Dr Sabina Savadova

Teaching Fellow in Childhood Studies and Practice

Biography

Qualifications

I hold PhD in Education from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where I developed my research on digital practices and parental mediation. My academic journey began with a BA in English Language, followed by an MA in American Literature from Khazar University in Azerbaijan. I then pursued an MBA in European Studies and Regional Cooperation through a joint program between the University of Ruse in Bulgaria and the University of Regensburg in Germany, which broadened my international perspective.

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Drawing on my PhD data, I have published extensively on both the Living Journal method I developed and the empirical findings from working with Azerbaijani families. I detailed the approach in Global Studies of Childhood, focusing on generating multimodal, multivocal, metatextual, and multifunctional data, and in International Journal of Early Years Education, highlighting its affordances for remote data generation across contexts; ethical considerations and further methodological details are discussed in a solo book chapter in Insights into Creative and Participatory Research.

Empirically, I first published solo in Learning, Media and Technology on the subterfuge mediation strategy Azerbaijani parents use to navigate their five-year-olds' digital media use. I co-published with Professor Emerita Lydia Plowman in Children and Society, examining how gender and cultural norms shape digital parenting—with fathers making rules and mothers implementing them in ways that differ from Global North contexts and create tension with mothers' desire to be seen as 'good mothers.' Also, with Professor Julia Gillen, I have published in the Journal of Early Childhood Research on parents' aspirations for their children's multilingual futures in relation to digital media (forthcoming).

I have recently worked as a Research Associate on the Toddlers, Tech and Talk: Very young children’s language and literacy learning at home in a post-digital age, ESRC-funded project (2022-2024), which has expanded my research on young children's digital media interactions beyond my PhD work. Drawing on data from this project, I have contributed to several publications that explore very young children's (0-36-months) engagement with digital technologies. These includes Flewitt et al, 2024 on Toddlers Tech and Talk Report, Top Tips for Parents, Winter et al. (2025) on examining the rights of very young children (0-36 months) in the digital environment of the family home based on a UK survey in Children and Society; with Goodall et al. (2025) on exploring parental mediation of very young children's experiences with digital media at home, published in Educational Review; and with McLaughlin et al. (2025) on the development and validation of the PADTS (Parental Attitudes and Digital Parenting in the Early Years) Scale in Child: Care, Health and Development.

 

Responsibilities & affiliations

I have the following teaching and research responsibilities and affiliations:

Undergraduate teaching

I am an Academic Cohort Lead and also a Course Organiser for the BA Childhood Practice Programme, where I organise multiple courses including Study Skills, Children and the Family, Children, Education and Social Justice , Work Based Learning 1 and Children’s Health and Wellbeing. 

At the postgraduate level, I was a tutor for Conceptualising Research: Foundations, Assumptions and Praxis (2021-2022).

I have supervised approximately 23 undergraduate students and around 35 master's students through their research projects.  My teaching has been recognised through nominations for Best Course Organiser and Best Academic Cohort Lead in the Students' Association's student-led Teaching Awards (2025)!

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

No

Current research interests

My research interests include young children and their digital media practices, early childhood education, parenting, parental ethnotheories, family context, children and families, play, digital play, refugee children's digital media practices, children's rights in the digital age, and parenting in the digital age. In my research, I usually use qualitative research methods, including visual methods, participatory methods, ethnography, and creative methods with children.

Affiliated research centres

Past project grants

2022-2024 The student experience grant award by the University of Edinburgh: Project title: Enriching Practitioner students' learning experiences and co-constructing peer support, £3535 (PI)
2019 - 2020 Collaborative Research Award (GCRA) by Universitas 21. The project "How can interactions with digital media foster refugee families' transition to a new culture: A case study of refugee families in Auckland, New Zealand" . Co-investigator together with Valentina Andries (https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/valentina-andries-student)). Lydia Plowman - Lead Supervisor. University of Edinburgh - Leading Institution, University of Maryland and University of Auckland. Sum awarded $ 4992.
2017-2021 My PhD study is funded by the College Research Award of the University of Edinburgh - £54600
2011 - 2013 Erasmus Mundus Programme - €20000

Conference details

Gillen, J and Savadova, S. (accepted) (April, 2026) “Before Google Replies…..”: Conversational Assistants in the Homes of Very Young Children in the UK.  Symposium: AI in Early Childhood: Posthuman Perspectives on Digital Practices Across Children’s Geographies Las Vegas, NV, United States

Gillen, J. Savadova, S. and El-Gemayel, S. (accepted) (December, 2025) Are they really Digital Voice Assistants? Exploring Alexa, Google Home and similar AI powered devices, in UK homes with children aged 0-3 years old.  Literacy Research Association’s (LRA) 75th Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV, United States

Lash- Ballew, A., Allagia, R., Ahmed, R., Fry, D., Lavoie, J., Lu, M. and Savadova, S. (January, 2025) Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), Tracing Pathways of Disclosure: A Narrative Review of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Seattle, WA, United States

