Events
The DFC are proud to host and co-ordinate a range of events in collaboration with 5Rights and LSE's Department of Media and Communications.
Please join us!
Upcoming events
DFC Summer meet-up
Thu 30 June | 3pm (BST)
Join the Digital Futures for Children centre's summer meet-up, where we will discuss DigiPulse, our recent report African Children's Rights and the global database. Register for the event.
Past events
Book launch: Users, How Big Tech Took Control and How to Fight Back
Thu 25 June | 4:00-5:00 pm BST | Catch up via YouTube
Speakers: Beeban Kidron (5Rights, House of Lords), Sonia Livingstone (DFC) and Peter Wanless (NSPCC, 5Rights)
Beeban Kidron's new book, Users, provides anecdotal evidence to BigTech's power, empowering readers to take action. Join us for a timely and thought-provoking discussion with Beeban Kidron, Professor Sonia Livingstone and Peter Wanless.
IDC 2026: Designing ethical and rights-respecting child-centred AI for learning
June 22nd – 25th 2026 | Brighton, United Kingdom
Our workshop focussed on designing rights-respecting, child-centred AI for learning. Bringing together researchers, designers, educators, policymakers, and practitioners, it examined how concepts such as privacy, participation, play, and fairness can be operationalised in AI design.
ICA Pre-conference 2026: children's rights under pressure in a digital world
4 Jun 2026 | 8.30 - 12.00pm (UTC+2) | Cape Town, South Africa (in-person only)
The pre-conference welcomes scholars and practitioners to discuss children's rights in digital environments and explore how research can inform policy, regulation and design. Ann Skelton, former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, will be delivering a keynote and original research studies from a variety of disciplines will be presented.
Breakfast Briefing with Matthew Bergman: Platform accountability and digital harms
The Digital Futures for Children centre (DFC) hosted Matthew Bergman, lawyer and founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center. In March 2026, Matthew represented a 20-year-old woman in a social media addiction lawsuit, securing a landmark win against Meta and Youtube. Matthew came to LSE to speak about the case, social media harms and how we might go forward.
Event report available soon.
Does online regulation work for children? Accounting for child rights impacts in the new regulatory era
Thu 14 May 2026 | 6.30 - 8pm (BST) | LSE Centre Building, ground floor & online
New DFC research shows how regulation impacts on children's digital lives. This event joined leading voices from regulation, legal scholarship and child rights to reflect on this new evidence.
Speakers: Steve Wood, Beeban Kidron, Orla Lynskey and Lorna Woods
Chair: Sonia Livingstone
DFC research insights day
13 Mar 2026 | 10 am - 4 pm | Old Building, LSE & Online
Our 2026 Research Insights Day, designed as a mini-conference, presented new evidence and emerging findings on children’s digital lives, through four distinct panels. Read the blog.
General comment No. 25's 5th Anniversary
2nd March 2026 | 11-12:30 | Online
The Digital Futures for Children centre and 5Rights Foundation marked the anniversary of General comment No 25, launching two reports. Watch the video.
EdTech at the crossroads of pedagogy vs profit
12 February 2026 | 6.30 - 8 pm | Centre Building, LSE and online | Followed by a drinks reception
Our public lecture was a timely exploration of how rapidly expanding EdTech is reshaping education, and at times undermining children’s rights, revealing the evidence behind current practices and charting a path toward a more equitable, accountable, and child-centred digital future for learning.
Speakers: Sandra El Gemayel, Julian Sefton-Green, Rhys Spence, Jen Persson
Chair: Sonia Livingstone
DFC winter meet-up: research database
15 Jan 2026 | 9-10 am GMT | Online
We heard the latest updates to the Global Research Database, which is now 300 entries strong, and facilitated debates across practitioners. Read about the event.
Left out and Misunderstood: Children in digital policies
16 Dec 2025 | 4 - 5:30pm (GMT) | LSE Old Building & Online
Digital transformation and inclusion policies are reshaping societies worldwide, yet the ways in which children are recognised - or excluded - within these agendas remain poorly understood. This event presents new cross-national analyses of over 300 policies from 35 countries and organisations, offering critical insights into how children’s rights, agency, and inequalities are framed in the pursuit of digital futures. Access the reports.
Speakers: Ellen Helsper and Shivani Rao
Respondent: Steven Vosloo
World Children’s Day: digital futures for children – children’s rights under pressure in the digital environment
20th November 2025, 6.30pm - 8pm, in-person and online
Drawing from UN treaty monitoring, national policies, regional frameworks and civil society advocacy, the panel will consider how international law influences policy and practice, recognising progress, obstacles and pathways for change.
Panel: Gerison Lansdown, Kim R Sylwander and Gastón Wright. Chair: Sonia Livingstone
World Children’s Day: Expert roundtable
20th November 2025
The DFC invited experts to discuss children's rights under pressure around the world.
