The theme of this year’s conference highlights the challenges that shape the living conditions and future possibilities for children and young people today – segregation and rises in disparity, climate change, war and unrest. How do young people percieve the challenges they are faced with and what strategies do they use? What can and should we do as adults and professionals to best support children and youth?
The conference invites researchers, students and practitioners who work with and for children and youth; in schools, social work, healthcare, local or regional administration as well as in politics or civil society. We aim to create an arena for knowledge exchange within and between fields, striving for a broad and dynamic program with presentations from both researchers and practitioners.
PROGRAM
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BOOK OF ABSTRACTS
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NETWORK MEETING
On Thursday afternoon, after the presentations of the day, we invited researchers active within the field of Child and Youth Studies to a network meeting.
Keynotes in English
Zsuzsa Millei is professor of Early Childhood Education at Tampere University, Finland, and currently visiting professor at the University of Gothenburg. Her research is focused on child politics in the broadest sense, viewing early childhood education as a political, intergenerational, national and global space, childhood as a political form of being, and children as political actors with rights. Zsuzsa grew up in Hungary and carried out her PhD studies in Australia, with a dissertation that applies a political and historical perspective to pre-school education. She’s also been a visiting scholar in Slovenia, Germany, Mexico, the USA, Hungary and South Africa, and her current research investigates childhoods and nationalism, Cold war childhoods and how childhoods are shaped by the climate crisis.
Practicing refusal of extremist public discourses
Research on global childhoods demonstrate well how the climate emergency, political extremism, and conflicts and wars affect children’s everyday life and actions. As the established world order - both natural and political - faces threats, there is a growing public support for far right, populist, and nationalist parties in Europe. The presentation begins to respond to the question: How can adults and professionals refuse the terms and emotions of extremist, populist and nationalist discourses to best support children and youth?
Adnan Abdul Ghani works at Save the Children Sweden as an migration thematic expert and is a member of the EU Commission Expert Group on migration, asylum and integration.
Growing up on the run. State of play on the Ukrainian crisis and challenges facing refugee children from around the world seeking protection in Europe.
If you were at last year’s conference you might already have met Adnan and know that he has an outstanding ability to convey how children are affected by war and conflict, as well as by harsh asylum laws and shortcomings in receiving countries. This year, Adnan will get us up to date on the current situation for refugee children, both in a European and Swedish perspective.
The conference is organised by the center for research in Child and Youth Studies at University West.
