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Dr. Sara M. Grimes is the Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy and a Full Professor in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University. Her research and teaching are centred in the areas of children’s digital media culture(s) and children’s rights in the digital environment, with a focus on games. Her published works explore the commercialization of children’s play cultures and creative expression, discussions of children’s labour and intellectual property in content creation platforms, responsible AI and children, and the legal and ethical dimensions of marketing to children online. Her award-winning book, Digital Playgrounds: The Hidden Politics of Children’s Online Play Spaces, Virtual Worlds, and Connected Games, was published by the University of Toronto Press in August 2021.

Professor Grimes is the Director and Founder of the Kids Play Tech Lab, a research lab dedicated to understanding emerging trends and issues related to the technologization of childhood, and supporting the development of technologies and policies that advance children’s rights, free play, and wellbeing. She is the Principal Investigator of the SSHRC Insight grant-funded Child Appropriate Game Design (CAGD) project, a cross-cultural exploration of how ideas about “age appropriateness” impact how digital games are designed, regulated, and played in Canada, the UK, and the US. She is also collaborating on a project funded by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Contributions program, Jeu Dangereux, led by Professor Maude Bonenfant (UQAM), examining privacy and data collection in mobile games and apps targeted to child players.