A wealth of social science research expertise has helped Cardiff become the UK's first UNICEF Child Friendly City (CFC).
The prestigious status has been awarded to the city in recognition of the steps Cardiff Council and its partners, including Cardiff University, have taken over the past five years to advance the human rights of children and young people across the city.
Originally, Cardiff Council and its partners joined the UK Committee for UNICEF's (UNICEF UK) Child Friendly Cities & Communities programme in 2017 as part of a pioneering cohort.
Since then, the Council has been implementing strategies to embed children's rights – as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – into its policies and services. Expertise from groups within Cardiff University's Social Science Research Park has played a key role in shaping Cardiff's Child Friendly Strategy.
SPARK, based on Cardiff Innovation Campus, is home to internationally-leading research on children, childhood and wellbeing, including health behaviours (DECIPHer), mental health (Wolfson Centre for Young People's Mental Health), schooling (WISERD), social care (CASCADE), employability and skills (ADR Wales), international comparative studies of children's subjective wellbeing (WISERD Education Data Lab), and numerous centres of excellence on particular needs (Centre for Human Developmental Science) such as autism and ADHD.
Professor Wendy Larner, President and Vice-Chancellor, Cardiff University, said: "Clinching the UK's first Child Friendly City is a hugely well-deserved accolade for Cardiff Council after years of dedicated, evidence-based campaigning. We are delighted Cardiff University was able to play its part in the bid for CFC status. Our shared knowledge and expertise allowed us to act as both advisors and bridge-builders in the bid for CFC status."
Professor Chris Taylor, Academic Director of SPARK, said: "Child Friendly City status for Cardiff is fantastic news. SPARK has lived up to its name by igniting opportunities to better link all social science research on children and young people together by working more closely with clinicians, practitioners, policy makers and community organisations.
"Many of these research centres have been supporting Child Friendly Cardiff for some years, and researchers in WISERD are just completing an international study of Child Friendly Cities. Above all, we are delighted that the Child Friendly Cardiff team are based alongside us in SPARK, which facilitates even greater collaboration with researchers."
