Children's perspectives around the world and at home. The WONDRE project from ICSJ hosted an international conference

On September 18–19, 2025, the 2nd International Conference on Children and Youth Perspectives took place in Prague, organized by our WONDRE project team with the support of ICSJ. The two-day meeting brought together experts from 20 countries around the world and provided a space for sharing knowledge in the field of childhood and children's experiences.

Children, autonomous beings

Conference participants represented a wide range of fields, including education, media studies, social work, and law. They were united by the belief that children are not merely passive recipients of care, but diverse and autonomous beings whose experiences deserve respect and attention.

The program was opened by three internationally recognized figures:

• Macarena García-González drew attention to the injustice associated with children's experiences,
• Sarah McGeown called for openness to different methodological approaches,
• John Potter presented participatory research in which children, among other things, proposed possible forms of "human faces" for artificial intelligence.

"We are delighted that our organizing team succeeded in creating exactly what we set out to do: a meeting where people from academia and the professional field could learn from each other how to be as beneficial as possible to children in their work. The delegates came from twenty countries, but their nationalities represented an even wider part of the world. The fact that we were able to invite them to Prague in the year when the first children's ombudsman in history took office in Czechia had a special symbolic value for me," says WONDRE project manager Anežka Kuzmičová.

The conference was marked by intense discussion, collegiality, and openness. “Huge thanks to our support team and everyone who participated and contributed to the incredible vibe of mutual engagement and collegiality,” said the WONDRE project team on LinkedIn.

About the WONDRE project

WONDRE is a five-year research project funded by an ERC Starting Grant (2024–2029), led by Anežka Kuzmičová and carried out at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at Charles University’s Faculty of Social Sciences. The research focuses on children’s relationship to information and reading non-fiction.

Photo: WONDRE project