Past Projects

Children in the Gulf are contributing to future policies and programs to support safe technology use by sharing how they use digital media, the effects on their mental wellbeing, and why they take risks online.

How is technology impacting the rights of young people? Together with our partners, we’re consulting 709 children in 27 countries to answer this in a General Comment for the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child.

Mount Druitt Working for Children Living Lab Exploring ways to increase child-friendly practices among services and engaging the voices of children and the community in decision making.

We're working with 318 children across 12 countries to understand what digital play and wellbeing means to them. The report aims to inform the design of digital products and services used by children, as well as the laws that govern them. It includes a wellbeing framework for children, made up of eight child-centric wellbeing outcomes.

More than 700 children and young people, from 18 countries, are calling on political leaders and public and private-sector stakeholders to work across all levels of society to strengthen food systems. Find out what they have to say about food systems, the key challenges to eating nutritious, safe, desirable, and sustainable food, and the improvements they feel are necessary for the 21st century. Their voices and the findings of this project will contribute to the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) in 2021, presented as part of UNICEF’s global Food Systems Dialogues with children.

A series of youth consultations have been conducted to develop the eSafety Commissioner’s Youth Engagement Strategy. The Strategy ensures young people have a right to be part of the decision-making process for policies and programs that impact their lives.

Who do young people contact first when they face mental health challenges and how do they support each other? This research examines the role of friendships in mental health care and how young people support each other when facing mental health challenges.

Forty Parliamentarians (aged 9-12 years old), from the Liverpool local government area, are actively engaging in civic life by increasing their knowledge and understanding of their rights and responsibilities. In turn, our team is reflecting on the Program’s and its potential.

This project is designed to provide an in-depth picture of Australian migrants who care about the environment, how they came to do so, and what these practices of care constitute in terms of a) everyday practices; b) activities during environmental catastrophes such as bushfires.

What sparks violence? We are working with children and adults to gather their views on violence; what needs to change, who needs to change it, and how we can measure and end violence against children.

Children in Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya and Tanzania are informing UNICEF’s Disrupting Harm survey tool by sharing their experiences with digital technology experiences and online safety.

Our team is working with Youth Action to gather the views of youth services directors, managers and youth workers. This snapshot of the youth sector informs policies, and advocates for the value of these services.

This project explored what Covid-19 lockdowns were like for LGBTQIA+ young people and the role social media plays in their health and wellbeing.

Our team is designing the methodology and analysing the results for the State of the World’s Children report, in partnership with UNICEF. Mother and adolescents from 18 countries share their food and nutrition experiences.

Australian young people explain their key motivations for taking part in the Global Climate Strike protest, sharing their expectations of how climate change can be addressed, and informing public and policy debate.

What issues concern young people in Australia? How do these relate to mainstream political debates? What can politicians and other decision-makers learn from young people? Young people have submitted more than 24,500 essays to the Whitlam Institute, answering these questions and more. We’re reviewing their responses to ‘What Matters?’