The UHI Centre for Rural Childhood (UHICRC), based at Perth College UHI, aims to be a centre of international significance on all aspects of rural childhood.
Much of the focus on children’s issues until now has been on the urban child, though many children across the globe live in a rural context. UHICRC will make a direct contribution to enhancing the lives of children who have rural childhoods by providing an evidence-based approach to the development of policy and practice.
There are already a number of child-related research and teaching centres, but the UHICRC will be one of the first to concentrate on 'rural' childhood. Given the UHI’s focus on the rural element of policy and practice across a range of topic areas, there are many opportunities for cross-sector collaboration in health, migration, education, sustainable economies, mountain studies and rural policy in general.
Recently appointed as director is Professor Rebecca Wallace, who will lead the centre on all aspects of childhood issues, including health, education, crime, drugs, abuse, sexual exploitation and the experiences of immigrant children, all in a rural context.
Professor Wallace, an expert in international law and human rights, brings a wealth of experience to her role as director. Her many distinguished appointments and academic positions include Professor of International Human Rights at Robert Gordon University, Professor of Law and head of the School of Law at Napier University, Edinburgh and senior lecturer and Reader in Law at the University of Strathclyde. She has also been visiting scholar at the John Hopkins University, Washington DC and the Ariel Sallows Professor of Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.
Based on a commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Centre will: undertake research and consultancy on rural childhood; offer teaching and training courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; offer continuing professional development and other professional training opportunities; meet the highest academic standards and contribute to policy and practice through evidence-based research.
It will also engage in the Building a Europe for Children agenda set by the Council of Europe.
Priorities for the Centre include work on the rural experiences of migrant children, education and the mental health of young people, and international work has already been undertaken on combating the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children, many of whom come from a rural background marked by poverty and negative life experiences.
Though the Centre intends to meet the highest standards of academic achievement through teaching and research, it will also engage in political agendas relating to rural childhood through collaboration with voluntary agencies and NGOs. The main commitment of this exciting new initiative is ultimately to enhance the life opportunities of our children through the development of a centre of excellence on rural childhood issues based at Perth College UHI.