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Sonia Livingstone OBE FBA is a leading British scholar on the subjects of children, media and the Internet. She is Professor of Social Psychology and former head of the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science.[1] While Livingstone’s research has evolved since the start of her career in the 1980s, her recent work explores media and communication in relation to society, children and technology. Livingstone has authored or edited twenty-four books and hundreds of academic articles and chapters. She is known for her continued public engagement about her research areas and has advised the UK government, European Commission, European Parliament, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, OECD, ITU and UNICEF, among others, on children’s internet safety and rights in the digital environment.[2] In 2014, Livingstone was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) "for services to children and child Internet safety".[3]
Sonia Livingstone OBE | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Awards | OBE, for services to children and child Internet safety |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Media and Communications |
| Institutions | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| Main interests | Children's Rights, Digital Technologies, Social Psychology, Policymaking, Research |
| Notable ideas | The opportunities and risks afforded by digital and online technologies, particularly for children and young people |
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Early career
Livingstone holds a BSc degree in psychology from University College London and obtained her DPhil in Psychology from the University of Oxford, supported by the Economic and Social Research Council. She was supervised by Professor Michael Argyle during her DPhil. Her doctoral thesis is titled "Social Knowledge and Programme Structure in Representations of Television Characters" and was submitted in 1987.[4]
Combining social psychology, mass communication and cultural studies, Livingstone’s initial work pays heed to viewers' interpretations and rationales in understanding media and communications, particularly analysing viewers’ representations of popular British soap operas such as Dallas, Coronation Street and EastEnders. Therefore, Livingstone’s work is closely tied to the field of audience studies, and she places herself in the tradition of ‘reception studies.’[5] In 1990, Livingstone joined the London School of Economics and Political Science in the Department of Social Psychology as a lecturer and was awarded full professorship in 1999. She continues to teach on the subject of audiences at LSE.[6]
Media and communications (1990s to present)
In 1993, Livingstone founded the MSc in Media and Communications degree at LSE, which continues to be offered today.[7] Subsequently, in 2003, she was among the founding professors at the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. She served as Head of Department from 2009 to 2012 and has supervised over 25 PhDs since. Her regular collaborators include media scholars Nick Couldry, Peter Lunt and Ellen Helsper, her former supervisee.
In the department, she teaches Master's courses in media and communications theory, methods, and audiences, and supervises doctoral students researching questions of audience, public and users in the changing media landscape.
Throughout her career, Livingstone has won numerous awards and taken up more than 15 academic appointments, including as a Professor II at the University of Oslo (2014–16), as a guest professor at the Paris-Panthéon-Assas University (Paris II) in (2009) and as a faculty fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (2013-2014).[8]
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Early work
Livingstone states that one of her research interests is exploring how people "maintain a sense of themselves in a communication environment replete with meanings they didn't create".[9] In her earliest research, Livingstone focused on how television audiences respond and create meaning from various television genres, focusing specifically on soap operas.[10] This work was recognized for the innovative way in which she combined critical and social psychological theoretical frameworks and employed qualitative interview research methodologies, traditions that she still identifies with today.[11]
Throughout the 1990s, Livingstone continued to publish on different types of audiences, including expansions from her initial research on soap operas to include TV debates or discussions and studio audiences. Early in the decade she also notably worked on economic social psychology alongside Peter Lunt.[12][13][14] Some of these themes are captured in the book ‘Mass Consumption and Personal Identity: Everyday Economic Experience.’[13]
Young People and New Media [late 1990s to present]
Starting from the turn of the millennium, Livingstone’s work shifted towards younger audiences and consumers of media, with her leading the research project ‘Children and their Changing Media Environment’ until 1999. The book of this title, which provided an accessible reflection of the findings, was released in 2001, closely followed by ‘Young People and New Media’ in 2002, this marking an ‘important’ contribution to the study of young audiences, noted reviewers.[15] Here Livingstone was commended for ‘writing an inspiring book… delivering new and stimulating fresh insights into how young people manage to deal with ‘new’ (and ‘old’) media.’[16]
Paying attention to innovations in media technologies at the time, Livingstone wrote in 1999 of the need for an ‘inclusive conception of new media,’ noting that there is an increase in ‘personally owned media’ with diversification in ‘form and content,’ a ‘convergence of information services’ and ultimately the decline of mass communication into more ‘interactive’ modes.[17]
Children, Parenting and the Internet [late 2000s to present]
Further capturing evolving media forms, Livingstone has been notable in researching and leading public conversations about the rise of the internet in the everyday lives of children and families. This includes work about both- the design and production of digital products, as well as how these technologies transform the lives of parents, adolescents and young children. Her work about children's use of the internet seeks to go beyond common assumptions. In "Risk and Harm on the Internet," she "presented the main findings and policy recommendations that emerge from the EU Kids Online project, separating risk from harm, and focusing on the relation between opportunities and risk. She argued that, "although both research and policy have tended to treat these as separable parts of children’s experience, the two are inextricably inter-twined".[18] In recent years Livingstone has called for conversations about children's growing use of devices to move beyond the fixation on 'screentime', a term often used in the media as part of quantitative calculations about the extent of children’s use of devices. She has pointed out that measures of 'screentime' can be faulty and mean different things for measuring bodies, parents and technology companies.[19] Instead, she calls for policymakers and carers to also take into account the qualitative experiences children have with digital media, accounting for the ‘content, context and connections associated with children’s digital engagement’.[20]
