My name is Aalto, and I served as one of the volunteers at the First International Child and Family conference hosted at the University of Bristol on 17-19 June 2025. In this post I will be sharing a few of my highlights from the conference.
Reflections on the presentations and panel sessions
Firstly, I very much enjoyed the interesting keynotes and wide range of panel discussions and workshops from academics from so many different parts of the world. It was wonderful attending presentations from scholars whose work I have read (and re-read) since I entered the childhood studies field and also learning about research that I have not been familiar with previously.
As someone in the first year of my PhD still refining my research methods, I particularly enjoyed hearing about the many innovative ways of doing research with children and young people and having rich conversations with others on creative and arts-based research.
I also had the honour of chairing two panel sessions. It was really interesting hearing the presentations as well as the questions and discussion that followed. I was additionally pleased to connect with some of the speakers and attendees during the lunch breaks for further discussion.
Moreover, I want to mention here that I appreciated the feedback around how to make these sessions accessible and inclusive to everyone in the room acknowledging that people will have different needs and abilities, and this is certainly something I will take away with me for any future sessions I will have an opportunity of chairing.
Connecting with others
The breaks for coffee/tea and lunch provided great opportunities for networking and further connecting with others. It was wonderful reuniting with old friends and colleagues and making many new connections.
I particularly enjoyed having conversations with colleagues that were sparked by my PhD research topic focusing on young people’s views of physical punishment in Zimbabwe. This at times raised a lot of conversation about people’s views on the topic across different contexts in the world.
Hopefully, this conference will not be the last, and next time I will be able to share some more insights from my research.
Of course, I could not speak about highlights without mentioning the conference dinner on Tuesday – not forgetting the dancing to Afrobeats at the end of the evening!
Final takeaways
Although there would be so much more to say, most importantly I have left the conference feeling inspired. The presentations and discussions over the three days have given me a lot of food for thought and exposed me to new ways of thinking about different topics. It has also reminded me of the very real impact that research can have in the lives of children, families and communities.
Lastly, I would like to thank my supervisor Afua Twum-Danso Imoh, my second supervisor Vicky Sharley, and the rest of the organisers for this amazing opportunity.
Thank you also to all the attendees for coming along and sharing your research and ideas. I hope to keep these conversations going and to cross paths with many of you again.
Aalto Peltoniemi (she/her)
PhD Researcher Social Policy (ESRC funded)
School for Policy Studies
University of Bristol