Katharine Childs

I have over 15 years' experience of working in various IT roles in both the public and the private sector, including Network Administration, Systems Analysis and Project Management. I hold a first-class BSc (Hons) in IT and Computing (Open University) and an MSc (Distinction) in Computing Education (Nottingham Trent University). I am currently undertaking a PhD in the Department of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. 

I have over 5 years' experience of teaching computing in primary schools in England, both in the classroom and in extra-curricular Code Clubs. I have worked on a variety of research projects, from large-scale randomised controlled trials to small, qualitative studies. During my time as part of the Research Centre, I have largely worked on projects concerning how we diversify participation in computing, including being a member of the Gender Balance in Computing team and leading some of our work into how teachers adapt computing resources to be culturally responsive to their learners. 

More recently, I have been working on projects about AI education in schools, with a specific focus on data science and integrating AI tools into the teaching of programming. 

My research interests include:

• Computer science education for primary and secondary (K-12) students 
• AI education for young people 
  • Teaching programming using AI tools
  • Teaching data-driven problem-solving
• Diversifying participation in computing to reach historically under-represented groups 
• Teaching computing using physical computing contexts 

I am a member of the ACM and serve on various program committees for computer science education conferences.