Barbie is delighted to be chairing the annual MRS Kids & Youth Research conference on 20th January which explores the changing motivations, behaviours and aspirations of young consumers. Barbie will be speaking with Mikkel Holme, Digital Product Director at LEGO  at 10.35am about how children have managed during lockdown. Find out more about the conference here. #MRSLive.

During this year’s Children’s Media Conference (CMC) FK&Y’s Dr Barbie Clarke, George Hanks and Nyasha Nyamhondoro presented FK&Y’s updated syndicated tracking study on children’s internet usage and wellbeing. The research looks at 7-16 year olds and includes 8 focus groups, together with 1,000 online interviews hosted by our panel partner Panelbase  across the UK. One year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic this wave highlighted key changes to device and internet use, and the…
Read more

Barbie and Magnus spoke about findings from the IKEA Kids Advisory Panel at the MRS Conference today. For the last 2 years we have run a panel with children in China, Germany and the UK. Using an app, children respond with pictures and film in response to our monthly tasks. Through this we have asked kids to design lighting (presented to the Kids’ Conference in 2018), beds, desks, storage solutions, all of which have made…
Read more

Dr Barbie Clarke presented FK&Y’s new research on children’s wellbeing and their use of the internet at the annual CMC conference last week. Our on-going research has taken place over the last 18 months, with the latest wave carried out 3 weeks ago, including peer-to-peer focus groups, as well as quantitative research with 1,000 young people aged 7-16 years old, carried out with our partner Panelbase. The report shows a rise in the popularity of…
Read more

Dr Barbie Clarke presented FK&Y’s new research on the impact that social media and gaming has on children’s lives and wellbeing at Ofcom’s ‘Making Sense of Media’ event on Tuesday 29th January, hosted by Sharon White, Ofcom’s Chief Executive. The research found that children and young people can get upset if parents break their own rules when it comes to going online and using tech devices.The presentation can be found here. Barbie also took part…
Read more

This year’s MRS Kids & Youth Research conference is focusing on all things Generation Z, looking at young people’s media habits and how to engage and co-create with this new generation of consumers. Dr Barbie Clarke from Family Kids & Youth will be presenting with Magnus Thuvesson from Children’s IKEA about our ongoing research with children and the methodology that puts children at the centre of everything IKEA does. Event details: MRS Kids & Youth…
Read more

Dr Barbie Clarke from Family Kids & Youth and Magnus Thyvesson from Children’s IKEA will be presenting at the MRS Kids and Youth Insight Conference this January about how IKEA puts children at the centre of design. Children’s IKEA was launched 20 years ago, and it takes children and their lives very seriously, putting them at the centre of everything it does. Family Kids & Youth has worked closely with IKEA since 2009 and most…
Read more

Can reading improve children’s self-esteem? The presentation describes an 6-week intervention carried out last summer with the aim to encourage reluctant readers to read more. Working with bookseller Foyles, families were given book tokens so that children could choose new books each week, together with a family coffee voucher. Although the intervention only lasted 6 weeks, a significant change was found in attitude to reading, children’s level of confidence and family time spent together. The…
Read more

Dr Barbie Clarke of FK&Y and Alison David of Egmont Books addressed the Ofcom Children’s Media Literacy Stakeholder Event today on research carried out for Egmont exploring the way in which parents and children respond to reading in print versus on digital devices. Using focus groups, ethnography carried out in homes and Galvanic skin response the research has identified the emotional drivers for parents and children when reading and how these differ between print and digital….
Read more

Over the summer our fantastic team has been carrying out workshops with over 100 children aged 12-14 to discuss cyberbullying. The work has been commissioned by the Royal Foundation which launched the Cyberbullying Taskforce in May. Today Dr Barbie Clarke presented results to the taskforce, illustrating the many ideas children had for tackling cyberbullying.