[Commlist] Call for papers: Children's rights under pressure in a digital world: ICA Pre-conference 2026

*Venue: *On-site, Cape Town, South Africa (in person only)**

*Time and date: *Thursday morning 4^th June, 2026, half day 8.30-12.00

*Abstract submission deadline: *December 15, 2025

**

*Keynote speaker:*

*Ann Skelton*, Professor, University of Pretoria and University of 
Leiden, and former Chair, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

*About the pre-conference*

**

The Digital Futures for Children centre is pleased to announce the call 
for applications for the ICA 2026 pre-conference *“Children’s rights 
under pressure in a digital world”* organised in association with the 
ICA divisions Children, Adolescence and Media and Communication Law and 
Policy.

**

Children and young people are often the early adopters, the ‘canaries in 
the coalmine’ of digital innovation around the world. We are long past 
the early optimism that digital technologies would spur development and 
close global inequalities. Instead, today’s concerns focus on how 
dominant digital business models are fuelling societal transformations 
that increasingly undermine children’s rights. As digital connectivity 
expands across the global South, countries in the region are beginning 
to grapple with the same adverse effects of digital inclusion on 
children’s wellbeing that have already prompted concern in the global 
North. Growing evidence also shows that different groups of children 
experience these impacts unevenly, with new research highlighting the 
distinct challenges faced by indigenous children as connectivity reaches 
their communities.

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 everyday life in the interests of profit. This is proving 
contentious, with key rights – safety, speech, privacy, participation – 
appearing to conflict and with stakeholders debating the respective 
responsibilities of government, industry, civil society, families, and 
educators in safeguarding children’s rights within a fast-moving and 
complex digital landscape.

*Call for submissions*

**

This pre-conference brings together scholars and practitioners to 
explore how research can inform policy, regulation and design, and how 
global South perspectives can inform and shape international debates. 
The discussions will combine 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.

*Possible topics include:*

  * Artificial intelligence, governance, 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
  * EdTech and the right to education
  * Child rights by design
  * Age restrictions and age-appropriate design
  * Measures for protecting children in digital environments
  * Digital childhoods, parenting and rights

*Submission guidelines*

**

We welcome original research studies addressing the theme of children’s 
rights in the digital environment, from all disciplines, employing 
empirical methods, relevant theory, and contributing to children’s 
rights in the digital environment. We invite extended abstracts of up to 
1500 words (excluding references and tables). Each abstract must include 
the following subheadings: research questions, theoretical framework, 
empirical method, key findings and a description of how the work relates 
to children’s rights. Six keywords should be identified. Submissions 
should include two files – one anonymous with author information removed 
throughout, and the second with all author information (name/s, 
institution/s, contact details).

*Submission deadline: *

  * Extended abstract (up to 1500 words) deadline: *15 December 2025
    (12:00 CET), sent to (info /at/ dfc-centre.net) <mailto:(info /at/ dfc-centre.net)>*
  * Notification of acceptance: 15 January 2026

*Publication:* Following the pre-conference, DFC will publish the 
extended abstracts on its website, accessible via LSE Research Online 
repository, with authors’ permission.

*Registration fee:* $35, fees will be waived for students and 
participants from UN third-tier countries. Note: you do not have to be 
an ICA member or register for the main conference to attend this 
pre-conference.

*This pre-conference is co-organised by:*

/Sonia Livingstone and Kim Sylwander, DFC, London School of Economics 
and Political Science (LSE) (UK)/

/Patrick Burton (South Africa)/

/Magdalena Claro Tagle, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Chile)/

/Matías Dodel, Universidad Católica del Uruguay (Uruguay)/

/Jennifer Kaberi, Mtoto News (Kenya) /

/Admark Moyo, Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch (South Africa)/

/Julian Sefton-Green, Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, Deakin 
University (Australia)/

/Fabio Senne, Cetic.br (Regional Center for Studies on the Development 
of the Information Society) (Brazil)/

*Queries are welcome, addressed to (s.livingstone /at/ lse.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(s.livingstone /at/ lse.ac.uk)> *

**

*More about the pre-conference: bit.ly/preICA *

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