Child & Teen Consumption Conference, 22

Call for Papers When in London Contact ^ Return To Top

Is childhood intensifying, or eroding?

This will be the guiding question of the 2026 edition of the Child & Teen Consumption conference, which will be held from 22 to 24 April at King’s College London.

To get to the heart of this question, we invite researchers to re-examine what it means to be a child or teen consumer in contexts characterised by rapid technological change, the climate crisis, geopolitical instability and conflict, economic hardship, and deepening social and ideological divides. What do children make of these circumstances, what role(s) do they play in them, and what does it mean for our notions of pre-adulthood? Likewise, how are these contexts changing how adults—parents, caregivers, relatives, educators, institutions, governments— assert authority over, protect, or attempt to shape childhood experiences?

We invite all disciplines to contribute historical and contemporary reflections on the following themes, though submissions beyond these themes are also welcome.

Agency in the digital economy – Popular gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite are eroding boundaries between child and adult consumer markets. Where does this leave the child as an economic agent? The blurring of boundaries also raises questions around privacy, intimacy, the circulation of data doubles in advertising markets. How is technology changing intimate relationships, not only intergenerationally and with peers, but also with corporate and governmental actors? What are the material ramifications of childhoods that are partly lived on, or within, digital platforms?

Sustainability and the climate crisis – Children and youth are increasingly vocal on the climate crisis, making consumption choices and participating in civic protests—and challenging us to reconsider our assumptions about their role in shaping sustainable futures. How do young people navigate the tensions between consumer culture and environmental responsibility? In what ways are they both constrained by and resisting dominant market forces? How are sustainability discourses shaping the ways adults conceptualize childhood and youth, whether as activists, consumers, or future citizens?

Changing institutions of childhood – Schools, families, and legal frameworks are evolving in response to shifting cultural, technological, and economic conditions. How are educational institutions, parenting norms, and child-related policies adapting to (or resisting) these changes? How do new institutional landscapes shape the marketplace experiences and expectations of children and youth? How do children and youth relate, in turn, to these institutions?

Download the full Call for Papers (PDF)

The portal for submissions is now closed.

When in London

Accommodation

Room availability in London can fluctuate, so we recommend booking well in advance to avoid disappointment. We regret that we cannot offer assistance with booking accommodation.

YHA St Paul’s (£) Within a 20-minute walk from the Strand, the YHA has both shared and private rooms available.
Travelodge (££) Travelodge offers comfort at mid-range budgets. Travelodge Covent Garden is a 15-minute walk from campus. Both Travelodge Waterloo and Travelodge Southwark are within a 25-minute walk.
Strand Palace Hotel (£££) Pricier Strand Palace Hotel is a 5-minute walk from campus, and features amenities such as an on-site gym, bars, restaurants and room service. For a discount off the Best Available Rate, use the conference delegate code that you’ll receive after registration.

Getting to King’s College London

The conference will take place on the Strand campus of King’s College London.

The nearest Tube station is Temple (District and Circle lines). Holborn (Central and Picadilly lines) and Waterloo (Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern, and Waterloo & City lines) are respectively a 12 and 16 minute walk away.
Buses are cheaper and reliable, but can be held up in traffic.

For more information, visit the Transport for London website. Google Maps directions are generally very reliable; locals also tend to use the Citymapper app.

Places of interest

Ragged School Museum — A small but fascinating museum set in the building of Dr Barnardo’s Copperfield Road Ragged School, which served some of the poorest children in the Victorian East End.
Foundling Museum — Conveniently located in Bloomsbury, this museum is dedicated to the story of the UK’s first children’s charity, Thomas Coram’s hospital for foundlings. The Foundling Hospital continues today as the children’s charity Coram.
Young V&A — This used to be the Museum of Childhood, but it went through a major transformation and reopened as a museum for children rather than about children. It still displays some collection pieces about the history of childhood, including toys and costumes.
Museum of the Home — This museum’s permanent collection includes a section on child carers and also on everyday life during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also has sections on the museum building’s history as an almshouse.
Migration Museum — This museum is devoted to the movement of people to and from the United Kingdom.
Pollock’s Toy Museum – An eclectic collection of toys, games, and dolls from around the world dating back to the Victorian era. Their pop-up location in Leadenhall Market is easiest to reach, but is only open Thursday-Friday, 11.00am-3.00pm. The Croydon location is open Saturday, 11.00am-4.00pm.

