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CASE Social Exclusion Seminars

"We have to be heard and considered experts of life in care...ASK US!": Co-designing participatory research with alternative care-experienced children and young people worldwide

Chrissie Gale (School of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde)

Wednesday 10 June 2026 12:30 - 13:30


This event is both online and in person

SAL 3.05, 3rd Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH


About this event

This is a hybrid event, with an option to join the seminar in-person at the LSE, or virtually. The speaker will present in-person. The 196 UN member states that have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child have an obligation to comply with its provisions. This includes Article 12, which affirms children?s right to have their opinions listened to and taken seriously. This seminar examines an ongoing study that foregrounds this right among care-experienced children and young people in low- and middle-income countries through their active participation in research. The study aims to co-develop relevant participatory research methods with care-experienced children and young people that will enable their voices in to be heard, and their views and opinions inform the design of national alternative care legislation, policy, and service provision. Particular emphasis is placed on generating evidence to support the development of care settings that uphold children?s human rights and promote well-being. To date, the study has included desk-based reviews and published analyses considering the measurement of well-being, the extent and nature of care-experienced children and young people?s participation in research, differing levels of engagement, and associated ethical considerations. It also involved the co-development and piloting of qualitative participatory research methods with children and young people transferred across diverse socio-economic and cultural contexts in eight countries and undertaken in partnership with national universities. This seminar outlines the study?s progress and findings so far and considers its future directions. Chrissie Gale has over 30 years? experience in international child protection, combining academic work with senior roles at organisations including UNICEF, UNHCR, UNRWA, Save the Children and Oxfam. She previously led the international work of the Centre for Excellence for Children?s Care and Protection (CELCIS) at the University of Strathclyde and is now a Senior Honorary Research Fellow there, with an additional affiliation at ASH University in Berlin. Her work focuses on child rights, social policy and child protection systems, particularly for children without parental care and those affected by conflict and migration.

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