Pressures on Human Development
We investigate how intelligent environments influence human development, and design practical educational responses to strengthen the psychological capacities most affected.
Changing Environments of Influence
Human development has always taken place within a complex ecology of biological, psychological, relational, cultural & environmental influences. Technology now plays an increasingly powerful role in that ecology, shaping how we communicate, learn, work, create and understand the world.
As digital environments become ever more adaptive, they increasingly select what we encounter, learn from our responses & now participate directly in previously private aspects of inner life, such as thinking, creativity or relationship. Research offers insight into many of these processes individually, but less is understood about how these emerging conditions interact within lived experience, how they affect human development & what skills or capacities might help people navigate their psychological influence. This is the territory we explore through Experience Studies.
Our programme is initially focusing on four interconnected areas of research, each examining a different aspect of human development that is subject to emerging pressures.
1. Adaptation
What are the capacities we need to develop to better adapt to rapidly changing environments of influence? More →
2. Identity
What happens to the different ‘layers of identity’ within these systems, and where is this heading? More →
3. Creativity
What happens to human creativity, imagination, and freedom of expression in an age of adaptive & personalised generative influence? More →
4. Synthetic Relationships
What happens to the developing human psyche when in ‘relationship’ with the synthetic. How can we protect against attachment and extraction. More →
Research Through Practice
We do not see research and educational practice as separate activities. Ideas can be translated into frameworks, tools and teaching approaches, applied in real settings, evaluated, and refined through what we learn.
This iterative process sits at the heart of our methodology; build, test, learn, improve. Every workshop, classroom resource, pilot programme and educational tool becomes an opportunity to examine how emerging developmental pressures affect young people, which human capacities become most important in response, and how those capacities can be strengthened through education. We seek to build the evidence needed to guide educational practice, support schools, inform policy, and strengthen the case for Metacognitive Education as a core component of modern education.
Build → Test → Learn → Refine
Workshops, classroom resources and pilot programmes therefore provide opportunities to explore which concepts resonate, which capacities can be developed through education, and how different approaches work for different people and settings. Over time, this can help build the evidence needed to improve educational practice and evaluate the case for Metacognitive Education more widely.
Interdisciplinary Research
Experience does not divide neatly along academic boundaries. Understanding how changing conditions affect human development draws on psychology, education, cognitive science, philosophy, technology, design, systems thinking, child development & public policy. IMCE aims to create a meeting point between these perspectives, connecting existing research with practical educational experimentation around a common question:
What do people need to understand about their own experience to better navigate a changing world?
We are at the beginning of this work and actively looking for people to help shape it. If you are a researcher, educator, university, school, funder, youth organisation or public-interest technology partner whose work intersects with ours, we’d love to hear from you.
