Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference 2025

Research and design challenge

The Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2025 conference invites children to join our Research and Design (R&D) Challenge and share your amazing ideas under the theme of “Hope”.

Hope is all about believing and trusting in brighter days ahead. It’s about being creative, kind, and courageous as we work together to make the world a better place.

Have you ever thought about how small actions, big dreams, or new ideas can inspire others? Whether it’s imagining a novel invention, designing something helpful, or finding ways to connect people, your ideas can bring hope to everyone around you.

This is your chance to dream, create, and share ideas that bring joy, connection, and possibility to your family, school, or even the whole world!

We’d love to see your designs and ideas for how to bring hope to life. Your idea could:

  • Help others feel connected and supported.
  • Create ways for people to share kindness and happiness.
  • Solve a challenge in your school, community, or environment.
  • Inspire exciting new possibilities for the future.
  • You can share your ideas in any form such as a drawing, a picture, a story, a model, a game, or even a new kind of prototype of a technology. 

There are no limits to your creativity!

Submission Format and Guidelines

The challenge is open to individuals or teams of children (any person who is younger than 18 years old). The idea must be submitted by an adult with appropriate permission to share the work from the child/children.   

Submission is one video up to 30 seconds in length (that can be shown in a conference) and a written explanation of the idea with a single picture. Each submission should have a name/title. We accept submissions in any major language, although English is encouraged. To make non-English design ideas understandable for people around the world, we may use translation tools to also translate into English. Please use clear and straightforward language to help avoid mistranslations.   

Please submit your work in this form: [link TBA]

Important Dates (Midnight in Anywhere on Earth – AoE)

  • March 14, 2024: Children’s Submissions Due
  • March 28, 2024:  Notifications
  • June 23-26, 2024: IDC’25 Conference

Suggested class activities

  1. Play Video – https://lancaster.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=7f2daaba-7364-4591-9fa2-b24800c48216 [Updated version to follow]
  2. Class discussion: How do children interpret ‘hope/being hopeful’ ‘being brave’, ‘kind to everyone’?  Do they have any examples of when they were hopeful/brave/kind etc. 
  3. The task is about designing future technology, they don’t have to be constrained to an app/web page. They can pick any technology they like or just assume that anything they imagine can be made (i.e. magic). Explain as appropriate. 
  4. Help the children decide what form their idea will take machine/toy/game or something you wear or carry/something that changes the playground/something that changes whole school. 
  5. First design phase is ideation (coming up with ideas), children could do this individually or in pairs, probably easiest on paper. There is a list of prompting questions below which may be useful e.g. could use one per table/group, or just for groups that are struggling to get started. You can change the wording in the prompting questions as needed. 
  6. Next design phase is (within a group/table) to pick the best idea or pick ideas to combine together e.g. they could present their ideas to each other and vote. 
  7. Once an idea is chosen it needs developing in more detail (this could be on paper, or a model, or digitally, or acted out etc) in order to make a short video (up to 30 seconds) to explain it along with a written explanation and a title. The written explanation should make clear how the idea works for someone who cannot see the visual aspects.

Questions to Spark Your Imagination

  • Can you think of a time when someone did something kind that made you smile? How could you design something to spread that kindness?
  • What would a hopeful school, playground, or neighborhood look like?
  • How could technology help people feel more connected and included?
  • Can you imagine an invention that makes the world more joyful or exciting?
  • How could we design something that helps protect nature, like plants, animals, or water?
  • What could you create to make it easier for people to save energy or reduce waste?
  • Imagine a neighborhood where everything works in harmony with the environment – what would it look like, and how could your design help?
  • How could you design something that makes sure everyone has the same chance to learn, play, and share their ideas?
  • Can you think of a way to celebrate what makes people unique while bringing them together?
  • How could technology help children from different places and backgrounds feel more connected and included?
  • How might you create something that makes it easier for people to help others in need?
  • Can you design a way for everyone to share resources like food, water, or education fairly?

Remember, every idea is special and unique, just like you!

You can check links below to see ideas from past participants published in the previous year’s Booklet: 

Phase 2 – Conference 

Videos will be played to delegates at the conference in June. Feedback will be collected and shared.