Child Studies

This theme focuses on tracing the theoretical evolution and conceptual debates within childhood studies as an interdisciplinary field. It investigates how childhood has been understood as a social construct, the shift from biological to socially and culturally situated perspectives, and the implications of these shifts for research, policy, and children's rights. The theme also addresses tensions emerging from disciplinary pluralism, epistemological debates, and the rights-based focus prominent since the UNCRC. This exploration matters because it shapes how childhood is positioned within scholarly inquiry and interventions affecting children's lives globally.

This research theme foregrounds critical theoretical perspectives—such as childism and childist theology—that center children’s experiences to challenge adultist norms, power structures, and traditional representations of childhood. By positioning childhood as a site of social agency and political struggle, these approaches expand the discourse beyond mainstream childhood studies to incorporate radical social critique and ethical reimagination. Understanding these contributions is vital for advancing scholarship and practice that empower children and deconstruct systemic marginalization.

This theme explores the development and application of participatory, arts-based, and systemic research methodologies alongside applied theoretical models to study children’s experiences authentically and support their holistic development. It addresses challenges of adult filters in research involving children, methodological innovations for eliciting children's voices, and intervention models focusing on child, familial, and social ecological contexts. The theme underscores the importance of methodological rigor, ethical sensitivity, and contextualized intervention to improve child outcomes in diverse domains such as education, health, and social policy.