The Centre for Applied Childhood Studies (University of Huddersfield)

 The Centre for Applied Childhood, Youth and Family Research is an internationally renowned centre of excellence in child and family research. It is a dynamic space for innovation in thinking and practice, contributing to policy in response to current issues affecting children, youth and families. These include domestic violence, child abuse, child and family health problems, social exclusion of young people and the improvement of services and support for children and families.

The Centre comprises an interdisciplinary team of highly regarded academics from across the University drawn from areas including social work, health, social policy, sociology, political science, psychology and education. We have undertaken a wide range of research, evaluation and development projects, working with a variety of local, national and international partners. These have included the EU FP7 COPING project concerning the needs of children of imprisoned parents, UNICEF projects to inform National Action Plans on child sexual abuse, a European-wide evaluation of children’s participation for the European Commission and a portfolio of local and national evaluations. The centre also hosts a vibrant postgraduate research community including students from overseas.

We are committed to producing research that makes a difference, which means that our work is child focused, practice based, policy relevant and has real-world impact. We are concerned with generating new knowledge and insights into child, youth and family issues, as well as working with stakeholders to make better use of knowledge and learning to inform innovation and development. We seek to involve professionals, as well as children, youth and families as research partners using innovative, creative and participatory methodologies. Through our work we create opportunities for dialogue, learning and reflection between stakeholders and to build capacity for change in organisations, communities and public service systems.