The Children’s Rights European Academic Network (CREAN) Bi-annual Conference will be dedicated to exploring the circulation of knowledge across academia, policy, practice, and children’s lived realities.
Building on previous discussions concerning education, societal impact, and collaborative research, the 2026 Conference will critically examine how knowledge is circulated and reintegrated in the lived realities of children.
As Children’s Rights and Childhood Studies continue to consolidate academically, important questions emerge regarding the relationship between research and society:
• How does knowledge circulate between academia, policy, practice, and children’s lived realities?
• Who defines what counts as valid knowledge in children’s rights?
• How can research findings move beyond academic spaces and meaningfully return to children and communities?
• How can more democratic, pluralistic, and inclusive forms of knowledge circulation be developed?
Call for posters and papers
You may submit proposals for participation in one or both of the following formats:
Posters: Knowledge Circulation in Policy and Practice
The poster session is dedicated mainly to non-academic organisations and practitioners working in the field of children’s rights, including NGOs, international and regional organisations, public authorities, and civil society actors. The session aims to showcase how academic knowledge on children’s rights is used, translated, adapted, or circulated in policy and in practice, as well as how the knowledge produced in policy and practice contributes to broader knowledge ecosystems. We welcome contributions that reflect on how organisations engage with research, integrate academic findings into their work, or generate and share knowledge from policy and practice.
Posters may present, for example:
-
knowledge produced in policy and practice;
-
grass-root initiatives informed by academic research;
-
tools, guidelines, or educational programmes developed through research-practice interaction;
-
experiences of knowledge translation between research and field contexts;
-
reflections on barriers and enablers to knowledge circulation and use.
Participants are invited to present their work through posters and supporting materials displayed in a dedicated space.
Papers: Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Research in Children’s Rights and Childhood Studies
Paper submissions are welcomed for parallel sessions dedicated to academic research in Children’s Rights and Childhood Studies, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. This track invites contributions that reflect on how knowledge is produced, circulated, translated, and potentially reintegrated into children’s lived realities, with particular attention to transdisciplinary approaches that bridge academia, policy, and practice-based knowledge. Particularly encouraged are submissions of both individual and group abstracts also related to PhD research, small-scale and large projects, that critically engage with the relationship between research, policy, and practice, and that consider the societal impact of scientific knowledge.
Papers related to the following subjects are also welcomed:
-
Ongoing, completed, or planned research projects engaging with how knowledge in Children’s Rights and Childhood Studies is produced and used;
-
Collaborative, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary research initiatives exploring processes of knowledge circulation across different contexts;
-
Methodological, theoretical, or empirical reflections on how knowledge hierarchies are formed and how more inclusive and pluralistic approaches can be developed;
-
Research on the societal impact of children’s rights knowledge, including its circulation, appropriation, and return to practice and lived realities.
Submission guidelines and timing
All summaries must be submitted before 4 September 2026. Applicants will be notified of the decision by the organising Committee by 15 September 2026.
-
Posters: Please submit a 200-word summary of the poster you wish to present, along with the preferred format of your presentation (poster format, flyers, etc.).
-
Papers: Please submit a 300-word abstract, along with three to five keywords.