CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
Case study: The University of Winchester and Children’s Rights
CASE STUDY
How the University of Winchester is contributing to the narrative around children’s rights
in the UK.
Project: Children’s rights in healthcare, and children’s rights in the digital context
Collaborating Organisations: Supporting various partners including the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Institute of Medical Ethics, and the 5Rights Foundation Project Timescales: Ongoing
From helping to inform research on children’s rights, to speaking to the media as a reputable thought leader in the field, the University of Winchester is an influential and constructive contributor to the narrative around children’s rights issues in the UK.
The
University of Winchester’s Research and Development Team
Dr Emma Nottingham is one of the nation’s leading experts on children’s rights and ethical law. Emma has been at the University of Winchester since 2015 and is now the Head of Law. Emma’s research background is in children’s rights, particularly in the context of decisions around children’s health care, as well as children’s rights in the online and digital world.
Partnerships
The University of Winchester supports and works with various partners to support and develop the narrative on children’s rights.
The University of Winchester has recently supported the Nuffield Council on Bioethics with Emma as a law and ethics representative to help with their report around critically ill children and their care, the recommendations of which were put to UK Parliament in October 2023.
Emma also supports the work of the Institute of Medical Ethics and their research committee by forming part of their network of medical ethics experts. She also sits on the Clinical Ethics Committee in Southampton, a group that supports doctors with difficult, ethical issues.
In the realm of children’s rights in the online world, the University is supporting the 5Rights Foundation on a project highlighting issues in Edtech. The University also works alongside other academic institutions in the UK and internationally to research different perspectives on online issues such as sharenting. As a thought leader in her field, Emma also makes regular national media appearances on
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
We worked with partners in Northumbria and in the US on a project around sharenting; it gives a richer debate, and the work becomes more influential because it opens up audiences from different places.
behalf of the University. She has given her insight on children’s rights on BBC Breakfast, BBC News at Ten, Newsnight, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 2, BBC 5 Live, Sky News, and ITV News.
Context
Emma’s work at the University of Winchester is in children’s rights, in particular two key areas: bioethics and the rights of children in healthcare, and children’s rights in the digital context.
Ethical issues surrounding children’s rights in healthcare have become particularly consequential with recent high-profile cases raising questions around legal decisions for critically ill children.
The increasingly digital world has also raised new issues regarding children’s rights and through its partnerships and research, the University is helping to navigate issues such as Edtech and sharenting. Edtech – the use of technology
in an educational setting – raises questions about data use and protection. Sharenting – parents sharing photos and content about their children online, particularly on social media – is becoming increasingly topical regarding children’s rights to privacy.
Emma explains, “New cases can raise national or global issues and ignite the debate. My motivator is genuinely wanting to try to do something good, and making useful recommendations.”
Project Challenges
In the constantly changing context of new laws, legislation, and social issues, keeping up to date with such fast-moving areas is one of the key challenges.
Interdisciplinarity is another challenge and ensuring that there is a wide range of perspectives from not just the legal viewpoint but also the medical, parental, and other perspectives.
What we did
Project Impact
The University is having an impact by helping to inform the narrative around children’s rights issues. An example of this is a recent piece of work that Emma has done with a doctor about how decisions are made about children when there’s a dispute between parents and doctors. Following some of the recent high-profile cases, there have been suggestions to change the threshold at which the court can get involved and the piece makes some suggestions to influence the debate.
For students at the University, researchinformed teaching integrates real-world research into their learning and there is the opportunity for students to become involved with informing the debate and working directly on the research projects. And one of the advantages of being a smaller institution like the University of Winchester is that all the students on the course have the opportunity to get involved directly with the research.
Emma believes, “Students can relate to topics like Edtech and sharenting because they have grown up with it; they’ve experienced it first-hand.”
Best Practices
As well as speaking in the media, Emma also emphasises the benefit of speaking about the research at conferences and giving presentations to colleagues about works in progress. This provides the opportunity for input from, and connections with, other experts.
Future Prospects
Current and future research includes the piece looking at the next stage of the debate on children’s rights in the context of decisions for critically ill children, the publication of which will be in early 2025. In Edtech, Emma and her students are contributing to the co-written report between the University of Winchester, the Centre for Information Rights, and the 5Rights Foundation.
A piece of work is also underway looking at sharenting in the medical context, learning from the high-profile cases where there has been a lot of sharing of the story on social media. Emma is also completing a book about perceptions and prejudices of motherhood in the justice system and how stereotyping of women and mothers has resulted in miscarriages of justice.
A tip I’ve learned along the way is sharing what you’re doing because it motivates you to keep going with the project. Sharing and debating everything you’re doing gets a diverse and rich range of opinions.
Emma Nottingham, University of Winchester
For further information please contact the Research and Innovation team on collaborate@winchester.ac.uk
RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester, Hampshire, SO22 4NR
winchester.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1962 841515