The Role of Academia in Promoting Child Rights
June 4-6, 2026 | Thessaloniki, Greece | Venue: International Hellenic University, Thermi Campus
General Information
Since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989 child rights have emerged as a fundamental social norm fostering an increasing activity on education and awareness raising on child rights. The aim of this trend is to cultivate a global cultural universalism on child rights intended to enhance their protection across societies. This approach is explicitly articulated in Art. 42 of the CRC whereby “states should make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known” obliging CRC State Parties to undertake all necessary measures to this end. Consequently, the discussion on effective societal strategies for building awareness about child rights and the CRC has been ongoing in scientific, political, and educational discourse.
Universities, as well-established institutions in modern societies, fulfill critical social functions that extend beyond knowledge transmission. Among these roles, higher education supports social development by fostering values, principles, and norms that uphold democracy, human rights, and active citizenship. Given that universities are key agents in the socialization of individuals, shaping their perceptions, the contribution of academia can have a multiplier effect on the social value and impact of child rights. Thus, universities are ideally positioned to promote the child rights agenda throughout society by engaging in multilevel activities —such as education, training, research, and knowledge generation— that significantly contribute to embedding a culture of child rights in society.
Considering academia’s influential role in advancing child rights, it is evident that there is substantial potential to further explore this relationship. Many human and child rights studies programs have been developed globally over the past 20 years. However the systematic integration of child rights into university teaching and practice of all academic disciplines —such as social sciences, education, business and management, applied sciences, and health sciences— can be further reinforced. A structured reflection and dialogue about the role of academia in promoting child rights could serve as a powerful platform for enhancing social awareness on child rights. This holistic approach not only enriches academic discourse but also prepares students to become informed and compassionate leaders who champion child rights in their respective fields.
Overview and Context of the Conference
International Hellenic University established in partnership with UNICEF Greece Country Office a Child Rights Centre in December 2024. The Child Rights Centres initiative builds upon the powerful role of Academia to promote and mainstream child rights in society through establishing knowledge hubs within universities that serve this purpose. In the context of this initiative, an international conference on the Role of “Academia in Promoting Child Rights” is co-organized by UNICEF Greece Country Office and International Hellenic University on June 4th and 6th 2026.
The conference aims to facilitate the exchange of international and national experiences and best practices on how academia can effectively promote and protect child rights, with a focus on diverse international perspectives. It will bring together members of the academic community, representatives from UNICEF and other United Nations agencies, child rights experts, practitioners, policymakers, officials from central and local government, various Civil Society Organizations, as well as children and young people themselves. This broad spectrum of stakeholder participation reflects the belief that every sector of society plays a vital role in upholding and fostering a culture of respect for child rights, which, over time, can drive shifts in social norms to the benefit of children.
Considering that since the adoption of the CRC child rights have emerged as an autonomous interdisciplinary scientific field, the conference is adopting this strategy to promote a comprehensive, integrated, and complementary approach to advancing child rights. For this reason, submissions relevant to the conference topic from various disciplines are encouraged such as law, sociology, philosophy, pedagogy, childhood studies, psychology, social work, political science, humanities, anthropology, health sciences, economics, demography, and information science. In addition, thematic areas of focus relevant to child rights are highly welcome such as environment and climate change, child rights and business, child rights in the digital space, gender, disability, disaster, conflict, and displacement.
Key Objectives and Themes of Conference
They include:
- Highlight the pivotal role of Academia in promoting child rights and how to place them into the academic agenda at international and national level
- Networking on academic experience in the field of child rights and sharing the model of “Child Rights Centres” implemented in Greece;
- Demonstrate the benefits of strengthening the role of Academia in promoting child rights for implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
Exchange of international good practices and experience in the areas of:
- engagement and partnerships at local and international level for the promotion of child rights;
- evidence generation with a focus on concrete examples of evidence-based policy making for children;
- integrating child rights in the university curricula; engagement of academia with the private sector and business for the promotion and protection of child rights;
Expected Outcomes of the Conference
The overarching expected outcome of the conference is to foster greater understanding about the potential that Academia has in promoting child rights to empower and support universities to strengthen the mainstreaming of child rights into their work and activities.
More specifically, the expected outcomes of the conference include:
- The publication of a conference report to be used as point of reference for the most modern “state of the art” about the role of Academia in promoting child rights;
- To provide implementable practices to the universities for integrating child rights as a cross-cutting dimension of teaching in their curricula;
- To enhance the extroversion of universities for promoting child rights through partnerships with social actors in their local environment;
- To support and empower universities to initiate, better plan, contextualize, and disseminate research activities on children that will be actively utilized in policy making;
- To provide state authorities, EU and UN agencies as well as EU University Associations with a better understanding about the role of academia in upholding child rights to channel the required focus and investments accordingly.