEN AI. This session will explore the benefits and challenges of AI, social media algorithms, and look at strategies to foster critical thinking. Participants will gain an understanding of how social media algorithms work, their impact on young people and how to effectively evaluate information online.​ 

About Jane: Jane oversees the development and delivery of Webwise - the Irish internet safety awareness centre. Within her 8 years, Jane has led the development of a range of award-winning internet safety programmes for children, parents, teachers and schools. McGarrigle also has responsibility for the coordination and promotion of Safer Internet Day in Ireland. She sits on the Steering Committee of Media Literacy Ireland, is an active member of the Insafe network and recently sat on the Department of Education Anti-Bullying Steering Committee and the National Advisory Council for Online Safety. ​

Workshop 4: Teaching Digital Democracy through Political Contact

Hattie Andrews, The Politics Project
This workshop will explore and support teachers in using digital dialogues and other activities involving political contact to develop student capacity for digital citizenship and democratic learning.

About Hattie: Harriet founded The Politics Project in 2015 to develop creative and interactive programmes that help young people to use their voice. She is a graduate of the University of Manchester where she studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. At university she discovered her love of youth democratic education and has been talking to young people about politics ever since. Prior to founding The Politics Project she worked for a variety of organisations in formal education and youth and community work, including UpRising, DebateMate, the Tutor Trust, NCS and Manchester Creative Studio. Harriet is a core fellow of the Political Literacy Oversight Group set up by the APPG on Democratic Engagement and is a fellow of the RSA.
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Workshop 5: Reactionary digital subcultures - a conceptual framework for teaching  about viral online trends in citizenship education

Dr Rob Topinka, Birkbeck, ​University of London
In this seminar, Dr Rob Topinka will share his work on ‘reactionary digital subcultures’ as a powerful conceptual framework through which we can teach about a wide range of contemporary online trends. In the first part of the workshop Robert will provide us with the essential framework and illustrate it with well-known examples; and in the second half participants will share their classroom experiences to build a repertoire of possible teaching strategies that could enact this knowledge in the classroom. The co-constructed list of teaching recommendations will be written up and circulated as one of the conference outcomes.​

​About Rob: ​Dr Rob Topinka is Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He researches how  reactionary digital politics shape public culture. He was Co-Investigator on an AHRC-funded project on the rhetoric and ideology of the ‘alt-right’ and Principal Investigator on the British Academy-funded project ‘Misinformation in Everyday Life: Portable Principles for Blending Qualitative and Quantitative Social Media Research.’ He is currently working with Ealing Alternative Provision to develop workshops on countering narratives from reactionary digital subcultures in the classroom.