Tamanna has been investigating the way in which digital tools can benefit the mental health of students across the world, by improving the connections between young people and their learning in the classroom. She hopes that her research will provide better support for students, while benefiting their wellbeing.
My research focuses on Augmented Social Play (ASP), a digital tool that uses augmented reality and storytelling to help young people feel more connected and improve their mental health. ASP is played on smartphones by students and their teachers in classrooms, creating shared, in-person experiences that boost a sense of belonging. The first version of ASP, called LINA, has been tested in schools in Austria and the UK.
For my PhD, I am studying how ASP works and how it can be used in schools across different countries, including Portugal, the Czech Republic, and the UK. I’m also exploring how ASP can be adapted for use globally by developing guides to help teachers and policymakers implement the program. I gather data by interviewing students, teachers, and stakeholders, as well as observing how the program is used in classrooms.
Key goals of my research include:
1. Helping young people feel more connected, which can improve their mental health.
2. Involving young people in the research, allowing them to contribute as both participants and co-researchers.
3. Creating toolkits to make ASP easy to use in schools around the world.
What makes this project exciting is the collaboration between different experts and countries. We are working with partners from six countries and involving young people at every step to make sure the tool is effective in different settings. My PhD is funded by Horizon-Europe and UKRI, and I hope my research will lead to better mental health support for young people in classrooms globally.