- A new board game inspired by a new report from the University of Sheffield is helping students learn how digital inequalities affect young people’s everyday lives
- The report found that 42 per cent of young people in the UK don’t have access to home broadband or a computer and 75 per cent feel they lack the necessary digital skills needed to thrive in life
- It also highlighted that the digital divide hinders economic growth - estimating to cost the UK £65bn each year - and called for the adoption of the Minimum Digital Living Standards
- Members of the public will be able to play the game at the upcoming ESRC Festival of Social Sciences Research Arcade in Sheffield between 31 October and 2 November 2025
Helping young people who have moved to University navigate online and digital spaces necessary for their education, and overcome the pitfalls they may encounter, is the subject of a new board game inspired by research from the University of Sheffield.
‘Digital Pathways and Possibilities’, a life-size playable board game, was based on a report published as part of the Child of the North’s #ChildrenFirst campaign.
An evidence-based plan for upskilling our children and young people for digital futures calls for government guidance to mitigate the potential harms young people encounter in digital spaces, including the prevalence of fake news.
The academics behind the report want new proposals for digital upskilling, and to highlight new innovations to close the digital divide, which is holding back the life chances of millions of children in the UK.
Working with students, the report authors have created the life-size board game, the aim of which is for students to successfully complete their degree programme, whilst encountering and conquering real-life digital barriers which can affect young people’s online wellbeing, motivation, confidence and skills, and make navigating University difficult. The students overcome these challenges by upskilling their character and seizing opportunities to help them progress and enrich their digital life.
Mariana Noor Rodrigues, who is studying for a BA in Education, Culture and Childhood at the University of Sheffield, helped on the development of the game. She said: “Whilst co-designing the game, I have become aware of how different inequalities can shape a young person's life. The number of young people in the UK that don’t have access to a computer or broadband was far greater than I previously thought it was.
“I am now more educated on the fact that the digital content I view may not be accessible or inclusive for everyone, so working alongside other students to bring new ideas to the game and ensure it represents as many people as possible will leave a legacy in helping others become educated on digital inclusion.”
Madeleine Wells is studying on the University of Sheffield’s BSc Politics, Philosophy and Economics programme and was also on the team. She said the game helps highlight the extent of digital inequality amongst young people: “Along with my fellow student co-producers, I was able to provide perspectives for the game on how young people in the north may be impacted within the digital space, as well as highlight the struggles that we, and our peers face together.
“I hadn't properly considered how much of higher education is inaccessible if you have limited access to the internet or technology. Being part of the development of the game has aided me in understanding the specific struggles that are faced by young people today.”
Report authors Professor Jennifer Rowsell and Dr Ryan Bramley from the University of Sheffield, published a call to government as part of their Child of the North report, demanding the adoption of the “Minimum Digital Living Standards” framework to support subsidised digital access, to ensure that every household and school has the digital infrastructure necessary for children to thrive.
Dr Ryan Bramley, from the University of Sheffield’s School of Education, said: “Despite the notion of today’s children and young people being ‘digital natives’, it's a fact that not everyone in the UK has the same opportunities and equal access to digital devices and the internet.
“So following our report, we used our findings to focus on how to help young people navigate and thrive in their digital life and future.
“Having young people at the start of their higher education consider the barriers they may come up against, and even more importantly, the opportunities they can create and access to overcome them, we hope will help foster resilience in their future careers and lives.”
The #ChildrenFirst campaign was launched at the National Opportunity Summit hosted in Leeds on Monday 8 September, where Minister Josh MacAlister pledged his support towards building a country that works for all children on his first day as Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Department for Education.
#ChildrenFirst builds on a major series of reports produced last year on key topics identified by Northern child health leaders as major issues of concern, including poverty, special educational needs, school attendance and mental health. The reports, from universities across the North of England and beyond, including N8 Research Partnership members Leeds, Manchester, Durham, York, Lancaster, Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle, the University of Bradford, and others included evidence-based plans and recommendations for policymakers to help address these issues.
For the University of Sheffield’s report authors, this includes making sure all young people have a level playing field to develop the skills which will enable them to thrive in their future lives.
Professor Rowsell said: “The world we live in is increasingly a digital one, and the rapid development of new technologies are having a profound impact on the employment and economic landscape for our students of today.
“But the UK’s digital landscape is still currently an uneven playing field for our children and young people which is already costing the UK economy millions. Millions of children are at risk of being left behind because they don’t have regular access to the technology and skills education they need to take advantage of the opportunities digital spaces afford the rest of the population.”
The ‘Digital Pathways and Possibilities’ board game will be launched at the upcoming ESRC Festival of Social Sciences Research Arcade where between 31 October and 2 November 2025, members of the public can go and try it out for free to learn more about digital inclusion in the UK.
The game was based on ‘Mind the Gap’, a board game developed by the University for Sheffield’s Centre for Care with Dr Angela Colvert, the new version is aimed at young people starting University.
Baroness Anne Longfield, Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives, said: “In an age of dangerous disinformation, when many children are bombarded with overwhelming amounts of online content, or where they are shut out of the digital world, it has become ever more crucial that we ensure all children and young people have the skills and access to the tech they need to learn and to thrive.
“The digital divide is costing our economy billions, and we can only meet our ambitions for building a stronger economy and society if we have a well-trained and well-educated workforce where all are able to feel part of today’s digital world. This innovative board game is a fantastic toolkit for boosting those digital opportunities for young people, which will be good both for their life chances, and us all.”
Professor Mark Mon-Williams, from the University of Leeds, who edited the report series, said: "The digital divide is not an abstract policy challenge. It is a daily barrier to opportunity for millions of young people. This report is a salient reminder of the need to address digital inequalities if the UK wants to grow its economy and break the links between a child’s background and life chances.
This new report also provides solutions. It highlights a creative project that shows how research can be converted into action that makes a tangible difference to children’s lives. The University of Sheffield team is communicating essential digital information in a playful, social, and deeply human manner and showing digital inclusion is as fundamental to a fair society as education, housing or healthcare.”
