Dr Ines Vitorino Sampaio is a sociologist of media and culture. She co-founded and co-directs the Childhood, Youth and Media Relations Research Lab (LabGRIM) at the Federal University of Ceara (UFC) and since 2020 is a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. Ines’ research focuses on consumer culture, children’s rights and wellbeing in digital culture. Her role in the Centre will examine children as influencers in social media – YouTube, Instagram, TikTok – and aims to map different ways of participation and civic engagement, based on a decolonial approach.

Ines’s hope is for children to improve their right to play, create and participate in a safe digital environment that respects their privacy, has a transparent data policy, and really improves their cultural repertoires and ability to uphold democracy, human rights, tolerance, and diversity.

Earliest digital memory
I was simultaneously relieved to be able to abandon the typewriter and terrified of touching a computer and breaking it. At that first contact, I didn’t imagine how revolutionary it would be.