Child in the City Dublin 2022 – who are our expert speakers?

Published on 09-09-2022 at 10:59

In just a few weeks’ time we will be welcoming you to our flagship Child in the City World Conference 2022 – and it promises to be an outstanding event for sharing knowledge and expertise.

Making Connections is the theme for our 10th anniversary conference, being held for the first time in the beautiful city of Dublin from October 5-7.

We’ve already told you a little about two of the expert speakers lined up for you, Dr Carol Barron & Professor Helen Woolley, who are due to present on day one in Dublin. But what else can you expect?

Our third keynote speaker will be Carlo Fabian (pictured below), Professor and Head of the Institute of Social Work and Health, at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. A respected author of various papers, his main focus includes health & quality of life, health promotion and prevention, city/neighbourhood/social space and health, and social & evaluation research.

Given the theme of the conference is Making Connections, it is fitting that Professor Fabian’s presentation is entitled ‘Connecting children’s participation to urban policies’.

Many cities all over the world, he will say, are developing policies to ensure that the voice of the child is being heard, and there are different ways and approaches for doing this. Key issues to consider in such approaches are practical and methodological approaches, attitudinal issues around participation, ethical issues, and democracy-related issues’.

‘Ensuring the voice of the child is heard’

Professor Fabian will say that it is worth taking a closer look at these topics, as they are the basis for ‘not only listening to the voice of children, but also integrating it into concrete development and implementations’. Further relevant aspects will also be highlighted by a project which has been carried out in Switzerland.

But our line up of experts does not stop there, with Prof Fabian’s presentation on day two in Dublin following the planned Parallel Session 3, where delegates can choose from a series of specific topics on which there will be separate break-out sessions. These are:

Connecting children’s participation to urban policies: With Carol Barron, along with Katherine Harford, Manager of Let’s Grow Together, Ireland; Patrick Meehan, from Northumbria University; Anastasia Yrkevich, architect at Afa Landscape Architect Bureau; and Maria Sokolova, Consultant in designing children’s play environments at Afa
Connecting the present with the past: With Jodie Lees, of Sudbury Hall & The Museum of Childhood; and Anne Bakker, of Stichting de Speelbasis, The Netherlands
Connecting green and play: With Roxanne van Ginneken, of Commune de Forest, Belgium; Beth Cooper, of Timberplay/Richter Spielgeräte, UK; Gaja Trbizan, of Drustvo Pazilpark, Slovenia; and Anton Nijholt, of the University of Twente, The Netherlands
Connecting health and play: With Silvia Veiga-Seijo, of Queen Margaret University Edinburgh & University College Cork, Ireland; Jacinta Gomes, Florinhas do Vouga, Portugal; and Elida Dimitra Kalpogianni, of PLAYING, Greece
Re-connecting children to society during and after COVID-19: With Nina Maadad, Australia; Cheery Morgan, of Play Scotland; Letizia Montalbano, sociologist, and Elena Pagliarino, Italy.

None of this would be possible, of course, without the participation of many organisations, so our thanks go to Dublin City Council and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The conference programme has been put together by the Child in the City Foundation and its Scientific Programme Committee.

Have you booked your place? Visit the conference website for more information.

Follow our updates on the website and also on Twitter @Childinthecity1 or under the hashtag #childinthecitydublin2022