"Taking a comparative, critical and contextualised approach, Sonia Livingstone's current research asks why and how the changing conditions of mediation are reshaping everyday practices and possibilities for action, identity and communication rights. Her empirical work examines the opportunities and risks afforded by digital and online technologies, including for children and young people at home and school, for developments in media and digital literacies, and for audiences, publics and the public sphere more generally.[21] More broadly, she is interested in how citizen values (public sphere, rights-based, equity-focused, diversity-promoting) can be better embedded in information and communication infrastructures in institutions, regulators and the lifeworld. Livingstone is renowned for her multi-methodological approaches and she has overseen projects incorporating both large-scale quantitative and qualitative methods in the study of media engagement and reception.[22]
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Consultation with policymakers, national and transnational bodies
In addition to academic research, Livingstone has been active in various public-facing initiatives, including consultations with government bodies, international associations (especially in the United Nations and affiliated bodies), as well as non-governmental organisations. These engagements reflect her track record of using her knowledge of children, digital technologies and audiences beyond academia. Her insights to policymakers and organizations in recent years are concerned with children's rights in relation to the digital environment, online safety, and media literacy. In 2022, she served as an External Expert in the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development's Working Group on Data for Learning.
For the UK governmental bodies, she has worked closely with the ‘Council for Child Internet Safety’ having worked as an Evidence Champion from 2010 to 2018 and chaired the Evidence Group (formerly Expert Research Panel) from 2009 to 2012. Additionally, she contributed to various project groups, including self-regulation, age verification, and digital resilience, between 2010 and 2018. She also served as an academic advisor to The Byron Review: Safer Children in a Digital World from 2007 to 2008 and was previously a member of the Home Secretary's Taskforce for Child Protection on the Internet, participating in subgroups addressing research issues, social networking, and internet safety content from 2005 to 2008. Livingstone has long contributed to enhancing media literacy, serving on Ofcom's Making Sense of Media (Media Literacy) Advisory Panel from 2019 to 2021 and 2022-25.
Her collaborations with the European Commission include serving on the EDMO (European Digital Media Observatory) Advisory Board in 2020-2022 and 2023-2024, contributing to a task force on disinformation and Ukraine in 2022. Additionally, she was a member of the Advisory Group for the "Better Internet for Kids – BIK Policy Map" from 2019 to 2023, and she has been a #SaferInternet4EU Ambassador since 2018, as invited by European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. Her involvement extends to the Horizon 2020 Expert Advisory group (E02951) for "Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective societies" from 2013 to 2015.
In 2020-22, she was a valued member of The Internet Commission's Advisory Board. Her contributions to child online protection are notable, including her work with ITU (International Telecommunications Union) on Child Online Protection Guidelines in 2019-20 and participation in the OECD Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment from 2019 to 2021. Her work on ethical AI includes serving on the Advisory Council of The Institute for Ethical AI in Education from 2019 to 2021. She has collaborated with UNICEF on research projects and initiatives aimed at understanding and addressing the challenges faced by children in the digital world.
Media and digital engagement
Livingstone makes regular appearances in mainstream media outlets, often as an expert commentator and analyst on topics related to children, technology, and digital media. Her research has been covered by publications including The Guardian, The Financial Times, the BBC, The Observer and The Times. Apart from academic books, several of Livingstone’s books, including the recent ‘Parenting for a Digital Future’ are also catered and accessible to a wider audience beyond academia. In combining research and practical advice, this work is relevant to parents, educators, and caregivers seeking guidance on children's digital well-being.
Livingstone is active on Twitter, and LinkedIn, where she shares regular updates about her research works and engages with public conversation, as well as academic and non-academic users. Her public talks are available on video streaming websites, including her talk at the Ted Summit in 2019.[23] Matching her latter research trajectory, Livingstone runs the blog ‘Parenting for a Digital Future’ hosted by LSE, with regular contributions from practitioners, researchers and herself about children ‘growing up in a digital world.’[24]
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Digital Futures Commission
As part of her association with the 5Rights Foundation, Livingstone led the 'Digital Futures Commission,' an initiative aiming to place 'children's interests at the centre of the design of the digital world.'[25] Its main focus areas included ‘play’ i.e. play in the digital and offline worlds, education (including work on the impact of EdTech), and innovation for digital design that impacts children. Since 2020, the commission’s work has been to drive ‘real world change for children and young people,’[26] and this intention is reflected in the make-up of the commissioners, the list of which includes academics and leaders from The University of Leeds, The Alan Turing Institute, The Lego Group, EY, and the BBC.[25][26]
Toddlers and Tablets: Exploring the risks and benefits 0-5s face online
Between 2015 and 2018, Livingstone worked as a co-investigator in a research project about the increasing use of smart devices, such as 'iPads, tablets and smartphones' by 'infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers.'[27] Funded by the Australian Research Council, the project ‘investigated family practices and attitudes around very young children’s internet use in Australia and the United Kingdom’ and provided recommendations for policymakers and parents of children under 5.[27] Funded by the Australian Research Council as part of the Discovery Projects scheme, the Toddlers and Tablets project involves a collaboration between Edith Cowen University, the LSE and the Dublin Institute for Technology.
