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The 2022-23 GYA Sasha Kagansky Interdisciplinary Grant was awarded to Natalia Kucirkova (University of Stavanger, Norway) and Arya Shalini Subash (Institute of Chemical Technology, India) for their project: Tracking Technology and Mealtime Conversations in Families.
The project aimed to examine, from an interdisciplinary perspective, how mealtime conversations mediated by conversational agents influence a child’s language development and family communication, in India and in Norway. One aim is to understand the role of conversational agents in the process of children’s language and socialization development but also more broadly, the relationship between mealtime conversations and children’s language development over time.
Through this interdisciplinary collaboration, the researchers aim to generate cutting-edge pilot data that combines a focus on food and technology, with a focus on childhood development. The research on mealtime conversations using Alexa will also generate important insights relevant for equity and ethical design issues that are missing in the design of modern technologies such as Alexa.
About the GYA Sasha Kagansky Interdisciplinary Grant
The GYA includes a diverse membership of scientists and scholars, in many disciplines, based in low/middle-income and high-income countries. This grant scheme was initiated in 2014, aiming to foster collaboration across the lines that often separate researchers and limit possibilities. Specifically, this scheme facilitates the development of small-scale, innovative, curiosity-driven, blue-sky, exploratory research pilots or prototypes that unite researchers in low/middle-income and high-income countries and cross disciplinary boundaries.
The Sasha Kagansky Interdisciplinary Grant is awarded annually, and is meant to provide seed money to enable GYA members to prepare a proof of concept, prototype, or pilot research project with a view to securing larger external funding. The grant was re-named in 2021 in honor of late GYA member Alexander (Sasha) Kagansky.
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The goal of the project was to gain empirical insights into parent-child conversations with conversational agents (Alexa) at home. The project leads aimed to recruit participants in India and analyze audio data with a thematic analysis.
The data plan and study design, as well as ethical forms and recruitment materials for the participants, were developed and designed. Unfortunately, the recruitment of local participants proved not possible within the timeframe, budget and possibilities of the local researcher, and the project was concluded.
