P4PLAY: researching people, place, policy and practice for play from the lens of occupational science : "Oh' the places you'll go: children's adventures in real world and digital playgrounds"

Abstract

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 861257. ; Introduction: The P4Play Marie Sklodowska-Curie (MSC) Training Network is an innovative European Joint Doctorate (EJD) programme in Occupational Science for Occupational Therapists. This EJD was established in 2020 when 2.2 m was awarded to a consortium of researchers and play advocates, in the highly competitive Horizon2020 scheme. P4play is a collaboration between 4 academic universities in Ireland, Sweden, Scotland, and Switzerland, and 15 partner organisations in Europe and the USA. The P4play programme adopts a child's rights-based perspective and aims to investigate the nature of play through the lens of People, Place, Policy and Practice (P4Play). Background: After extensive scientific research, scholarly exploration, and discourse on play, a refocus on play as a right requires further study as a central concern (or occupation) in children's lives. Occupational Science, a science dedicated to the study of humans as doers or as occupational beings, offers a unique lens to explore play as an occupation. From this perspective, the P4Play proposal was developed and submitted for funding to the MSC programme, in 2019 and was successful on first submission. P4play intends to amplify children's voices and explore the intersectionality of diverse childhood experiences of play, within families, communities, and cultures, drawing from pragmatism, complexity theories, childhood studies and anthropology among others. Methods: implementing the P4play programme The P4Play research programme has employed 8 early-stage researchers dedicated to exploring the complex and situated nature of play, e.g., social-spatial inclusion, play deprivation, and policy. and the development of solutions to address barriers to play provision in diverse community settings. Eight PhD research projects are being designed and implemented to examine play from diverse ...