Staff Profile

I'm working as a Research Assistant on a Horizon 2020 project, funded by the European Commission. This project, called gE.CO Living Lab, investigates how communities can come together to share resources and regenerate places. These communities are helping to create what we call an ‘urban commons’, and I'm looking into how digital technologies can support these practices. I’m particularly interested in how groups can use different web-based applications to connect with one another and generate lasting impact from their work. This project is a partnership between many other European institutions, including University of Turin, University of Barcelona and Open Lab Athens.

Outside of this, I’m completing my PhD on young people and their participation in society through using and designing digital technologies. My research involved young people, youth workers, teachers, charities and a local museum in a range of bespoke activities. Through my work, I’ve developed digital toolkits that support young people’s involvement in tackling big issues in society, including pollution, transport and the environment.

I have designed and delivered research-led teaching to undergraduate and postgraduate students on topics including citizen participation, digital civics and research methods. Most of my teaching has been in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, but I have also taught in the School of Computing on the MSc in Human Computer Interaction.

• Cutting K, Peacock S. Making sense of 'slippages': re-evaluating ethics for digital research with children and young people. Children's Geographies 2021, Epub ahead of print.
• Peacock S, Puussaar A, Crivellaro C. Sensing our Streets: Involving Children in Making People-centred Smart Cities. In: Cara Courage, Tom Borrup, Maria Rosario Jackson, Kylie Legge, Anita Mckeown, Louise Platt, Jason Schupbach, ed. The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking. London: Routledge, 2021, pp.130-140.
• Peacock S, Harlow J, Gordon E. Beta Blocks: Inviting playful community exploration of smart city technologies in Boston, USA. In: Anton Nijholt, ed. Making Smart Cities More Playable: Exploring Playable Cities. Singapore: Springer, 2020, pp.131-147.
• Peacock S, Anderson R, Crivellaro C. Streets for People: Engaging Children in Placemaking Through a Socio-technical Process. In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. 2018, Montreal, Canada: Association for Computing Machinery.
• Palacin R, Vigar G, Peacock S. Transport poverty and urban mobility. In: Justice and Fairness in the City: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to 'Ordinary' Cities. Policy Press, 2016, pp.69-84.