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Children and Young People Research Network

The Children, Young People and Social Change Research Network was created in 2013 as a focus for critical research on, for and with children and youth.

Based in the Department of Social Sciences at Edge Hill, the network also involves collaboration with academic colleagues with similar concerns and approaches across the University, in other HEIs nationally and internationally and wider stakeholder groups and communities. The network also builds on the longer term track record of research and related activity in this area undertaken by, ASK Youth: Centre for Research with Children and Young People which the current Centre succeeds.

Publications by network members

Bernadine Brady, Cormac Forkan and Lisa Moran. ‘Spaces of connection and belonging: young people’s perspectives on the role of youth cafes in their lives’Child care in practice, 24:4 (2017), pp.390-401

Tom Cockburn and Claudio Baraldi. Theorising Childhood: Citizenship, Rights and Participation (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

Dymphna Devine and Tom Cockburn. ‘Theorizing children’s social citizenship: New welfare states and inter-generational justice’Childhood, 25:2 (2018), pp.142-157.

Tom Cockburn. ‘Theorising children’s welfare citizenship’. In Lived Citizenship at the Edge of Society, edited by Hanne Warming (London: Palgrave, 2017).

Jenna Gillett-Swan and Vicki Coppock. Children’s Rights, Educational Research and the UNCRC: Past, Present and Future (Oxford: Symposium Books, 2016).

Vicki Coppock. ‘Can you spot a terrorist in your classroom? Problematising the recruitment of schools in the ‘War on Terror’Global Studies of Childhood, 4:2 (2014),

Vicki Coppock and Mark McGovern. ‘Dangerous minds: Deconstructing counter-terrorism discourse, radicalisation and the ‘psychological vulnerability’ of Muslim children and young people in Britain’Children and Society, 28: 3 (2014), pp.242-256,

Victoria Foster and Alys Young. ‘Reflecting on participatory methodologies: research with parents of babies requiring neonatal care’International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 18:1 (2015), pp.91-104. 2015.

Sheila Garrity, Lisa Moran, Caroline McGregor and Carmel Devaney. ‘An informed pedagogy of community, care and respect for diversity: evidence from a qualitative evaluation of early years’ services in the West of Ireland’Child care in practice. 23:3 (2017), pp.305-321.

Lorraine Green. Understanding the Life Course: Sociological and Psychological Perspectives (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016. 2nd edn).

Lorraine Green and Karen Clark. Social Policy for Social Work: Placing Social Work in its Wider Context (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016).

Lorraine Green. ‘The trouble with touch? New insights and observations on touch for social work and social care’British Journal of Social Work, 47 (2017), pp.773-792.

Mike Hartill. Sexual Abuse in Youth Sport: a Sociocultural Analysis (London: Routledge. 2016).

Melanie Lang and Mike Hartill (eds). Safeguarding, Child Protection and Abuse in Sport: International Perspectives in Research, Policy and Practice (London: Routledge, 2015).

Mike Hartill. ‘Exploring narratives of boyhood sexual subjection in sport’. Sociology of Sport Journal 31:1 (2014), pp.23-43

Sally Hester. ‘Answering questions instead of telling stories: everyday breaching in a family meal’Journal of Pragmatics, 102 (2016), pp.54-66, 2016.

Sally Hester and Allison Moore. ‘Understanding children’s participation through an Eliasian Lens: habitus as a barrier to children’s everyday participation rights’International Journal of Children’s Rights, 26:3 (2018), pp. 446-467)

Sally Hester and Allison Moore. ‘Reflections from the classroom: towards a radical pedagogy for early years practitioners’Global Studies of Childhood, 6:1 (2016), pp.155-166

Melanie Lang. “None of the kids are allowed to eat junk at the pool: Discourses of ‘optimal’ nutrition in competitive youth swimming and the impact on athlete welfare’. International Journal of Sport and Society: Annual Review, 5 (2015), pp. 11-22.

Melanie Lang. ‘Touchy subject: A Foucauldian analysis of coaches’ perceptions of adult-child touch in youth swimming’. Sociology of Sport Journal. 32:1 (2015), pp. 4-21.

Mike Hartill and Melanie Lang. ‘Reports of child protection and safeguarding concerns in sport and leisure settings: an analysis of English Local Authority data between 2010 and 2015’. Leisure Studies, 2018.

Allison Moore and Paul Reynolds. Childhood and Sexuality: Contemporary Issues, Debates and Controversies(London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

Allison Moore. ‘Every generation gets the vampire it needs: children’s vampire films and constructions of childhood in the 21st century’. In Growing Up with the Undead: Vampires in the 20th- and 21st-Century Literature, Films and Television for Young Children, edited by Simon Bacon (Montreal: Universitas Press, 2017), pp.183-199.

Allison Moore. ‘”Not a child. Not old. Not a boy. Not a girl”: representing childhood in Let the Right One In’. In Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity, edited by Simon Bacon and Leo Ruickbie (Oxford: Interdisciplinary Press, 2016)

Nora Roarty, John Leinster, Caroline McGregor, Carmel Devaney and Lisa Moran. ‘Outcomes for permanence and stability for children in long term care in Ireland’. Foster 5 (2018), pp.52-62. 2018.

Paul Reynolds and Allison Moore. Talking About Consent: A Study of the Use and Effectiveness of Consent Talks by Students’ Unions in Universities: A Case Study of Edge Hill University (2015-2016) A Collaborative Report with Edge Hill Students’ Union (Ormskirk: Edge Hill University, 2017).

Daniel Sage. Young People at Risk: Challenges and Policy Options for the UK (Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2016).

Zana Vathi and Russell King. Return Migration and Psychosocial WellbeingDiscourses, Policy-Making and Outcomes for Migrants and their Families (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017).

Zana Vathi. ‘A (home)land with a sea: the leisure and tourism in the Western Balkans of Kosovan migrants and their children living in London’Leisure Studies, 34:1 (2015), pp.82-97.

Zana Vathi. ‘Identification of Albanian-origin teenagers in Thessaloniki and the role of ethnicity: a multiscalar perspective’Global Studies of Childhood, 2018.