Panel Event Invitation: Rethinking Youth Climate Activism

We warmly invite you to an important and timely panel conversation exploring the complexities of youth climate activism across diverse global contexts. This event brings together five leading scholars whose research with young people in Portugal, Australia, Scotland, and England critically examines how climate justice is experienced, represented, and enacted.

• Dr Kevin Ardron is Head of Subject Area for Education, Children & Young People at Northumbria University, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Qualified Teacher.
• Dr Maria Fernandes-Jesus is an Assistant Professor in the School of Psychology, University of Sussex.
• Dr Callum McGregor is Senior Lecturer in Education and Director of the MSc Social Justice and Community Action at the University of Edinburgh
• Dr Eve Mayes is a Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Education (Research for Educational Impact) at Deakin University (Victoria, Australia).
• Dr Catherine Walker is a Research Fellow in Human Geography at Newcastle University, exploring how children, youth and key adults in their lives are experiencing and responding to environmental challenges

This panel conversation will be with four scholars who have researched with young people and climate justice in Portugal (Fernandes-Jesus), Australia (Mayes), Scotland (McGregor) and England (Walker & Ardron). Panellists will discuss and compare the tensions they feel in relation to the concept of ‘youth climate activist’ in their geographical and disciplinary contexts. This will be followed by panellists’ reflections on how affect/ emotions inflect how young people are experiencing and collectively acting for climate and social justice, with particular attention to ambivalence (Emejulu et al, 2025), uncertainty (Kirby & Webb, 2021; Stein, 2021) and refusal (Tuck & Yang, 2014). The panel will conclude with discussion of the ethical and pedagogical responsibilities and obligations of researchers and pedagogues working with young people in the context of climate (and multiple intersecting) injustices.

This event is being hosted by The Centre of Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth (CIRCY) and Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP). Please click on this link to find more information and book a place. If you have any questions, please email circyadmin@sussex.ac.uk. 

?️ Date: Monday 9 September 2025 

? Location: Room BH-255, Bramber House, University of Sussex or via Zoom Webinar 

?️ Booking: Please reserve your place via the link below:
? https://www.tickettailor.com/events/circy/1787243

Many thanks, 

The CIRCY team

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By: Eve Wilcox
Last updated: Thursday, 21 August 2025