We’ve got an announcement to make…

The CO:RE project kicked off in Brussels

On 16 January 2020, the CO:RE project members met at the European Leibniz Office in Brussels for the first time. Over the next three years, the project partners will work on building a knowledge base on the online experiences of children and young people. The aim is to make available studies, findings and data sets, and to identify pressing issues for the digital lives of children and youth. Together with people and organisations working in education, research and policymaking, CO:RE works for making a better future online.

What is the project about?

CO:RE stands for “Children Online: Research and Evidence“. The aim of the coordination and support action (CSA) is the conception and implementation of a comprehensive and at the same time dynamic, pan-European knowledge platform on the experiences of children and young people in digital communication spaces and the effects of technological changes on children and young people.

What are our goals?

CO:RE wants to be the central contact point when it comes to information and findings on the online experiences of adolescents. Our main goals are:

to provide well-founded and current findings on a broad range of topics related to the impact of technological transformations on children and youth, including their health, lifestyles, participation and digital citizenship, wellbeing, safety, and security as affected by ICT.
to include comprehensive, reliable and systematic research from all EU Member States and several other European countries and thus respect relevant cultural, political, and media-related contexts.
to contextualise empirical evidence by offering theoretical and methodological interpretations, as well as ethical reflections and guidelines.
to help researchers and research organisations to identify critical research gaps and to make optimal and informed use of existing research and data.

Who can use the knowledge platform?

The CO:RE Knowledge Base is a contact point for all concerned with the online use of children and young people and their experiences thereof. Primarily, user groups include researchers, representatives from politics and education or family organisations. For these different user groups, we seek to provide an informative and decision-relevant knowledge base. The CO:RE platform will offer materials from all over Europe. However, the content will be made available in English.

Who is involved?

CO:RE comprises a total of eleven work packages (WPs), e.g., for building the evidence base or for identifying emerging issues and preparing the findings. These work packages are led by distinguished experts from nine European countries (Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Island, Italy, Norway, United Kingdom).

Structure of the CO:RE project

In our team, we have great colleagues, who have been researching children’s online experiences for many years. Now, they are bringing their expertise to the CO:RE project (more information about us). The process is coordinated by the Leibniz-Institute for Media Research. The project includes various communication, transfer-oriented and participatory measures and methods, so that researchers, dialogue groups, as well as the interested public can get involved in the development process.

What is unique about the project?

The unique thing about the CO:RE project is the involvement of various relevant stakeholder groups in the process of platform development. Over the next three years, multiple discussions, workshops, webinars, etc. with different experts (from politics, education, but also children and young people) will take place to identify the diverse views, information and support needs and to be able to implement them accordingly on the platform. With CO:RE, we want to create the central contact point when it comes to gaining an overview of current findings on children’s online experiences. You can be curious about what will happen here in the coming months. We will be happy to keep you up to date and would also be pleased if you would follow us in future via our social media channels.