Summer of Research: From the Research Community

The Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth (CIRCY), invites you to a special panel event as part of the University of Sussex ‘Summer of Research’ that will address the challenge of how society talks about young people.

The language surrounding young people can often be highly stigmatising and judgemental – including phrases such as ‘risky’, ‘anti-social’ or ‘challenging behaviour’. This can be highly alienating for young people, and often perpetuates a distance between young people and wider society. Such issues can be further compounded for young people from minoritized backgrounds, who are often further stigmatised based on ‘race’ or social class.

This special event brings together a panel of experts to reflect on the following key questions:

• What does language tell us about the way society values, and has empathy for, young people?
• How can we challenge and disrupt ways of talking about young people that vilify and excludes them?
• How can we develop a more empathetic and supportive language around young people?

Our invited panel will represent a range of expertise, drawing on professional and personal experiences of young people’s lives. They will include:

• Prof Kristi Langhoff – Professor of Social Work and project lead for the AHRC ‘Imagining Resistance’ project developing collaborative methods with young people.
• Dr Liat Levita – Reader in Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience whose work focuses on young people’s wellbeing throughout their development.
• Beverley Barnett-Jones – Associate Director at the Nuffield Family Justice Observator

The event will be chaired by Dr Liam Berriman, Director of CIRCY

Please register your attendance here!

Further details: 

• Getting to Sussex 
• Parking on campus: P7 Jubilee multi-storey car park 
• Finding Jubilee 144 

Any further questions, please get in touch via CIRCYadmin@sussex.ac.uk