Children are the focus of numerous studies on wellbeing, yet they seldom participate in scientific research that informs interventions or health innovations in a meaningful way. This is a missed opportunity for research, for practice and for children. In this transformative project, convergence researchers, children (aged 8-12 years) and (mental) health care professionals explore three important challenges of child participation in research. Together we will co-create a roadmap towards a child research hub aiming to promote and support future participation. 

The main objective was to create a roadmap to a convergence child research hub: a transdisciplinary and cooperative network aiming to promote and support child participation in convergence research on wellbeing. The anticipated output of the project was: (a) a report on barriers and facilitators for child participation in research, (b) a design for the form and focus of a child research hub; and (c) a roadmap towards further co-creation. The roadmap was to be translated in an accessible form. 

Data collection 

We organized four activities for exploring facilitators and barriers for child participation in research on child wellbeing, with different combinations of stakeholders: 

(1) A co-creation session with 30 children on campus: How can we best invite children to participate in research? (March 14th, 2024);  

(2) A workshop for the Sophia research day for clinicians and researchers: “How children can make your work better” (April 16th, 2024);  

(3) An activity at Crooswijk of Stelten. We asked children and parents whether and/or when children should be able to decide to participate in research themselves (August 31th, 2024); 

(4) A co-creation session with the full consortium: Creating personae for future users of the child research hub (October 4th, 2024). 

After the activities, the data was summarized in a report stating the facilitators and barriers for child participation in research. This being the first step towards the consortium and roadmap.  

Consortium 

The consortium consists of a broad range of expertise on child participation. Within our consortium different visions exists on what meaningful child participation is and how to best facilitate is. These different perspectives are complementary and show the complexity of child participation in research. Our report successfully reflects this complexity. 

We build a network. Not only within our consortium, but also beyond. For example, we were asked to be in the panel of Voor de Jeugd Dag 2024, regarding a discussion on Children’s rights (September 30th, 2024). Our project finished with a network day “Meaningful child participation” (@Hefhouse), including workshops, talks and networking for professionals interested in child participation (January 27th 2025). The day was attended by 50 researchers, policymakers, clinicians, teachers and children’s rights organizations. 

Results and follow-up 

We delivered a report, including: (a) an overview on barriers and facilitators for child participation in research, (b) a design for the form and focus of a child research hub; and (c) a roadmap (see above) towards further co-creation. We created an OSF page where you can find these results. 

Going forward, we aim to continue collecting knowledge and best practices on meaningful child participation in research and sharing this with different stakeholders. We have developed a concise roadmap on meaningful child participation that aligns well with day-to-day research practice. Next steps will involve obtaining funding to further collect and spread this knowledge and best practices in a stepwise process for child participation for different stakeholders to address above mentioned barriers. This could for example be through writing a first joint (conference) paper. Moreover, to facilitate meaningful child participation more research is needed to identify means to overcome the barriers. For example, by setting up small thematic pilots in which children, researchers and professionals work together via student projects (e.g., on ethical challenges), continue sharing experiences and best practices. As such, this project served as a steppingstone towards development of a hub for empowering children’s participation in research. In addition, we can strengthen the partnerships that have been established with policymakers, educational institutions and social organizations to create broad support.