Digital Futures: From Risk to Response

Join us in Coram’s new space for innovation and collaboration to explore how the digital world is transforming the lives of children and young people. Bringing together the expertise of young people, professionals, and parents, together we will consider what can and should be done to address these challenges and support young people as agents in their digital future.

This event is the latest in Coram’s Future of Youth series which brings together leading voices from across the sector to address the urgent issues children and young people face and discuss the evidence-based action that can be taken in the short, medium and long term to generate meaningful change.

Childhood and adolescence are changing rapidly, driven in large part by the widespread and ongoing impact of digital technologies on every aspect of life. But what do these changes really mean for young people? What are they asking us to do in response? And how can we collaborate with them to create meaningful, lasting change in both norms and systems?

Join us at the birthplace of children’s social care to consider how we can move beyond polarising discourses to create real, actionable change that draws from the lived experience of young people, cutting edge research, and the practical realities of youth, education, and family life. As well as contributions from cross-sector researchers, sector-leaders, and professionals, we will hear responses from young people on the issues that matter most to them. We will also ask attendees to work together to imagine cross-sector solutions and help us build new agendas from the Forum’s insights.

Contributions have been confirmed from the following organisations, with more to be announced:

• 5Rights Foundation on key routes towards positive change in the digital world and the barriers to their meaningful development and implementation.
• Channel 4 on the evolving digital landscape from the perspective of public media, and their insights on how young people navigate identity, truth, and information.
• Public First on the impact of online conspiracies on adolescence and society, and what can be done to create spaces for young people to question, discuss, and make sense of complex online realities.
• The John Wallis Academy, Ashford on smartphones in school, their impact on learning and social dynamics, and what student feedback and new policy approaches can teach about routes forward for schools.
• Coram Life Education on broader trajectories of social and technological change from the perspective of the education sector, and where our current moment sits in these discursive and historical narratives.

Event programme

• 1.15-1.45 Arrival and registration
• 1.45-2.50 Introductions, keynote speakers, and responses from young people 
• 2.50-3.50 Quick-fire presentations and responses from young people
• Break
• 4.10-4.50 Workshop & solutions
• 4.50-5.15 Closing speakers and conclusions
• 5.15-7.00 Refreshments and networking

About Youth Insight

Youth Insight provides a pathway to young and emerging researchers, offering them the opportunity to develop their skills and lead or undertake rigorous research projects that turn experience into insight, and insight into impact.

About The Coram Institute for Children

The Coram Institute is the only think tank dedicated to the future of children, working to inform and influence best policy and practice, and collaborate with relevant partners to deliver solutions to the challenges children and young people face for this and future generations.