Global Kids Online is an international research project that aims to generate and sustain a rigorous cross-national evidence base around children’s use of the internet by creating a global network of researchers and experts.

The project developed a global research toolkit that would enable academics, governments, civil society and other actors to carry out reliable and standardised national research with children and their parents on the opportunities, risks and protective factors of children’s internet use.

Global Kids Online was developed as a collaborative initiative between the UNICEF Office of Research-Innocenti, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and the EU Kids Online network. Supported by the WeProtect Global Alliance (2015 - 2016), the project aims to connect evidence with the ongoing international dialogue regarding policy and practical solutions for children’s well-being and rights in the digital age, especially in the global South.

With principal investigators Professor Sonia Livingstone (LSE) and Jasmina Byrne (UNICEF Office of Research), the project developed a global research toolkit that was piloted by national research partners from Argentina, the Philippines, Serbia and South Africa, supported by UNICEF country offices. These partners were instrumental in building and testing research resources and in demonstrating how research results can be used for policy and practice.

Research results are currently available from Argentina, Montenegro, Serbia, South Africa, and the Philippines. Further countries are applying to join the Global Kids Online project, and their results will be published as they emerge.