Conference on interdisciplinary research with children, young people and families

A conference on interdisciplinary research with children, young people and families was hosted by Prof John Horton and Dr Faith Tucker on 7th September. 

Prof John Horton

Dr Faith Tucker

The conference, which was attended by academics from places as diverse as New Zealand, Sweden and Cumbria, provided an opportunity for people to share their research.  The audience comprised geographers, social workers, youth workers, educationalists, planners, sociologists, nurses and those working in local authorities.

A key note speech was delivered by Prof Claire Freeman of the University of Otago.  She spoke about the joys, confrontations and challenges of interdisciplinary working.

Research on water and energy issues in Brazil

John Horton has been awarded two ESRC grants to develop interdisciplinary research collaborations between UK-based Social Scientists and Brazilian Engineering Scientists. The projects will focus on children and young people’s everyday experiences of water and energy issues in São Paulo State.

Meeting community groups

Visiting one of the field sites

To launch this two-year programme of work, John travelled with the project’s Principal Investigator (Prof Peter Kraftl, University of Birmingham) to visit São Paulo state during January.

The trip involved a range of presentations, impact workshops, community visits, and fascinating fieldtrips to key sites relating to water and energy issues in the region. More information will follow in future blog posts.

Dr John Horton finds out about the everyday lives of children in India

Dr. John Horton has just returned from a trip to India as part of the ESRC-funded New Urbanisms in India research project. This major, three year project aims to explore the everyday lives of children and young people living in contexts of rapid urban development in India. John receives funding to act as mentor to the project’s Principal Investigator (Dr. Sophie Hadfield-Hill) and postdoctoral research assistant (Dr. Cristiana Zara), who are both based at the University of Birmingham.

Highlights of the trip included:

• participatory workshops with children and young people from very diverse backgrounds in and around the newly-built city of Lavasa;
• presentations and dissemination events at the National Institute of Urban Affairs (Delhi), CEPT University (Ahmedabad), and with staff and students from Universal College of Engineering (Mumbai);
• a very moving visit to the NGO Humara Bachpan (‘Our Childhood’) which supports children and families living in acute urban poverty – children led the research team on a guided walk of one of Delhi’s largest areas of slum housing;
• an inspiring visit to Riverside School in Ahmedabad – HQ of the Design for Change programme, which seeks to empower children and ‘give them an opportunity to express their own ideas for a better world and put them into action’.

Children and adults working together on a mapping project in a government school near Lavasa

It was a fantastic and fascinating trip. For more information about the New Urbanisms in India research project see http://www.new-urbanism-india.com/ 

Dr John Horton (and friends!)

Adventure Bears and the great outdoors...

Dr John Horton, Dr Faith Tucker and Dr Michelle Pyer recently hosted a conference on ‘The Great Outdoors? Children, Young People and Families in Natural and Rural Spaces’.

The conference provided an opportunity for academics from a range of disciplines (including geography, education, law and psychology) to share their research.  The conference attracted researchers from as far afield as Ohio and Wollongong.

Topics discussed included the commodification of woodlands, walking as a way of connecting with nature, Forest Schools, and outdoor playspace.  Prof Helen Lomax (Institute for Health and Wellbeing) gave a workshop on using visual methods to explore children’s use of outdoor spaces.  Tracy Hayes (University of Cumbria) ran a session on using story-telling as a means of exploring connections to nature.  Tracy explained how she uses 'adventure bears' to encourage children to talk about their experiences.

The ‘adventure bears’ used by Tracy Hayes (University of Cumbria)
as a means of encouraging story-telling