“At LSE, we’re co-producing the CO:RE theory toolkit to share insights into the nature of children’s agency, vulnerability and well-being – and the nature of the digital world itself.”
– Professor Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE)
About work package 5
The team at the LSE will work on theory, providing a series of mutually cross-fertilising mechanisms to coordinate and support the theoretical dimension of research.
We will identify valuable theoretical concepts that offer multidisciplinary breadth and depth in understanding the long-term impact of digital media on children and youth.
Our goals
- Identify the range of disciplinary perspectives relevant to understanding the technological transformations now reconfiguring the lives of children and young people, together with their main contributions and points of mutual difference;
- Interrogate the specific theoretical and conceptual assumptions currently shaping research in this domain, mapping their diversity and weighing their significance;
- Bring together contrasting disciplinary perspectives and debates on core topics or concepts in a process of fruitful deliberation, to identify synthetic solutions useful to researchers, practitioners and policymakers;
- Pinpoint how new theories, ideas or disciplinary perspectives can refresh established lines of inquiry or challenge familiar assumptions, aiding innovation and advancement in the field;
- Develop and promote a series of constructive and practical tools to support theoretical development, for use by researchers now and in the future.
Our timeline
Over the next few years we will work on:
- Consultations: intensive brainstorming to set the agenda for the action’s work, identifying the core concepts, critical challenges and valuable resources (Years 1-3);
- Multidisciplinary webinars: these will illuminate and debate contrasting approaches to key concepts or problems (Years 1-2);
- Online forums: on selected topics, we will hold online debates with a formally-appointed moderator and respondent, collating the discussions into a brief (Years 1-2);
- A “theories and concepts” blog to provide regular reflections on theory, concepts, disciplinary assumptions and emerging new ideas (Years 1-3);
- Videos of selected researchers discussing their theoretical approach, rationale and challenges (Years 1-3);
- A theory toolkit: this will bring together in a handy resource for researchers the range of videos, blogs, webinars, annotated reading lists, glossary of concepts and definitions, concept maps, infographics, etc, in an online publicly-available resource for researchers (Years 2-3).
Our team
Sonia Livingstone DPhil (Oxon), FBA, FBPS, FAcSS, FRSA, OBE, is a professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK). She currently directs the projects “Children’s Data and Privacy Online,” “Gobal 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 research network, Sonia has advised the UK government, European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, OECD and UNICEF, among others, on children’s internet risks, safety, media literacy and rights in digital environments. She blogs at www.parenting.digital.
She is Work Package 5 Leader.
The Consortium
Leibniz Institute for Media Research
Hans-Bredow Institut
Coordinator and Lead of WP1 – Coordination
Lead of WP11 – Consortium Ethics
Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore (USCS)
Lead of WP2 – Evidence base
Lead of WP3 – University of Akureyri
Lead of WP4 – Key topics
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Lead of WP5 – Theories
Lead of WP6 – Methods
Lead of WP7 – Ethical Issues
Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin)
Lead of WP8 – Policies
European School Net (EUN Partnership Aisbl)
Lead of WP9 – Education
TAKEPART Media + Science GmbH (Takepart)
Lead of WP10 – Technical Infrastructure
Get in Touch!
For any questions feel free to contact us …