Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥

When we, as organisers of the conference, considered the theme of the conference, the war in Ukraine was almost daily in the news, as well as the increasing racism and the challenges of immigrants from, for example, African countries crossing the Mediterranean. Moreover, the ill-being of young people due to the COVID-19 pandemic was discussed. Soon, the war in Gaza started. In Finland, the survival of Eastern Finland cities and communities was also in the news after the border to Russia was closed. In short, the national and global situation seemed rather hopeless. 

Such a gloomy situation can be considered fruitful for social scientific research, which often has societal problems and challenges as its starting point. However, we decided that we want to have a conference where problems are not the primary interest. Instead, we decided to focus, in keynote speaker Professor Amy Shuffleton’s words, on a hopeful view of the future after disappointments. She deliberated philosophical and historical perspectives on education and her talk ‘Resilience and Education: Lessons from Rousseau and Shelley’, influenced by novel Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and author Mary Shelley’s work. She argued how ‘happy childhoods’, depicted in progressive education, and resilience grow in the face of loss. Thus, educational relationships and hope amidst disaster are possible and needed to overcome disappointments without descending into despair. 

It was also very important that Professor Tatek Abebe’s plenary challenged us to think beyond the framework of Western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic social contexts. He addressed ‘Commoning Childhood, Care, and Collective Rights of Children’, emphasising cyclical, relational and interdependent perspectives by using afrocentric onto-epistemologies and concepts like Ubuntu to understand collective existence. He suggests communing childhood offers an opportunity to envision care and protection beyond capitalism and individual rights. 

The importance of social networks, communities and sharing was also discussed by Professor Anna Rönkä and in several session presentations we heard. Rönkä introduced her ideas of ‘Building Communities and Learning Environments to Support Coparenting’, when family services still very much concentrate on individual parents, especially on mothers and the parent-child relationship, instead of coparenting. Coparenting focuses on how couples share parenting tasks, support each other and agree on childrearing. Her cross-national study combined family science, social work and psychology, and applied citizen science for engaging parents in learning and applying coparenting practices.

The conference was closed with Professor Marketta Kyttä’s keynote speech on ‘Socially Sustainable Environment for Children, Young People, and Families’, which argued for child-friendly urban environments enabling independent mobility and offering environmental affordances. The presentation linked together scientific fields of urban planning and environmental psychology. She showed how place-based research focusing on contextual qualities promoting independent movement and activities can be conducted with the PPGIS Methodology, permitting large-scale public participation in urban planning.

Additionally, over three conference days, we had a unique opportunity to share and discuss excellent research from 19 different countries in seven symposia and five workshops focusing on specific themes as well as 62 oral presentations and five posters – all offering meaningful support for the theme of this conference. Many of the presentations insightfully focused on the policies and practices of childhood institutions, children’s rights, and their well-being. They explored different dimensions of how children interact with their environments, families, and educational systems. 

Hope and resilience for children, youth and families covered a broad spectrum of different disciplinary starting points. During the conference, we participated in a discussion on microbes and children and childhood, inspired by new materialism. Our participants said it had been eye-opening to listen to the talks by scholars from different disciplines, instead of conferences representing their disciplinary background, where the presentations typically follow traditional topics and research methodologies of the field. Indeed, the multidisciplinarity of the conference inspired new ideas for research and offered fresh and unconventional perspectives to discuss the topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion, currently at the forefront of many debates and political decisions. Throughout the conference, the speakers emphasised the importance of care and community, whether through family structures, educational philosophies, or urban environments. In fostering healthy and resilient families, communities and childhoods, the collective research efforts are of crucial importance.

The Organising Committee of the Hope and Resilience Conference

• Maarit Alasuutari – Emerita, Faculty of Education and Psychology

• Essi Jouhki - Faculty of Education and Psychology

• Arto Laukkanen - Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences

• Marleena Mustola - Faculty of Education and Psychology

• Henna-Riikka Peltola - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

• Eija Sevón (PI) - Faculty of Education and Psychology

• Heli Valtonen - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences