Sara M. Grimes is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information and the Director of the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) at the University of Toronto. Her research examines children’s digital culture, play, rights and well-being through an approach that combines critical communication studies, science and technology studies (STS), and cultural studies of childhood.

She was recently Principal Investigator of the Kids’ DIY Media Project, a cross-sector, transnational research partnership that explored the opportunities and challenges for children’s rights, learning, and creativity associated with online “do-it-yourself” media-making platforms.

Her work has been published in top-tier journals such as New Media & Society, Games and Culture, and Science, Technology & Human Values, and in high-profile edited collections including The Routledge Companion to Digital Media and Children and The SAGE Handbook of Digital Technology Research. Dr. Grimes holds degrees in Communication from Simon Fraser University (PhD, MA) and the University of Ottawa (BA Hons).
Community outreach and social justice are central to Dr. Grimes’s professional practice, and she regularly works with media/cultural industries, children’s advocates, and policymakers to advance and support children’s rights in the digital realm