Keynote speaker
|
DR JAN EICHHORN
|
Bio: Dr Jan Eichhorn is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on political attitudes and engagement with a special interest in the political participation of young people and questions about heterodox economic ideas. Jan has led the main study examining how newly enfranchised 16- and 17-year olds engaged with the Scottish independence referendum through representative data. Building on this work, he has collaborated with researchers in many countries to advance our understanding of how Votes-at-16 can be developed successfully. The resulting book “Lowering the Voting Age to 16: Learning from Real Experiences Worldwide”, co-edited with Johannes Bergh, brings together the collective expertise from countries that have seen an expansion of the franchise to younger voters. Additionally, Jan has co-founded a not-for-profit, independent and non-partisan think tank, d|part, based in Berlin that aims to improve political participation in practice. His research has informed public debates extensively with Jan contributing to many broadcasters in various countries (such as the BBC, CNN or ZDF) as well as his work being featured in many news outlets (including The Guardian, Vice, Le Monde, El País, DER SPIEGEL amongst many others). Using his research Jan has also briefed various public institutions (including the UK Government and Parliament, the Scottish Government, the German Government and the European Commission) as well as a wide variety of civil society organizations and youth groups.Session: Access to information is a distinctive right in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and it surely underpins many other rights including education, participation and safety. Now that the original hopes for the internet – all the world’s information at our fingertips – have been betrayed, Sonia will discuss evidence-based ways to support young citizens.
Session: This talk will place the challenges of citizenship education in a digital world in the broader context of political change. We will discuss how youth political engagement continues offline – and when online engagement enables critical thinking. Furthermore, we will explore which challenges are specific to young people and which reflect general societal changes.
Workshops
|
Workshop #1
|
Bio: Gemma is an experienced primary teacher with a passion for leveraging Artificial Intelligence to enhance education. She has
written extensively on AI in schools, as well as inclusion and equality in education. Passionate about gender equality, anti-racism, and building critical thinking in pupils, Gemma is committed to empowering teachers with innovative tools and fostering a more equitable and accessible learning environment for all pupils.
Session: Discover practical strategies for primary teachers to integrate AI tools into curriculum planning and resourcing, enhancing teaching efficiency across all subject areas. This session connects digital citizenship education to AI, empowering educators to prepare young learners for responsible and ethical engagement in a rapidly evolving digital world.
|
Workshop #2
|
Bio: Dr Yvonne Skipper is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology based in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. She has
published more than 30 articles and book chapters on educational psychology. She has expertise in working with partner organisations such as local education authorities, schools and charities to co-create interventions to improve educational outcomes. She is an award-winning educator, having been runner up in the UK Higher Education Psychology Teacher of the Year and winner of the Outreach Academic of the Year award. She has also received recognition of the impact of her research
through an award for Mobilising Research into Action from Emerald International. She is passionate about knowledge exchange, engagement and outreach.
Session: Misinformation is one of the greatest challenges of our time. This session will explore innovative, co-created interventions designed to help young people identify misinformation and stay safe online. Attendees will gain greater understanding of misinformation and explore tools which foster critical thinking and informed citizenship, empowering students to navigate information responsibly.
|
Workshop #3
|
Bio: Jane oversees the development and delivery of Webwise - the Irish internet safety awareness centre. Within her 8 years, Jane has led the development of a range of award-winning internet safety programmes for children, parents, teachers and schools. McGarrigle also has responsibility for the coordination and promotion of Safer Internet Day in Ireland. She sits on the Steering Committee of Media Literacy Ireland, is an active member of the Insafe network and recently sat on the Department of Education Anti-Bullying Steering Committee and the National Advisory Council for Online Safety.
Session: Empowering learners to safely and ethically navigate algorithms and GEN AI. This session will explore the benefits and challenges of AI, social media algorithms, and look at strategies to foster critical thinking. Participants will gain an understanding of how social media algorithms work, their impact on young people and how to effectively evaluate information online.
|
Workshop #4
|
Bio: Harriet founded The Politics Project in 2015 to develop creative and interactive programmes that help young people to use their voice. She is a graduate of the University of Manchester where she studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. At university she discovered her love of youth democratic education and has been talking to young people about politics ever since. Prior to founding The Politics Project she worked for a variety of organisations in formal education and youth and community work, including UpRising, DebateMate, the Tutor Trust, NCS and Manchester Creative Studio. Harriet is a core fellow of the Political Literacy Oversight Group set up by the APPG on Democratic Engagement and is a fellow of the RSA.
Session: This workshop will explore and support teachers in using digital dialogues and other activities involving political contact to develop student capacity for digital citizenship and democratic learning.
|
Workshop #5
|