What research should be conducted to understand how children’s rights are being enhanced or undermined in the digital age, especially on a global basis? What data gathering and analytical tools do researchers need, and how can these best be provided for different countries? The London School of Economics (LSE), UNICEF and EU Kids Online convened a global symposium to address such questions. Drawing on the participants’ expertise from many countries, the meeting sought to identify best practices that could contribute to a global child rights online research toolkit. The meeting aimed to support and encourage research for informing policies, programmes and services to ensure the rights of children in the digital age.

Six major challenges were discussed in the context of research:

1. Opportunities and barriers to children’s rights in a digital age
2. Standards for rigorous methods of cross-cultural comparison
3. Research contexts - priorities, training and impact
4. Multi-stakeholder engagement and research funding
5. Implementing evidence-based policy internationally: practice, politics, ethics
6. Producing a robust yet flexible cross-national research toolkit

Click here to access the outcome report from the global symposium 

Audio and overview presentation from Sonia Livingstone, Professor of Media and Communication at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).