Dr Ekaterina Hertog, Associate Professor of AI and Society (jointly appointed with the Oxford Internet Institute (OII)), together with Dr Victoria Nash (also of the OII), has recently been awarded funding for a new research project examining how care-experienced children and young people develop critical digital skills.
The project responds to growing concerns about digital exclusion among care-experienced youth. There are more than 107,000 looked-after children in the UK, many of whom face structural barriers to acquiring essential digital skills. As digital technologies increasingly underpin everyday activities, from accessing public services and education to banking, employment, and housing, understanding how these young people acquire, or fail to acquire, digital skills is increasingly urgent.
Current policy frameworks, including the UK Online Safety Act (OSA) 2023, typically assume that children have access to stable family support to help them navigate digital environments safely. While the OSA places responsibility on platforms to protect children, it also relies heavily on parental involvement to monitor online activity and support the development of digital literacy. For care-experienced children, however, long-term, stable family support is often absent, and little is known about how digital skills develop under these conditions.
The project will address this gap by examining how structures of care shape digital access and literacy, how carers and professionals balance online risk with the development of digital capital, and how care-experienced young people exercise agency to overcome barriers to digital inclusion. It will also investigate the most pressing gaps in digital skills faced by care leavers as they transition to adulthood, particularly in relation to public services, education, and employment.
Methodologically, the research will combine policy analysis, quantitative analysis of national survey data, and qualitative interviews with care-experienced young people, carers, and professionals. The project will also work closely with local authorities and non-governmental organisations to identify systemic barriers and inform frontline practice.
Findings will be shared through a range of outputs, including a co-created practical book to support basic digital literacy, practitioner toolkits, and policy roundtables. While the project focuses on care-experienced young people, it is expected to generate broader insights into how digital capital develops among young people from families with limited digital resources or literacy.
This project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the foundation. Visit nuffieldfoundation.org.