Our research projects
The DFC is working on exciting new projects that address pressing and emerging issues relevant to children’s rights in the digital environment.
DigiPulse
This large-scale international research project, funded by the Huo Family Foundation, will examine how children’s everyday smartphone experiences shape their mental health, wellbeing and development, in real time.
Project leads: Sonia Livingstone and Kim R. Sylwander
Our Digital World, Our Say
This project brings together the UN Human Rights Office, 5Rights Foundation and the Digital Futures for Children centre (DFC) to meaningfully engage children in shaping how their rights are understood and protected in the digital environment.
Through child-friendly workshops delivered by partners around the world, children will share their experiences of going online, reflect on access, privacy, safety and participation, and offer clear recommendations for a more rights-respecting digital world. This project will deliver their messages directly to the UN, ensuring that children’s perspectives are heard where it matters most! Read about the project
A better EdTech future for children
This project investigates how educational technologies (EdTech) are shaping children’s learning experiences and rights in diverse contexts, with a specific focus on AI. Through multidisciplinary research and direct engagement with children, families and educators, it explores the equity, design and governance of EdTech systems. The project aims to identify best practices, develop rights-based recommendations, and stimulate public debate over the best ways to achieve more inclusive, transparent and accountable digital learning environments. Read about the project.
Project team: Sonia Livingstone (DFC), Kim R. Sylwander (DFC), Colette Collins-Walsh (5Rights) and Reece Parslow (5Rights).
Project lead: Sandra El Gemayel (DFC)
RIGHTS.AI
In this project, we talked to children and young people aged 13-17 about their experiences, expectations and imaginations of generative AI (GenAI). Engaging our EU Kids Online partners and other international partners in Brazil, Kenya, Thailand and India, we conducted a qualitative, cross-country analysis. RIGHTS.AI provided an international understanding of GenAI's impact on children around the world. Read about Rights AI
Project lead: Mariya Stoilova
Children in digital inclusion policies
Digital policies are designed to support and propel regions and countries into an era that is increasingly digital. Unfortunately, previous findings suggest that children are wholly excluded from these policies, which could exacerbate existing societal issues.
This project, using DiSTO theories, collated and analysed digital inclusion policies from around the world to assess how children are mentioned, or even if they are mentioned at all.
Project leads: Shivani Rao and Ellen Helsper
Opportunities, Risks, and Harms in the Digital Gaming Ecosystem
This qualitative and exploratory study looked at the gaming ecosystem in Brazil and the UK, investigating opportunities and harms.
The project aimed to establish a framework to assess the risks, harms and opportunities within the digital gaming ecosystem; defining the variables that influence the progression from risk to harm and map the roles and responsibilities of actors. Read further.
Project lead: Ivelise Fortim
Mapping the impact of General comment No. 25
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s General comment No. 25 was adopted in 2021.
We mapped the global impact of General comment number 25 (GC25) and we launched the findings on the anniversary of General comment No. 25 (2 March 2026), the video is available here.
Our mapping built on previous work where we looked at GC25 in the UNCRC review process. We launched the findings on World Children's Day (20 November 2025): watch the launch video, listen to the podcast or read about the event.
Project lead: Kim R. Sylwander
Children's rights by design
This work stream addressed the gap between policies, principles and design for children’s rights. We prototyped and tested a child-rights-based design tool with approximately 30 designers and developers from both the Global North and South, drawing on the Digital Futures Commission’s Child Rights by Design.
The work stream also explored what factors shape digital developers' practices and considerations of children's rights when designing digital products and services used by children.
Project lead: Sonia Livingstone
Consultant: Kruakae Pothong
Children’s rights in relation to the digital environment: spotlight on Africa
The key challenges and opportunities that children on the African continent experience in relation to their use of a variety of digital platforms, services and apps is rarely explored. This qualitative project will bridge some of this gap by investigating the experiences of 199 children and young people living in six nations on the African continent (Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania).
Project leads: Amanda Third and Louisa Welland, Young & Resilient Research Centre, Western Sydney University
Children's visions of digital futures
This project engages 5Rights Global Youth Ambassadors around the world to explore their visions of child rights respecting digital futures. The project adopts a co-design participatory futures methdology to amplify children's voices to impact research and policy.
Project Lead: Kim R. Sylwander
A child rights audit of GenAI in EdTech: Learning from five UK case studies
This project used a child rights framework and a mixed methods approach to examine case studies of prominent AI-embedded EdTech products used in UK classrooms, assessing how these products can impact children's rights. Read further.
Consultant: Ayça Atabey
Impact of regulation on children's digital lives (2)
The second stage of the research further explores the earlier report of Impact of regulation on children's digital lives, to assess how regulation impacts on children's experience of the digital environment; incorporating the technological and regulatory advances of the last year.
Consultant: Steve Wood