The Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth (CIRCY) is a pan-university research centre at the University of Sussex, with a membership that spans social sciences, arts, humanities, psychology, and professional fields including social work, law, education and health.

CIRCY’s research is innovative, interdisciplinary and international in scope, and aims to reflect and address real world concerns whilst developing new academic understandings. Our diverse research and scholarship are united by a critical engagement with children and young people’s lives in time and place, and a focus on the rights, voice and welfare of the child or young person at the centre of inquiry. Considered together, the critical and multidisciplinary perspectives offered by CIRCY projects and outputs enrich understandings of childhood and youth within the fields of research, policy, and practice.

In addition to its University of Sussex membership, CIRCY benefits from an international advisory group which includes academics and policy and professional experts in the field of childhood and youth. CIRCY is directed by Michelle Lefevre and Liam Berriman, who are supported by a steering group from across the university.

Research within the Centre is conducted within the themes (i) Childhood Publics; (ii) ‘Good Childhoods’ and (Extra)ordinary Children; (iii) Emotional Lives; (iv) Digital Childhoods; (v) Methodological Innovation.

Our aim is to create a space for dialogue, collaboration, creativity and capacity-building - supporting new research and knowledge exchange. CIRCY provides a stimulating environment for doctoral students working in the area of childhood, youth and family studies and a destination for visiting academics and opinion formers.