Does Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) affect children’s rights? Insights from children in the global South
16 September 2025 | Online, 12pm (UTC)
Speakers: Ivelise Fortim, Jennifer Kaberi, Kruakae Pothong , Usha Raman , Manon Baert and Mariya Stoilova
Chair: Sonia Livingstone
RIGHTS.AI: a child-rights-focused project that shines a light on children’s experiences with GenAI. At the webinar, we launched five reports, spotlighting our new findings from Brazil, India, Kenya and Thailand.
2nd International Conference on Children’s Rights: Artificial Intelligence, Online Safety and Children’s Rights in the Digital Environment
9-11 September 2025, Stellenbosch University
The 2nd International Conference on Children's Rights invited people to reflect on how the proliferation of digital technologies and access to the internet are (re)shaping the exercise of children's rights. The conference came 4 years after the publication of the UN General comment No. 25, which recognises that children's rights extend to the digital environment.
DFC summer meet-up
30 June 2025, Online, 2pm - 3pm (UTC)
The DFC hosted a nuanced conversation about children's rights and the digital environment.
Empowerment, safety and equity: children's visions of rights-respecting digital futures
Speakers: Sakshi Ghai (LSE), Dylan Yamada-Rice (University of Plymouth), Adam Ingle (LEGO), Michael Murray (Information Commissioner’s Office - ICO)
Chair: Kim R. Sylwander (DFC)
21 June 2025, 2pm - 3pm, in-person and online
One in three internet users is a child, yet the digital world was not designed with children in mind. As we witness an acceleration of the development of technologies (like generative AI), tech regulation often prioritises speed over human and children’s rights. In this event for the LSE Festival, we brought together children's voices from around the world to identify possible futues where children’s rights are upheld and technology serves humanity sustainably. Watch the recording or listen to the podcast.
Teens, sexting and image-based sexual abuse: a child rights approach
20 May, 18:30-20:30 (BST), Old Theatre, hybrid
Speakers: Leila Green (Edith Cowan University), Jessica Ringrose (UCL), Kim R Sylwander (Digital Futures for Children centre) and Giselle Woodley (Edith Cowan University).
Chair: Sonia Livingstone (Digital Futures for Children centre)
Although evidence suggests that ‘sexting’ is considered a normal practice among teens, there are, nonetheless, inherent risks. Teens who sext run a range of legal, financial, health, educational and sociosexual risks, yet still they do it. Apart from image-based sexual harassment and abuse, teens also face emerging risks such as AI-informed deepfakes and sextortion. In this public event, four speakers will discuss empirical findings from three different countries: Australia, Sweden and the UK (Watch the lecture)
Children and AI Design Code: virtual launch
29 April, 15:00 to 16:15 (UTC), online
Speakers: Beeban Kidron, Sonia Livingstone, Ali Hessami, Amadeep Singh Gill, Michael O'Flaherty and Neema Lugangira.
The Children and AI Design Code is designed to embed children's rights in the foundations of AI; at each point of the AI lifecycle. The code gives practical guidance and guidelines for companies to ensure that children are not exposed to more risk of harm.
At the launch of the Children and AI Design Code, we were joined by:
Baroness Beeban Kidron, Chair of the 5Rights Foundation and the Digital Futures for Children centre, and a crossbench peer in the UK’s House of Lords.
Professor Sonia Livingstone, Director of the Digital Futures for Children centre, Professor of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics Department of Media and Communications.
Professor Ali Hessami, VC & Process Architect, IEEE Ethics Certification Programme for Autonomous & Intelligent Systems, Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Amandeep Singh Gill, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies.
Michael O’Flaherty, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Honourable Neema Lugangira MP, Chair of the African Parliamentarians’ Network for Internet Governance, Member of Parliament, Tanzania.
Doughty Street Chambers - Annual Children's Rights Lecture
13 March 2025
Speakers: Sonia Livingstone and Nicole Stoilova
Sonia Livingstone presented Children’s Rights Apply Online as Offline – or Do They? with guest young person Nicole Stoilova.
The lecture argues that we must take a holistic approach when discussing children's rights in the digital environment. This means we must consider the full range of children's rights and take into account how children interact with technology (e.g. not just screen time).
The way forward for EdTech and children's rights
5 February 2025
Speakers: Mark West, Sonia Livingstone and Ayca Atabey.
Mark West from UNESCO discussed future avenues for EdTech and children’s rights, drawing on findings from the influential report An EdTech tragedy? Educational technologies and school closures in the time of COVID-19".
Sonia Livingstone and Ayca Atabey presented DFC work on children in the digital environment, EdTech and AI. Experts in children's rights were invited to contribute discussion points and evidence.
Mark West works in UNESCO’s Education Sector, he is the UNESCO lead for the Gateways to Public Digital Learning Initiative and has authored numerous notable publications.
DFC online meet-up: How do we engage children?