Other notable places for social history include: People’s Museum Somertown (a community-led social history museum a short walk from campus), Gunnersbury Park Museum, Museum of the Order of Saint John, and Museum of Homelessness in Finsbury Park. Many local museums have some sections about children and childhood. For example, Bruce Castle Museum has a display about school children in Tottenham — please let us know if you happen to come across any.

Some representations of children can be found in the collections of the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, V&A Museum, V&A East Storehouse, and The Photographers’ Gallery. If you are interested in children’s art, the Royal Academy holds the annual Young Artists exhibition in the summer.

Finally, keep an eye out on the temporary exhibitions:

Barbican Centre — A great place to visit. Previous exhibitions included Ricochets by Francis Alÿs, focusing on children’s games.
Barbican Library — Barbican Centre also has a public library that holds free exhibitions. Until February, they had an exhibit on EMO subculture in collaboration with the Museum of Youth Culture: I’m Not Okay: An Emo Retrospective.
Wellcome Collection — Also holds exhibitions that might be of interest. From 26 March, it will hold an exhibition on ageing: The Coming of Age. Previous exhibitions included Milk, which explored our relationship with milk and its place in politics, society and culture.
The Courtauld Gallery — Another to keep an eye on. Previous exhibitions included Roger Mayne’s photographs of children and young people in London.
Museum of Youth Culture — Has an ever-growing crowdsourced collection of youth culture. It often has pop-up exhibitions and will soon get a permanent space in Camden.

London with children

If you are visiting London with children, here are a few tips near the Strand:

KCL’s inner courtyard, within easy access of the conference rooms, has lots of space to run as well as giant chess sets. It also neighbours the Somerset House courtyard, where local children will be seen enjoying the fountains on warmer days.
The Transport Museum is delightful for lovers of public transport of all ages. The Southbank Centre has a number of activities for families, besides being an interesting place to roam. Most London museums are child-friendly, and either have a child trail or child-focused spaces. The National Gallery (15 minute walk) is no exception. Older children might enjoy the Hunterian Museum (10 minutes) at the Royal College of Surgeons (see a parent review here).
Nearby playgrounds include the Victoria Embankment (7 minutes), Drury Lane (8 minutes), and Jubilee Gardens (15 minutes).
Graphic & comic book lovers will be happy to hear Forbidden Planet is also only a 15-minute walk away.

KCL has changing facilities and a lactation room can be made available. We will also have a dedicated space for children (& their grown-ups) to take a break from conference proceedings.

Contact

For questions regarding the conference, please

Organising committee

Dr Astrid Van den Bossche, King’s College London

Professor Rebecca O’Connell, University of Hertfordshire

Lauren Denyer, University of Hertfordshire

Dr Francesca Vaghi, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Dr Veena Meetoo, University College London

Dr Rosa Mendizabal, University College London

Dr Deniz Arzuk, University College London

Dr Chloe Locatelli, King’s College London

Scientific committee

Professor Kara Chan, Hong Kong Baptist University

Dr Natalie Coulter, York University

Professor Malene Gram, Aalborg University

Professor Inés de La Ville, University of Poitiers

Professor David Marshall, University of Edinburgh

Professor Patricia Núñez-Gómez, Complutense University of Madrid

Professor Stephanie O’Donohoe, University of Edinburgh

About the Association

The Child and Teen Consumption Conferences promote original research on how children and youth interact with markets and consumer society, including how they construct their identities and relationships with peers, family members, brands, and organizations. We welcome scholars and practitioners who examine a wide variety of domains, including media, technology, privacy, climate change, food and eating, social exclusion, and SDGs, from diverse disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, psychology, sociology, communication, history, education sciences, and law. Since 2004, conferences have been held every two years in countries such as France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Scotland, and Canada. More information on the CTC community can be found at the Association’s website.