Our events and knowledge exchange activities

Building a capabilities framework with children and young people

Speaker: Dr Sarah Ward, Lecturer in Learning in Communities at MHSES, University of Edinburgh

Almost a quarter of Scottish children live in poverty. This has a profound effect on wellbeing, as they face inequalities in employment, learning and health. This presentation explored how children and young people conceptualise wellbeing and how processes of collective agency can develop through group dialogue. 

Download the 'Building a capabilities framework' presentation slides 

Skills, knowledge and values in youth voter activism: An informal civic education case study

Speaker: Laura Weiner, PhD researcher at MHSES, University of Edinburgh

This presentation drew on youth perspectives of an informal learning programme case study within an American youth civic engagement organisation. The space functions as a youth activist group which provides a context for young people to develop, learn and negotiate 'activist competencies' ─ the skills, knowledge and values that drive being/becoming an activist.

Download the 'Youth voter activism' presentation slides

From gestures to the design of early learning technologies

Speaker: Professor Andrew Manches

Have you have ever wondered why you move your hands when you're talking, even when you’re on the phone? Professor Andrew Manches, Co-director of the Centre for Research in Digital Education explains why.

View a recording of Andrew Manches's presentation

Creative participatory research in practice: finding sources of inspiration

Speakers: Dr Autumn Roesch-Marsh and Dr Emma Davidson

In this seminar, Emma and Autumn discussed their interest in creative participatory methods, what inspired them in this work and how they planned to develop these methods further through the newly formed Binks Hub.

Connecting the linguistic, cognitive, and social dots in research on child bilingualism

Speaker: Antonella Sorace

In my talk I will present some of our recent research showing that linguistic and cognitive aspects of child bilingualism interact in important ways with social factors and social attitudes. Much more interdisciplinary research is needed to put together a complete picture of the effects of early bilingual experiences.

Watch the Zoom recording of Antonella Sorace's seminar

Assessing attachment representations in children and young people

Speaker: Simona Di Folco

This presentation provides an overview of the current debate around attachment measures in middle childhood and adolescence. Moreover, the current lack of research focused on the importance of child-father attachment and the implication of the absence of representation in measurement will be examined.

Watch the Zoom recording of Simona Di Folco's seminar  

Download Simona's presentation

Youth data: Past, present and future 

Speaker: Vernon Gayle

In this presentation we outline a potential blue print for collecting data on young people that is suitable for contemporary high-quality social science research.

Download Vernon Gayle's presentation

Knowledge exchange and impact with children and young people in action research

Speaker: Claire Houghton

Ethical dilemmas in participatory research

Speaker: Lesley McCara

Moving online: learnings from involving children and young people through social media

Speaker: Kay Tisdall

Deaf researchers as co-enquirers 

Speakers: Rachel O'Neill, Kieran Gemmel

Social media and migrant children

Speaker: Sumin Zhao

Gatekeepers or facilitators: navigating consent with young people in specific contexts

Speaker: Emily Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, School of Health in Social Science

Young people creating a mentally healthy society

Speakers: Christina McMellon (University of Edinburgh) and Isla Jamieson Mackenzie (TRIUMPH Youth Advisory Group)

The presentation shared findings and reflections from TRIUMPH Fest, an event for over 60 young mental health researchers and activists including the outputs from a workshop exploring the concept of a ‘mentally healthy society’.  

Download the presentation slides

Youth work as initial mental health support for children and young people across Scotland and England

Speakers: Andie Reynolds (University of Edinburgh) and Alison Ni Charraighe (Northumbia University, Newcastle)

Youth work as a profession is arguably well placed to provide much needed initial mental health support to young people, and youth workers already have many of the necessary skills needed to meet current demand. However, youth work is often overlooked in policy and service provision reforms that aim to address young people’s mental health. This presentation discussed the initial results from a survey of a sample of Youth Work professionals in Central Scotland and the North-East of England that aims to identify the range of mental health issues youth workers are currently supporting young people with, and to highlight training needs of workers to support them in this work.

Download the 'Youth Work' presentation slides

'I thought I was normal': Meanings of weight and bodies in children: Preliminary ‎findings of a qualitative study in Santiago, Chile

Speaker: Cecilia Prieto Bravo (University of Edinburgh)

In Chile, 54.1% of children are classified as overweight or obese. However, there is a limited understanding of children's experiences with their weight and how these experiences might inform public health policy in Chile. Through interviews with children aged 10-12 and their mothers, I found that children's meanings of growth and weight have been affected by medicalisation processes (surveillance and monitoring at the clinics), interactions in the family context and peers (discrimination and victimisation), and their own body experiences.

Download the 'I thought I was normal' presentation slides

Exploring views and understanding of wellbeing and harm in children’s competitive sport: Reflections from a youth rugby club

Speaker: Ruth Barnes (University of Edinburgh)

Children’s participation in competitive sport can be hugely beneficial to health and wellbeing, bringing positive physical and development outcomes, satisfaction and happiness. At the same time, there is increasing awareness and discussion of wellbeing risks associated with sport, including non-accidental harms and maltreatment, painful injury and excessive exertion. My doctoral research focuses on a contact sport, rugby, exploring children, parents’ and coaches’ constructions of wellbeing and harm in a context in which some may consider physical pain inevitable, not necessarily unacceptable and perhaps even contributory to positive wellbeing.

Download the 'Youth rugby club' presentation slides

Manifesto making with young people: environmental politics in education

Speakers: Lynda Dunlop (University of York) and Lizzie Rushton (IOE & UCL)

In the conclusion of COP26, education and environment ministers committed to the integration of sustainability and climate change in formal education systems, but what might this look like, what processes might be appropriate for identifying educational futures, and what is obstructing action in this area?  This seminar - based on the 2021 BERA Research Commission on Education for Environmental Sustainability - will present a manifesto-making process for understanding what young people see as priorities for environmental sustainability education, and specifically will explore the place for politics and civic participation in relation to environmental issues in educational contexts.

Download the 'Manifesto with young people' presentation slides