معرفی
Professor Dawn Watkins is Professor of Law at the University of Sheffield's School of Law, having joined in January 2022 after 17 years at the University of Leicester. She leads Project FORTITUDE, a €2 million ERC-funded initiative developing legal capability tools for children through gamification.
Education:
- PhD in Law, University of Leicester
Her research revolutionizes children's legal education through gamification and narrative theory. She created 'Adventures with Lex' and 'Law Yeah!' (digital/board game) to translate complex legal concepts into child-friendly experiences, grounded in play theory and capability frameworks. This work bridges law, education, and game design to foster practical legal understanding among youth.
Recent publications (2022-2025) demonstrate interdisciplinary convergence of legal capability research with AI, child psychology, and educational technology. Her work consistently prioritizes child-centered design, showing how gamified approaches outperform traditional methods in building practical legal literacy.
Awards:
- Distinguished Teaching Fellowship
- National Teaching Fellowship (2017)
She secured £250,000 from ESRC (2014-2016) for foundational research, scaling to a €2 million ERC grant for Project FORTITUDE (2022-2025). Her collaborations span Nottingham Trent University and child advocacy groups, with research actively involving children in co-design processes.
Watkins leads the Project FORTITUDE team developing 'Law Yeah!', collaborating with Professor Clare Wood (NTU) and multidisciplinary experts in game design, child psychology, and legal education to create evidence-based tools for schools and communities.
