Katie Thomas
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Year 2 Student – 2022 Intake – Cohort 4 My academic background is based within psychology, as I have a degree in Psychology and Criminology from Swansea University and an MRes in psychology from the University of Bath. I have also previously worked for University of Bath as a graduate teaching assistant for the module ‘Forensic Psychology’ and most recently as a research assistant at the university for two years. My main areas of interest revolve around children’s online safety, online child sexual grooming, and online CSA offender strategies |
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PhD Project |
Investigating the balance of privacy versus security in a family environment With the growing fear surrounding children’s online safety, parents and caregivers have turned to technology for support through monitoring apps and parental controls. However, parents face the internal conflict of recognising their child’s desire for autonomy and respect while also experiencing a desire to keep their children safe. In contrast, children have stated that monitoring apps have negatively impacted their relationship with their parents as they do not feel trusted. Thus, the current design of parental controls has resulted in children not feeling respected and heard, while parents feel they lack the capability to make security decisions as a family efficiently. This research aims to explore how the design of parental controls within technology can influence a family’s security decision making, with a focus on the trust, privacy, and security elements of parental controls and children’s rights to privacy. A mixed methodology approach will be applied, using qualitative and quantitative methods to collect and analyse the data. The intended contribution of this project would be the development of a design that provides parents with a better opportunity to balance respecting their children’s autonomy while also providing appropriate security features to protect their children. Supervisors: Professor Adam Joinson (Bath) |