We, the CO:RE consortium, are deeply concerned about Russia’s ongoing horrendous invasion of Ukraine and the escalations of the situation in the past few days. In early April, the UN refugee agency reported more than 4 million people had fled Ukraine since the launch of Russia’s attack on 24 February 2022. As a result, many families and children find themselves in challenging and saddening times, and traditional and social media overflow with coverage of the situation by those still in Ukraine and those fleeing. This also poses new media challenges for children and young people in particular. To help them cope with upsetting news and images, UNICEF UK put together some tips for families to talk about what is happening in Ukraine and support them through these difficult times.

We believe that we as researchers can lend our support by continuing to disseminate and promote access to knowledge across Europe that will help guide and safeguard adolescents’ experiences in and with digital environments.

🆕 CO:RE Knowledge Base feedback tool launched

In the past weeks, we evaluated the CO:RE Knowledge Base beta version, existing parts are being revised, and new elements are being released during the coming spring months. We have also launched a feedback tool for users, allowing you to share your inputs, criticisms, and suggestions to improve the platform. Your opinions and comments are very much appreciated.

💭 New CO:RE Theories blog posts

Guest author Miriam Rahali (LSE) recently contributed two new blog posts to the CO:RE Theories Toolkit. In the first one, she discusses a question that young scholars often grapple with, namely how new theories are built and developed, and outlines helpful tools to advance theory in children’s media studies. Read it here!

Her second blog post offers guidance and tips to improve literature search performance, shows how looking at citation networks can help in the process, and outlines free and open access software tools. Read it here!

The CO:RE Theories Toolkit is produced by Sonia Livingstone and Mariya Stoilova (CO:RE Theories at LSE).

📰 Media & Communication Thematic Issue | Open Access!

Digital Child- and Adulthood: Risks, Opportunities, and Challenges

Media and Communications recently published an open-access thematic issue on digital child- and adulthood risks. Our CO:RE and EU Kids Online colleagues, Niamh Ní Bhroin, Thuy Dinh, Kira Thile, Claudia Lampert, Elisabeth Staksrud and Kjartan Ólafsson contributed a piece on the paradox practice of sharenting and the question why parents share content about their children online despite their concerns about their kids’ online privacy. Read it here!

🎟️ Annual International Communication Association Conference | 26-30 May

👀 Children, Adolescents and Media Panel Session | 27 May, 8:00-9:15 am CEST

Our CO:RE colleague Sonia Livingstone will be at the panel and discuss a universal child rights approach to online privacy.

Online registration is open until 06 May!

🤝 We’re in good company!

If you’re looking for more good reads for the upcoming holidays, visit our partner projects DigiGen, DIGYMATEX and ySKILLS and explore their latest outputs!!

Stay healthy and stay safe.