ODPA release 2024 Bijou Lecture

The ODPA launched its annual Bijou Lecture in 2022, as part of its outreach arm ‘Project Bijou’ which aims to encourage the sharing of stories, knowledge and experiences related to ethical data use, in a way that benefits everyone.

Dr Nash’s research focuses on children’s use of digital technology, both the opportunities and the risks that it poses. She is a Director, Associate Professor and Senior Policy Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) at the University of Oxford. She also holds several digital policy advisory roles, on internet and digital safety and consults on broader issues such as platform governance and Internet regulation.

In this year’s lecture she shares her insights with the ODPA’s Data Protection Commissioner Brent Homan.

They start off by discussing how keeping children safe in the digital era means striking a delicate balance between our parental urge to protect them and the importance of empowering them.

They move on to explore the need for parents and children to openly share their experiences and knowledge with each other, and how education leaders play a critical role in empowering young people to be safer online.

Moving to the role of regulation, they explore the implications of the Online Safety Act which was passed into UK law in October 2023.

Finally, they take an imaginary trip to the year 2054, to imagine how today’s children will look back, as adults, on the actions (and inactions) of today’s tech giants, parents, and policymakers.

“It was truly inspiring to hear Dr. Nash’s holistic perspective on what it takes to advance children’s data rights in the digital era, a passion shared by our office”, said Commissioner Homan, “and I also appreciate her openness to doing a little ‘Back to the Future’ role-play to bring those points home!”

You can listen to the lecture at: www.odpa.gg/project-bijou/the-bijou-lecture.