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Rhianedd Collins
(she/her)
Teams and roles for Rhianedd Collins
Research student
Overview
I am a third year interdisciplinary PhD student (History and Computer Science) based in HUMAN. A social and cultural historian who approaches research using 'history from below' frameworks, I am also a proponent for the value of community co-production and exploring alternative and original ways to package academic research for public consumption. My PhD research, therefore, explores the potential positive benefits that digital technology and community co-production have for historical research. My thesis is a study of childhood in mid-twentieth-century south Wales, focused on themes of emotions, memory, relationships, place, and belonging. More broadly, I have research interests in Welsh history, lifecycle history, gender history, the history of emotions, memory studies, popular culture, historical game studies, and disability history.
Publication
2025
- Collins, R. 2025. Gaming generations: video game co-design with local communities to foster player experiences of historical empathy and intergenerational socialisation. Presented at: 38th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference Cardiff, UK 9-11 November 2025. Proceedings of BCS HCI 25. Electronic Workshops in Computing BCS Learning & Development Ltd. , pp.336-340. (10.14236/ewic/BCSHCI2025.36)
Conferences
- Collins, R. 2025. Gaming generations: video game co-design with local communities to foster player experiences of historical empathy and intergenerational socialisation. Presented at: 38th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference Cardiff, UK 9-11 November 2025. Proceedings of BCS HCI 25. Electronic Workshops in Computing BCS Learning & Development Ltd. , pp.336-340. (10.14236/ewic/BCSHCI2025.36)
Research
Thesis
Digital History, Heritage, and Community Co-Production: Playing the History of Childhood
I am entering my third year of doctoral study. The provisional title for my thesis is 'Digital History, Heritage, and Community Co-Production: Playing the History of Childhood'. An interdisciplinary study, it will encompass both history and computer science methodologies and frameworks. The main purpose of my research is to explore the positive potential that digital humanities has for engaging communities with their local history. Additionally, since technology is commonly perceived as an isolating factor within society, this project will also consider how digital humanities can be used to foster intergenerational socialisation.
My thesis is centred around a co-production project that I have recently concluded. The project, 'Ely Memory Lane', was developed with older and younger residents from Caerau & Ely, Cardiff. The project members created oral histories which focused around themes of childhood in the mid-twentieth century. These oral history interviews inspired the design and production of a historical video game. Throughout the various project workshops, project members worked together and reflected on the commonalities or differences between their present-day and historic experiences of childhood. The project was then adapted into an exhibition hosted at the Museum of Cardiff (11 July - 31 October 2026).
Funding sources
My studentship is fully funded through the Vice Chancellor's Strategic Fund.
Biography
October 2024 (current): PhD.
Department of History, HUMAN, Cardiff University. 'Digital History, Heritage, and Community Co-Production: Playing the History of Childhood'. Funded internally through the Vice Chancellor's Strategic Fund.
September 2023 - September 2024: MA History.
Department of History, Swansea University. Partially funded by the Creating Futures Scholarship (School of Culture and Communications, Swansea University).
September 2020 - August 2023: BA History.
Department of History, Swansea University.
Honours and awards
- Awarded a fully funded studentship for PhD study through the Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Fund, Cardiff University, 2024.
- Awarded the Creating Futures Scholarship 2023/2024 for MA study, Swansea University.
- Winner of the Ieuan Gwynedd Jones Prize 2022 (won £100 and publication of my winning essay in Llafur: Journal of Welsh People’s History).
- Awarded the Glanmor Williams Prize in History 2023.
- Awarded the J.S.H Roberts Prize in History 2022.
Supervisors
News articles
Contact Details
Research themes
Specialisms
- 20th Century
- British history
- Digital history
- Welsh history
- Lifecycle history