Arnott L., Dalziell A., FLewitt, R., El Gemayel S., Gillen J., Goodall J., Savadova, S., Timmins, S., and Winter, K. (September, 2024), Exploring 0-3s' Digital Learning in Family Homes; European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA), Brighton, England

Gillen, J. Savadova, S., FLewitt, R., El Gemayel S., Arnott L., Dalziell A.,Goodall J., Timmins, S., and Winter, K. (2024) "I ask Alexa to play some nursery rhymes, so that was the first word my daughter learnt."  Play, learning and wellbeing with smart speakers in the homes of children aged 0-36 months , European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA), Brighton, England

Savadova, S. (2024, April). Influences of Family Context on Young Children's Digital Media Practices in Azerbaijan. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Philadelphia, PA, United States.

Fry, D., Krzeczkowska, A., Vermeulen, I., and Stevenson, J.G. Fang, X., Salter, M., Whitten, T., Woodlock, D., Ren, J., Anderson, N., Lu, M., Harker-Roa, A., Diaz, K.J., Marmolejo Lozano, M.P., and Savadova, S. Development of a global index on online child sexual exploitation and abuse: ISPCAN, Uppsala, Sweden

Xiangming Fang, X., Zhang, J., Lu, M., Ren, J.,Jaramillo, K., Jinwu, W., Kurdi, Z., Liu, W., Marmolejo Lozano, M. P., Lu, Y., Savadova, S.,  Shangguan, S., Vermeulen, I., Zhu, Y., Zhu, H., Fry, D. (2023) The prevalence of child sexual abuse: a global systematic review. ISPCAN, Edinburgh

Savadova, S. and Andries, V. (2023, April). Refugee families' integration into a new culture through their children's digital media practices during Covid-19. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.

Savadova, S. (2023, September). Subterfuge: Azerbaijani parents' mediation strategy of their young children's digital media practices. British Educational Research Association (BERA) Conference, Birmingham, England.

Savadova, S. (2023) Young children's digital media practices and parental influences in Azerbaijan, accepted for European Early Childhood Education Research Association Annual Conference (EECERA), Lisbon, Portugal (paper submission accepted, but did not register for in-person presentation).

Savadova, S. (2023, August). Fathers' Involvement in the Mediation of their Young Children's Digital Media Practices in Azerbaijan. European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Glasgow, Scotland.

Savadova S. and Andries, V. (2021) How can interactions with digital media foster refugee families' transitions to a new culture in Edinburgh? with Valentina Andries, British Educational Research Association (BERA) Conference, 13 - 16 September, Virtual Conference.

Andries, V. and Savadova, S. (2021, June). Understanding the Role of Digital Technology in the Transitions of Refugee Families with Young Children into A New Culture: A Case Study of Scotland. Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference, Athens, Greece (Virtual).

Savadova, S. and Plowman. L (2020, April). Living journals: Families interpreting their young children's everyday lives in Azerbaijan. American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting, San Francisco, CA, United States (cancelled due to COVID-19).

Savadova, S. (2019) Creating living journals for young children in Azerbaijan, Pecha Kucha presentation at the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) conference, 20-22 November 2019, University of Edinburgh (Funded by SERA conference support fund).

Savadova, S. (November, 2019) Using interpretative phenomenology analysis to explore mothers’ approach to their children’s use of digital media in Azerbaijan, Paper presented at the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) conference, University of Edinburgh (Funded by the SERA conference support fund).

Savadova, S. (2019) Children's daily experiences as shown in their living journals in Azerbaijan, Pecha Kucha Presentation at Interweaving Conference, 10-11 October 2019, University of Edinburgh.

Savadova, S. (2019) Affects and Emotions in Research, Poster presented at Interweaving Conference, 10-11 October 2019, University of Edinburgh.

Savadova, S. (2019) Affects and Emotions in Research, Interactive Poster presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) Conference, University of Hamburg (Funded by the MHSES Graduate School).

Savadova, S. (2019, September). Returning to Azerbaijan as a researcher: the role of affective engagement. British Educational Research Association (BERA) Annual Conference, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Petrova, D., Savadova, S., and Appleby-Donald E. (2019, November). Collaborative Learning in a Shared Studio Environment for Digital Media Design Students, International Conference on design & digital communication, Barcelos, Portugal.

Petrova, D. and Savadova, S. CollaboratED: Collaborative Learning in a Shared Studio Environment, Poster presented at the Learning and Teaching Conference, 29 June 2019, University of Edinburgh.

 

Invited speaker

"I ask Alexa to play some nursery rhymes, so that was the first word my daughter learnt." Smart speakers in the homes of children aged 0-36 months, with Professor Julia Gillen (Lancaster University), LAEL Research Colloquium, Lancaster University

Participant

Participant: Reconceptualising Early Childhood Literacies Conference, 7 - 8 March 2019, University of Manchester, Funded for participation - £450.

Volunteer: Children's Media Conference, 2 - 4 July 2019, funded by the conference organisers.

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