The Class
Livingstone directed ‘The Class’ a research project that examines the emerging mix of on- and offline experiences in teenagers’ daily learning lives. It focused on the fluctuating web of peer-to-peer networks that may cut across institutional boundaries, adult values and established practices of learning and leisure. In an ordinary London school, the project followed the networks within and beyond a single class of 13-14-year-olds at home, school and elsewhere over an academic year – observing social interactions in and between lessons; conducting interviews with children, parents, teachers and relevant others; and mapping out-of-school engagements with digital networking technologies to reveal both patterns of use and the quality and meaning of such engagements as they shape the learning opportunities of young people. The Class was part of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Connected Learning Research Network.[28] A namesake book on the study with Julian Sefton-Green was published in 2016.[29]
UK Children Go Online: Emerging Opportunities and Dangers
The project investigated 9- to 19-year-olds' use of the Internet through qualitative interviews with children and parents. Accounting for age, socio-economic background, gender and other demographics, the study aimed to understand issues around (i) Internet access; (ii) the nature of Internet use; (iii) inequalities and the digital divide; (iv) education, learning and literacy; (v) communication; (vi) participation; (vii) various risks of associated with the Internet and balancing these; and (viii) regulating the Internet at home.[30]
EU Kids Online I, II & III
Livingstone founded the EU Kids Online project, (2006-2009) which, in the European context focuses on cultural, contextual and risk issues in children's safe use of the Internet and new media which was funded by the European Commission Safer Internet Programme. With research teams around Europe, it generated research findings from 21 countries (19 EU member states, plus Iceland and Norway) into how children and young people use the internet and new online technologies. The aim was to identify comparable findings across Europe and evaluate the social, cultural and regulatory influences affecting online opportunities and risks, along with children's and parents’ responses, to inform policy.[31]
EU Kids Online II was the follow-up project which ran from 2009 to 2011. It focussed on enhancing knowledge regarding European children's use, risk and safety online. The study has generated a substantial body of new data – rigorously collected and cross-nationally comparable – on European children's access, use, opportunities, risks and safety practices regarding the Internet and online technologies. Significantly, findings come from interviews conducted directly with 25,000 children and their parents from 25 countries across Europe.[32] EU Kids Online III is the final follow-up project which ran from 2011 to 2014 and expanded to 33 countries.[33]
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She is on the editorial board of several leading journals including the Journal of Communication, Feminist Media Studies, British Journal of Social Psychology and is an associate editor for The Communication Review. From 2007 - 2008, she served as president of the International Communication Association, has served as a member of the organization's different committees at various times and continues her engagement as an ICA Fellow. Notable accolades include honorary doctorates from six universities and the Engaged Research Award from the International Communication Association's Children, Adolescence, and Media Division in 2022. In 2020, she was recognized with the British Psychological Society Award for Distinguished Contribution to Social Psychology. Her contributions have also been acknowledged on an international scale with the Academia Europaea Erasmus Medal in 2019 for exceptional scholarly achievement and contributions to European culture. Furthermore, in July 2018 she was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).[1] Livingstone was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's 2014 New Year Honours for services to children and child Internet safety.[3] Her research and communication scholarship has garnered recognition from organisations such as the Family Online Safety Institute, where she received the FOSI Award in 2012, and the Academia Europaea where she was awarded the Erasmus Medal in 2019 “the highest level of international scholarship [… and] a significant contribution to European culture and scientific achievement.”[34] These awards and affiliations underscore her significant impact on the fields of communication, psychology and children’s rights.
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Among the books that Livingstone has written, include:
- Parenting for a Digital Future (with Alicia Blum-Ross). Oxford University Press, 2020
- The Class: Living and learning in the digital age. (with Julian Sefton-Green), New York University Press, 2016
- Media Regulation: Governance and the interests of citizens and consumers (with Peter Lunt). Sage, 2012.
- Children and the Internet: Great Expectations, Challenging Realities. Polity. 2009.
- Media Consumption and Public Engagement: Beyond the Presumption of Attention, editions 1 and 2 (with Nick Couldry and Tim Markham) Palgrave. 2007, 2010.
- Harm and Offence in Media Content: A review of the empirical literature, editions 1 and 2. (with Andrea Millwood Hargrave). Intellect Press. 2006, 2009.
- Young People and New Media: Childhood and the Changing Media Environment. Sage. 2002
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