10 December 2024
DFC meet-ups are a platform that allows practitioners to share good practice and learn from others. The DFC were proud to welcome participants from around the globe, who gave insights into children's rights, social media, and the engagement of children in research and advocacy.
DFC research insights day
29 November 2024
Speakers: Baroness Beeban Kidron, Steve Wood, Dr Kim R Sylwander, Professor Ellen Helsper, Shivani Rao, Dr Ivelise Fortim, Dr Mariya Stoilova, Ayça Atabey, Alexandra Evans, Colette Collins-Walsh
Chair: Professor Sonia LivingstoneA day of talks from colleagues and collaborators at the DFC on our latest research and collaborative dialogue about children's rights in the digital environment. Download a detailed version of the agenda, including talk titles and more information about speakers.
Read the event report: Research insights day 2024
Is the internet good for children? (Public lecture)
27 November 2024
Speaker: Sonia Livingstone
Chair: Ellen HelsperPublic anxiety about children’s digital lives and wellbeing is reaching a fever pitch, marking a notable turnaround from the decades-long efforts to ensure children are fully digitally included, literate and empowered. While arguments rage over what’s wrong with ‘screen time,’ ‘online harms,’ and data-driven forms of exploitation, this lecture hosted by the Digital Futures for Children centre made the case for a rights-based approach that puts children’s needs at the forefront of the design and deployment of digital services. Watch the lecture or listen to the podcast.
Sonia Livingstone argued: "A recent government report raised the question, is food good for children? It may seem odd to ask this, till you consider how food can be bad for them. Then you get the point: it’s the system that’s broken, in many ways – from invisible salt, sugar and fat content, unequal access to affordable vegetables, lack of resources to cook from scratch, junk food marketing, etc. The answer is not to ban food, though likely to restrict certain kinds of food. But clearly, multiple forms of intervention are needed to improve children’s lives, including fixing the broken food system. We can say the same of the internet. Is it good for children? It could be. It should be. But first we have to fix the broken system that is undermining children’s digital lives in so many ways. Our DigitalFutures4Children research proposes Child Rights by Design as a constructive way forward."
Academic roundtable: social media and child rights
15 November 2024
The DFC hosted an academic roundtable discussing children's rights and social media with Australia's eCommissioner, Julie Inman Grant.
Smartphone policies in schools: an online workshop for secondary school teachers
The DFC held a workshop for secondary school teachers where they learnt what the evidence says and explored how smartphone policies can best be designed from a child rights perspective.
The workshop was CPD-certified and part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2024 - Our Digital Lives. Read the review of the evidence
DFC summer meet-up
24 July 2024
Friends and collaborators from all over the world joined to discuss ongoing DFC projects and share experiences and suggestions. Access the presentations: General comment No. 25 and DFC research database
Children’s online marketing harms: roundtable
11 June 2024
The DFC hosted an in-person academic roundtable focusing on evidence of the harmful impact of online marketing on children and young people. The discusison covered negative outcomes from marketing tactics such as obesity, body dissatisfaction, and unsafe behaviours.
Tech tantrums - when tech meets humanity (Public lecture)
5 June 2024
Speaker: Baroness Beeban Kidron
Chair: Professor Sonia LivingstoneIn this talk, Beeban Kidron, best known for her global impact on tech regulation to benefit children, set out why issues around AI must not be left to tech experts and unaccountable corporations during her lively and well-attended DFC public lecture, chaired by Sonia Livingstone. Watch the lecture
Read related blogs: AI companies have to become democratically accountable and Tech tantrums – when tech meets humanity
Impact of regulation on children’s digital lives | Report launch
20 May 2024
New legislation and regulations are driving social media companies to make child safety and privacy changes, finds our new report by Steve Wood of PrivacyX Consulting and ex-ICO Deputy Commissioner. The report was launched on 20th May 2024 at the House of Lords. Read the blog
Digital Media Use in Early Childhood: Birth to Six | Book launch
7 May 2024
The DFC launched Digital Media in Early Childhood: Birth to Six with a lively and well attended event in LSE’s Shaw Library.
Speakers: Professor Sonia Livingstone, Professor Susan Danby, Professor Lelia Green and Professor Brian O’Neill
DFC celebrated the launch of Digital media use in early childhood with the authors and discussants. The book draws on a three-year research project examining the realities of under six-year-olds' experiences of digital technologies in the UK and Australia. At the launch, the authors presented the key arguments and reflect on a child rights-informed approach to early years’ digital lives. Order the book
Launching: Digital Futures for Children
21 November 2023
The official launch of Digital Futures for Children – a research collaboration between 5Rights Foundation and the Department of Media and Communications at London School of Economics and Political Science – you can find out more here, or watch the webinar
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The Digital Futures for Children centre is a joint research centre between 5Rights Foundation and the London School of Economics Department of Media and Communications.