Cape Town, South Africa (in-person only)

June 4 2026, half-day 8.30am - 12.00pm (UTC+2)

The Digital Futures for Children centre (DFC) is pleased to announce the call for applications for the ICA 2026 pre-conference. We will be hosting a half-day pre-conference event entitled “Children’s rights under pressure in a digital world.”

This pre-conference is co-organised by: Professor Sonia Livingstone, DFC, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)(UK); Dr Kim Sylwander, DFC, LSE (UK); Jennifer Kaberi, Mtoto News (Kenya); Professor Julian Sefton-Green, Australian Research Council funded Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, Deakin University (Australia); Dr Matías Dodel, Universidad Católica del Uruguay (Uruguay) Fabio Senne, Cetic.br (Regional Centre of Studies on Information and Communication Technologies) (Brazil).

Keynote speaker: Professor Ann Skelton, former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Professor of Law at Leiden University and holds the Chair: Children’s Rights in a Sustainable World.

Description

Children and young people are often the earliest to go online, arguably the ‘canaries in the coalmine’ of digital innovation around the world. Early optimism that the internet would enhance the realisation of children’s rights is giving way to concern that digital business models are driving problematic societal transformations that undermine children’s rights.

Simultaneously, the Global South seeks ever greater digital connectivity to overcome barriers of access and inclusion, while the Global North increasingly calls out the adverse effects of digital inclusion on children’s wellbeing. Education and awareness-raising for a digital world are crucial, but they are insufficient on their own. Many now call for stronger regulation to rein in the power of big tech to commodify and reshape all aspects of daily life in the interests of profit. But this is proving hugely contentious, with rights seemingly in conflict – safety, speech, privacy, participation – and with stakeholders also arguing over the roles of government, business, civil society, families, educators and more in safeguarding children’s rights in a rapidly changing and complex digital world.

This pre-conference will bring together scholars across ICA divisions and interest groups to address urgent and intersecting questions such as: How can data governance and AI design respect children’s rights? What do child influencers, digital labour and commercial platforms mean for children’s possibilities to exercise their rights in a digital age? How are gender, disability, and intersectional vulnerabilities shaping digital childhoods? What roles do digital participation, climate justice, and youth activism play? Although the questions are diverse, a child rights focus is simultaneously integrative yet flexible.

Objective

The objective is to bring together different perspectives, expertise and approaches under the umbrella of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General comment No. 25 on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment. At the same time, we will seek to recognise and discuss questions of interpretation, application and contestation over children’s rights, on the one hand, and the digital environment on the other, especially as there are contextualised around the world.

In this pre-conference scholars and practitioners will explore how research can inform policy, regulation and design, and how Global South perspectives can shape global debates.

Format

• 8.30: short welcome from the organisers
• 9.00: Keynote by Professor Ann Skelton
• 9.30-10.30: thematic paper discussions, workshop style (extended abstracts will be shared ahead of time)
• 10.30-11: Coffee break
• 11-12.00: Panel discussion

Submission guidelines

We welcome original research studies addressing the theme of children’s rights in the digital environment from all disciplines, employing empirical methods and relevant theory, and contributing to the advancement of children’s rights in this context.

We invite extended structured abstracts 1000-1500 words (excluding references and tables) which include research questions, theoretical framework, empirical method, key findings and a description of how the work contributes to children’s rights. Six keywords should be identified. Submissions should include two files. The first should contain your paper blinded for review and the second should contain all author information (name/s, institution/s, title of submission, keywords).

Possible topics:

• Artificial intelligence, governance, data protection, privacy and safety
• Child rights-respecting AI design
• Intersectional perspectives on children’s digital lives
• Children’s participation in digital environments
• Children’s digital labour and the platform economy
• Commercial exploitation and children’s data
• Children’s activism online
• Children’s participation in digital governance
• Algorithmic childhoods
• Child rights by design
• Age restrictions and age-appropriate design
• Mechanisms for protecting children in digital environments
• Digital childhoods, parenting and rights

Publication

With the authors’ permission, the DFC will publish the extended abstracts in a pre-conference outcome document, which will be made publicly available on LSE Research Online.

Registration fee

$35, fees will be waived for students and participants from UN third-tier countries.

Deadlines

Extended abstract deadline: December 15, 2025 (12:00 CET)

Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2025

Submissions

Submit extended abstracts via email to info@dfc-centre.net

Queries

Pre-conference chair: s.livingstone@lse.ac.uk