Showcasing evidence from 47 countries around the globe, our panel explored children’s internet-related risks and opportunities, framed in relation to children’s rights. Drawing on the experience of Global Kids Online partners, the panel compared key findings and emerging issues in selected countries in South Asia, Africa and Latin America and discussed some priority areas for the international research and policy agenda on children’s digital lives.
Programme
- Making children’s digital lives visible: the importance of comparative global evidence on children’s internet use (Sonia Livingstone) Download presentation
- From findings to policy: lessons from South Asia, Africa and Latin America (Panel discussion with Manisha Shelat, Patrick Burton & Alexandre Barbosa, Chair: Mariya Stoilova
- Global evidence on cyberhate and sexual exploitation of children (Daniel Kardefelt-Winther and Marium Saeed)
- Where do we need to see more impact: discussion the speakers and the audience (chair: Sonia Livingstone)
Speaker biographies
Dr Alexandre Barbosa is head of the Regional Centre for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br), and is in charge of several nationwide ICT surveys and research projects on the socio-economic implications of ICTs, including research on ICT in Education and online risks and opportunities for children (Kids Online survey). From 2012-2017 was the chair of the Expert Group on ICT Household indicators from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Alexandre holds a PhD in Business Administration from Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil).
Patrick Burton is a research consultant and Director of the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (CJCP), South Africa. He has extensive experience at both a research and policy level on child and youth violence, school violence prevention and youth resilience. He has worked on different aspects of child online safety and children’s rights in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa region, and South East Asia. He recently completed a GKO study with Save the Children Zambia and is currently working with UNICEF offices in Tunisia, Cambodia, Albania and UNICEF Headquarters.
Dr Daniel Kardefelt-Winther leads UNICEF’s research programme on Children and Digital Technologies, at the Office of Research. He works at the intersection of child rights and digital technology and has several years of experience in designing, implementing and managing cross-national comparative evidence generation projects involving children and adults. In his role at UNICEF, Daniel manages the Global Kids Online and Disrupting Harm projects, generating evidence with children in more than 30 low-middle income countries.
Prof Sonia Livingstone FBA, OBE is a Professor of Social Psychology at the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has published 20 books including “The Class: Living and Learning in the Digital Age.” She directs the projects “Children’s Data and Privacy Online,” “Global Kids Online” (with UNICEF) and “Parenting for a Digital Future”, and she is Deputy Director of the UKRI-funded “Nurture Network.” Since founding the 33 country EU Kids Online network, Sonia has advised the UK government, European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, OECD and UNICEF.
Prof Manisha Pathak-Shelat is a Professor of Communication, Digital Platforms and Strategies and the Chairperson of the Centre for Development Management and Communication (CDMC), at MICA in Ahmedabad (India). She has taught and worked as a media consultant/trainer and researcher in India, Thailand, and the USA. She has a PhD in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA and in Education from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. Manisha’s research interests focus on young people’s media cultures, use of new media, civic engagement, transcultural citizenship, media literacy and gender.
Marium Saeed is a consultant at UNICEF’s Office of Research Innocenti. She researches children’s use of digital technologies and works on Global Kids Online and Disrupting Harm projects. Marium’s research explores media use patterns across the Global South, primarily through survey research. Prior to joining Innocenti, Marium worked at Northwestern University (Qatar) surveying media use in the Middle East, media industries in the region, and adolescents’ health information-seeking behaviours.
Dr Mariya Stoilova is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her area of expertise is at the intersection of child rights and digital technology with a particular focus on the opportunities and risks of digital media use in the everyday lives of children and young people, data and privacy online, digital skills, and pathways to harm and well-being. Most recently Mariya’s work has concentrated on the relationship between digital technology use, vulnerability and mental health of children and young people. For publications and current research projects see here.
