Centre staff members have a particular expertise in international human rights law and its activities will be founded upon evidence informed and evidence based research on issues which impact on children and childhood, locally, nationally and internationally.
The CRC provides opportunities for cross-sector collaboration in education, health, law, migration, mountain studies, rural policy and sustainable economies.
The Centre is a Key Institution within Childwatch International, a global network collaborating in child research for the purpose of promoting child rights and improving their well-being around the world.
A project Professor Wallace and Karen Wylie previously worked on has culminated in the adoption by the Council of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (www.iarlj.org) of Guidelines on the Judicial Approach to Expert medical Evidence.
The Guidelines are designed to assist those responsible for decision making in the refugee determination process, particularly in cases involving allegations of torture. This project was partially funded by the Nuffield Foundation. See the Guidelines here.
Professor Wallace recently received a grant from the Nuffield Foundation to critically evaluate the content and employment of country of origin information (COI) in claims from minors in the UK refugee determination process. Karen Wylie is the Research Assistant on this 6-month project.
PhD Applications
Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates who wish to pursue a PhD by research in a topic falling within the Centre’s acknowledged and developing areas of specialism. These include migration, trafficking, immigration, juvenile justice, restorative practice, health and education with a particular focus on the rural dimension.
If you are interested please email the Centre’s Director, Professor Rebecca Wallace or call her on 01738 877474 or 01738 877506.
Oak Foundation
The Centre has been awarded funding from the Oak Foundation to undertake a research and learning project in West Bengal, India. The two year project, ‘Protection against vulnerability: What works – the Indian experience’, will address some of the challenges surrounding the recovery and (re)integration into society of children and young people affected by sexual exploitation and trafficking in West Bengal.
The project was designed after Claire Cody, the Oak Fellow based at the Centre, visited West Bengal in September 2010. On her visit Claire met with a number of practitioners who work directly with children affected by exploitation and trafficking. During the trip particular areas where practitioners were struggling to understand, or respond effectively to specific challenges or issues children and young people face in their recovery were identified.
The key areas identified as requiring further research surrounded vocational training and livelihood support for young people and their families; psychosocial and community-based support; and knowledge surrounding the exploitation of boys. The project will therefore explore these areas in more depth.
The project, starting in January 2011, will review and analyse current work and thinking in these areas; work with families, communities, practitioners and other stakeholders to reflect on the challenges; design in partnership with others pilot projects to support children and their families; and implement a number of pilot projects which will be monitored and evaluated. In order to achieve this, the Centre will work closely with researchers and practitioners based in India. The final stages will focus on communicating and disseminating the learning from the project globally to a wide audience. In order to influence future policy and practice in the field, this audience will include policy makers, funders and practitioners.
This study complements the current work of the Oak Fellow which is to develop and strengthen knowledge and learning on recovery and (re)integration globally for children affected by sexual exploitation and trafficking.