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Hi everyone!

October has been a month shaped by powerful conversations, meaningful experiences, and international collaborations.

After almost two years in the project, YOUCARE (Youth Creating Action Research on Eco-Anxiety) has come to an end, closing with a Final Conference which gathered 29 young people from Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, and Lithuania to present their findings and policy recommendations. Our youth researchers shared their policy recommendations directly with MEP Nela Riehl and Alina Ujupan, Head of Cabinet for Commissioner Roxana Mînzatu. Their contributions were grounded in personal experience, backed by their own research, and focused on what this generation needs most: strong mitigation measures and meaningful youth participation in EU decision-making. And then the conversation continued with a wider public that joined for keynote talks featuring Matthew Sourbee from the Resilience Project and a youth-led panel.

From 21 to 24 October, some of us went to Italy for a two-day in-person teacher training. High-school teachers from Belgium, Greece, and Italy met to explore decolonial educational practices with the support of experts. The group also went to Venice for a decolonial walking tour and a lecture at Ca’ Foscari with Professor Shaul Bassi. The training was a powerful moment of connection and an important step in shaping more inclusive education across Europe.

Finally, to close the month with a cherry on top, Pamela, our Membership Officer, went to Geneva to represent QUEST at the 2025 Social Forum of the Human Rights Council. There, she took part in discussions centred on how education contributes to the respect, promotion, and protection of human rights. 

October may not have been the busiest month behind the scenes, but it was rich in impact, dialogue, and shared vision. As the year moves forward, these exchanges continue to guide our commitment to inclusive, democratic, and rights-based education.

XOXO

The QUEST Team

Cala Wioska School

Cala Wioska School

Biography coming soon.

Creating a Safe, Inclusive and Supportive Classroom

Sehlim Charles

Biography coming soon.

Young Children’s Voices in Educational Decision-Making: Power and Participation in Disadvantaged Preschool Classrooms

Duygu Yalman Polatlar

Duygu Yalman Polatlar is an Assistant Professor at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University, Türkiye. Her research focuses on early childhood education, children’s literature, children’s rights, and children’s participation.

Alperen Avcı

Alperen Avcı is a lecturer at Muş Alparslan University, Türkiye, and a PhD candidate in Preschool Education at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University.

Rights-based Participation of Children with Special Educational Needs in Educational Decision-Making

Lenka Mazáková

Lenka Mazakova is a co-founder of the Slobodna skola. She specializes in inclusive educational practices for students with diverse needs and behavioural challenges in democratic school environments.

From Participation to Practice: How Evidence-Based Wellbeing and Equity-Focused Leadership Can Shift Power Towards Children’s Voices in Education

Geetika Goyal

Biography coming soon.

Jayne Carter

Biography coming soon.

Reimagining Educational Research Through Children’s Participation: Insights from Transdisciplinary and Participatory Approaches

Sarah Zerika

Sarah Zerika holds a PhD in Educational Sciences and is a Substitute Research and Teaching Fellow at the University of Geneva’s Centre for Children’s Rights Studies. Her research focuses on children’s rights and participation in education, school climate, transdisciplinary approaches, and the ethics of research involving children.

Johanna Zelck

Johanna Zelck is a research and teaching assistant at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. Her doctoral research focuses on children’s interpretation and negotiations of the generational order and adultism.

Maude Louviot

Biography coming soon.

From Consultation to Co-Creation: Child Leadership in Practice in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia

Nejira Pasic

Nejira Pašić is the Children’s Rights Project Lead for Southeast Europe at the Global Campus of Human Rights, where she leads children’s rights mainstreaming and programming, including the Child Leadership Team and Youth Advisory Group. She is also a Lecturer at the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, teaching research methods, public policy and human rights.