Professor Elin Reikerås is a specialist in early childhood mathematics education, focusing on children’s mathematical development and digital play in ECEC. She has led multiple large-scale interdisciplinary research projects and has been part of expert groups at both national and international levels. She will contribute to the project with her competence in how play can support the learning of math, including computational thinking, in early age.

Maja Højslet Schurer is a researcher at University College of Northern Denmark (UCN) whose work focuses on early childhood education and sociocultural perspectives on play. She explores how children playfully and creatively engage with materials and technology and keeps research relevant through collaboration with stakeholders and practitioners, using ethnographic and participatory methods that involve children and adults in co-creating knowledge.

Brian Ravnborg is an educational consultant in STEM at University College of Northern Denmark (UCN). He is passionate about integrating aesthetic and creative dimensions into science education and exploring how STEM can evolve into STEAM to create more engaging and meaningful learning experiences. He has many years’ experiences designing school-based teaching sequences and activities with a STEAM focus.

Cristina Sylla is a Principal Researcher at the University of Minho. She has wide experience as project leader. Her research focuses on the design, development and evaluation of innovative pedagogical materials, focusing on the intersection of traditional games and playful activities and the new interactive technological solutions, fostering young children’s experimental, participatory and active involvement

Orlanda Tavares is an assistant researcher at the Research Centre on Child Studies, Institute of Education, University of Minho, Portugal, and holds a PhD in Educational Sciences from the University of Porto. Her research focuses on educational policies, social equity, with a particular interest in teacher education. Within the Co-Play STEAM project, she contributes expertise on the policy and institutional conditions that support innovative, play-based and STEAM-oriented pedagogies in Early Childhood Education and Care. She has participated in several national and international research projects and has published in leading international journals.

Cristina Parente is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education of the University of Minho. She holds a PhD in Child Studies, specialising in Methodology and Supervision in Early Childhood Education, from the University of Minho, and is a researcher at the Centre for Research in Child Studies (CIEC). She has taught in initial, continuing, and specialized training for early childhood educators and primary school teachers. Within the scope of the Co-Play STEAM project, and as a trainer of early childhood educators with a strong interest in play as the foundation of pedagogical practice, she will contribute by developing training processes that support educators in integrating computational play into meaningful STEAM practices. Her contribution will focus on reflecting on play as an intentional pedagogical practice, critically analysing educational experiences, and co-constructing pedagogical proposals that articulate analogue and digital technologies, arts and design, while respecting children’s agency and the principles of early childhood pedagogy.