Y&R showcases youth participation research methods to world experts at ICA Conference
The conference explored the contributions of communication scholarship to the study of human rights while acknowledging the impacts that critical issues such as the climate crisis, food insecurity, entrenched global inequalities, armed conflicts, threats to public safety, social exclusion and hate, have on upholding global human rights.
Throughout the conference, the Young and Resilient Research Centre (Y&R) had a presence with Postdoctoral Research Fellow Luigi Di Martino chairing the main conference session “Branded Nations and Nation Branding Across the Globe.” He also spoke at the sessions “Global Governance and Global Issues in Public Diplomacy Research” and “Online Political Activism and Social Justice” as did Associate Professor Benjamin Hanckel who spoke at the main conference session “A Conversation on Digital Youth Queer Cultures.”
Y&R also hosted a pre-conference event entitled "Amplifying Youth Participation: Engaging Children and Young People in Media and Communications Research" which aimed to facilitate dynamic and thought-provoking conversations on the potential of children’s and adolescents’ involvement in media and communications research.
The day-long event attracted an audience of over 30 attendees including world experts who listened attentively to presentations from researchers from countries as diverse as Chile, India and Morocco as they shared their knowledge of the principles behind meaningful child participation, and the practical skills and strategies required to put this into action.
Presenters at the event, in order of appearance were:
- Prof Amanda Third, Y&R Co-director (Australia) and event MC
- Assoc Prof Drew Cingel, UC Davis (USA) and CAM Chair
- Prof Manisha Pathak-Shelat, MICA (India)
- Dr Ingrida Milkaite, (Belgium)
- Dr Justine Humphry (Australia)
- Hailong Yu (China)
- Dr Catherine Page Jeffery (Australia)
- Dr Jin Lee (Australia)
- Cecilia Zhou (China)
- Rayén Condeza Dall'Orso (Chile)
- Dr Luigi Di Martino (Australia)
- Dr Katie Sutherland (Australia)
- Nahla Bendefaa (Morocco)
- Rose Lewis (Australia)
- Dr Nukte Ogun (Australia)
After the event one participant commented; “I learned a lot. I’ll definitely try to include children and adolescents as co-producers [in my research from now on].” Another attendee commented they had been equipped with “a range of inclusive research approaches that will enrich ethnographic approaches,” while another said; “[I have gained] new ways of doing research, different perspectives to think about, and great to meet people doing such important work!”
Moving forward, Y&R will leverage new connections made at the conference to provide opportunities for international researchers to collaborate, as well as and share resources and contacts to guide future work.