The Observatory's events

The Research Network on Children’s Human Rights hosted a second event on 1st February 2024. It took place in-person at the Scottish Universities Insight Institute in Glasgow and ran all-day. Using the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the state of children's rights in the UK as a framework for discussions, the day saw a variety of researchers sharing their work on panels and taking part in lively exchanges.

The Research Network on Children’s Human Rights

UNCRC Concluding Observations (external link)

You can email us at childrens.rights@ed.ac.uk to be put on the mailing list to hear of upcoming events.

On 26 September 2023, the Observatory hosted a panel event on the right to play in Scotland at the Storytelling centre in Edinburgh. The panel discussed what the 2023 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Concluding Observations mean for children’s right to play in Scotland, with a particular focus on ensuring all children have access to public play spaces.

UNCRC Concluding Observations (external link)

The panel was chaired by Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland Nicola Killean, with speakers including Theresa Casey (writer on play and children's rights, and past-President of the International Play Association), Marguerite Hunter Blair (Chief Executive of Play Scotland) and Natalie Don MSP (the Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise).

The event was part of the We Play festival which took place 23 September - 1 October 2023  and celebrated children's free play in Scotland in a beautiful pop-up play café combined with talks, workshops, storytelling, wellbeing activities, music and film. 

The Observatory hosted the launch of the new Research Network on Children’s Human Rights on Thursday 22^nd June 2023, in an hybrid event which took place in the Paterson’s Land building on the University of Edinburgh Holyrood campus and online.

You can find a recording of the plenary sessions at the link below.

Launch recording 

The Institute for Inspiring Children's Futures (University of Strathclyde) organised a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) course on Children’s Human Rights, in partnership with the Observatory of Children's Human Rights Scotland, Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights), the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland and the Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law. The CPD course took place in March 2022 and was led by UN Committee on the Rights of the Child member Professor Ann Skelton.

Read the course’s flyer (external website) 

Each day's discussions were summarised in blogs.

• Read the day one blog (external website)
• Read the day two blog
• Read the day three blog (external website)
• Read the day four blog (external website)
• Read the day five blog (external website)

The Observatory co-hosted a webinar titled ‘Implementing Children’s Rights in Scotland – Developing Systems of Child-Friendly Complaints, Remedy and Redress' on the 4 February 2021.

Find the recording and associated resources under the subheading 'Bringing children's rights into Scottish law'

Professor Kirsten Sandberg, University of Oslo, gave the Moray House School of Education and Sport Annual Lecture on 27 May 2020.  Professor Sandberg's lecture was followed by contributions from Mairi Macpherson, Deputy Director for Creating Positive Futures, Scottish Government and Bruce Adamson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.

Watch the recording of Making Children's Rights Real

The Observatory was launched on 28 February 2020, alongside Together's State of Children's Rights Report 2019. Over 80 people came to the University of Edinburgh to hear about the Observatory and Together’s report, and to help the Observatory plan its priorities for making children’s rights real.

Access the launch event’s summary