News & Events

Registration Now Open | UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre 12th Biennial International Conference | 11-12th June 2026

Date Released: 13 November 2025

Across research, policy and practice, youth participation in decision-making is widely accepted as a core principle. While participatory and co-production mechanisms are in place, many have been criticised as consultative or sometimes tokenistic in nature. The extent to which young people are fully engaged as partners remains a challenge. In response to a call from UNESCO (2023) member states were tasked to, “[t]ake existing youth arrangements to the next level, create new opportunities and arrangements where they do not yet exist and ensure that youth participation is effectively resourced”. A central focus of this conference will be on power and influence, to explore the ways in which meaningful youth engagement is understood, actioned and evidenced. Participants will be invited to chart the next steps in developing pathways for impact in their everyday practice, based on genuine power-sharing with young people.

In practice, youth participation is supported through a range of structures, processes and methods across formal and informal settings including youth work, education, child protection and welfare and youth justice services among others. Across these settings, areas for exploration include context-specific approaches (e.g. working with different population groups); systems and institutional factors and types of participation models (e.g. co-produced or youth-led). As a future facing conference, it will identify gaps and challenges in existing participatory strategies and methodologies and identify, highlight and promote sustainable practices.

Key insights and participant perspectives from the conference will be disseminated and utilised to inform future direct engagement with policymakers, practitioners and other key audiences.

Conference themes include:

Adultism, power imbalances and resistance to youth participation.
Barriers to participation (incl. structural, cultural, language and other challenges).
Benefits and impact of meaningful youth participation.
Ethical issues (incl. the risk of harm) and the role of adult allies.
Equity (incl. knowledge equity), access and inclusion.
Proven methodologies and approaches to measuring youth participation.

For regular updates and registration visit the conference website.

Important Dates:

End of registration at a reduced fee: April 30th 2026