Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe

Our Children's Voices Centre has collaborated to write another paper based on the informative Children Draw Talking data set - and it has just been accepted for publication. Hooray!

Gregoric, C., McLeod, S., Hopf, S. C., Downey, B., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Zischke, C., Tran, V. H., Murray, E., McAlister, H., Ivory, N., Delli-Pizzi, L., Elwick, S., Dealtry, L., Davies, J. (2025, in press December). Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals by listening to children’s voices across the globe. Child Language Teaching and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590251406102 

Here is the abstract:

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations, 2015) represent a global agenda for achieving a sustainable future for people and the planet to inform decision and policy making at all levels. Children should have a significant voice in shaping the world they will inherit; indeed, SDG 17 is focussed on partnership for the goals. The aim of the present study was to investigate which SDGs are depicted in children’s drawings of themselves talking to provide researchers and policy makers insights into their perceptions about, and solutions for, the SDGs. The Children Draw Talking Global Online Gallery (https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-voices) included 200 drawings from children from 24 countries. Children aged 2–12 years responded to the online prompt “draw yourself talking” and submitted their drawing and explanation. A 15-member interdisciplinary research team analysed the drawings to determine their alignment with the seventeen SDGs. Most of the 200 drawings (n = 191, 95.5%) could be coded with at least one SDG. Overall, there were 359 representations of SDGs coded across the data set of 200 drawings. Many children highlighted access to green public spaces and housing (SDG11), education (SDG 4), and decision-making (SDG 16) while others portrayed reducing inequality (SDG 10) and addressing poverty (SDG 1). This research demonstrated that children may be implicitly aware of factors related to the Sustainable Development Goals across their lives and provides an exemplar of how children’s voices could be included by inviting them to contribute drawings.  

CSU Research Showcase - Nov 2025

It is an honour to have our research included in the CSU Research Showcase for November 2025

https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/4517562/The-research-showcase_November25.pdf 

 

Camilla's presentation to the School of Indigenous Australian Studies

Giitu (thank you) Camilla Porsanger for your excellent presentation to the students in the School of Indigenous Australian Studies (SIAS) organised by Sharnie Hurford. Camilla is a visiting scholar in the Children's Voices Centre and SIAS - we have learned so much from her.

Back to the Children's Voices Centre and The Treehouse

It is such a joy to return to the Children's Voices Centre and The Treehouse after two weeks of travel to WHO in Geneva and ASHA in Washington DC. What a welcoming place. Our team has been so productive during November - and we have enjoyed catching up on the exciting happenings.

Grants - submissions and outcomes

It is hard to get research grants - there is limited funding and lots of amazing ideas being generated across the world. We have been working hard to submit a number of grants over the past year - including in the past two weeks. I hope that some of our grants that are currently in submission are funded - we have capacity to change practices that impact children across the world.

Today I learned that one large collaborative grant that I submitted with colleagues at universities across Australia was not funded in the ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities 2026 announcement yesterday. https://www.arc.gov.au/news-publications/media/network-messages/announcement-grants-linkage-infrastructure-equipment-and-facilities-2026 What a shame it was a good project bringing amazing minds together to do good work. Congratulations to the teams working on the important projects that were funded.  

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery Exhibition - Children Draw Health

Our Children Draw Health global online gallery is now an exhibit at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery

https://bathurstart.com.au/exhibitions-events/cvc-children-draw-health/

A/Prof Tamara Cumming spoke about our artwork at the BRAG launch last night

Here is the information from BRAG about the exhibition

BRAG presents Children Draw Health by the Children's Voices Centre on the OUT THERE Digital Platforms | Forecourt Projector.

The Children’s Voices Centre is a Charles Sturt University Research Centre that conducts world-leading, transformative interdisciplinary research with, for and about children. It creates opportunities for all children to express their perspectives, share their knowledge, and be listened to with respect and action.

The Children Draw Health project invited children from across the world to draw or create a picture of their perspectives about health and healthcare, then answer a few quick questions to describe their creation. 126 drawings by children from 18 countries (Australia, Botswana, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Kenya, Malta, Netherlands, Rwanda, Thailand, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States) were received in response to the prompts: What makes you healthy? Who helps you be healthy? Where do you go to get healthier? What would your ideal hospital or health service look like?

In 2025 the Children’s Voices Centre presented this research at the 76th Session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for the Western Pacific (RCM76) in Nadi, Fiji.

At BRAG, Children Draw Health will be visible after dark in the Gallery/Library Forecourt, showcasing the incredible drawings and responses by children from Bathurst and the world until 25 January 2026. 

 

Grants submitted

In amongst all of the business in Bathurst and across the world for CVC staff members - we have also submitted grants to (hopefully) work on a new exciting project promoting the voices of unheard children. Thanks especially to A/Prof Tamara Cumming and A/Prof Kathy Cologon and the support from the CSU grants office. Fingers crossed.

Three papers published in the latest issue of LSHSS!

A colleague at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention alerted me to the fact that our team has had THREE papers published in the latest issue of ASHA's Q1 journal - Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools. Congratulations CVC team!

McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Davies, J., Dealtry, L., Delli-Pizzi, L., Downey, B., Elwick, S., Hopf, S. C., Ivory, N., McAlister, H., Murray, E., Rahman, A., Sikder, S., Tran, V. H., & Zischke, C. (2025). Children Draw Talking Around the World. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1088-1109. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-23-00190 

Margetson, K., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2025). Cross-Linguistic Transfer in Vietnamese–English Speech. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1192-1216. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-25-00046 

Doornik, A. v., Franken, M.-C., McLeod, S., Terband, H., & Gerrits, E. (2025). Children's, Parents', and Experts' Perception of Speech and Communication. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 56(4), 1042-1053. https://doi.org/10.1044/2025_LSHSS-24-00140 

World Children’s Day celebrations - 20 November 2025

From Regional Roots to Global Impact: Kids Interview UN Changemaker David Ohana

The CSU Advancement Office worked with the Children's Voices Centre (CVC) to create an online event to celebrate World Children’s Day on 20 November. The event profiled CSU alumnus David Ohana, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, United Nations Foundation as a guest speaker https://unfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-people/david-ohana/

• 30 minutes ‘in conversation’ interview with David led by CVC children
• 30 minutes to talk about CVC/current research and projects, and fundraising call to actions.   

https://alumni.csu.edu.au/news-and-events/events/industry/from-regional-roots-to-global-impact-kids-interview-un-changemaker-david-ohana 

WOW! The children's questions were so enlightening - and David's stories were so inspiring. Congratulations to A/Prof Kathy Cologon and A/Prof Tamara Cumming who organised the event. I was in Washington DC - so watched online...

 

Join us this World Children’s Day for an inspiring free online event celebrating the power of children’s voices. Hosted by the Children’s Voices Centre, this free event features Charles Sturt alumnus David Ohana, now Chief Communications & Marketing Officer at the United Nations
Foundation (based in Washington DC), with a panel of curious young interviewers. In a playful reversal of roles the children will lead the discussion, asking David about his journey from
regional Australia to the global stage, his work in international advocacy, and what it means to create real change for young people around the world. Alongside this conversation, the Children’s Voices Centre will share stories from their inspiring, child-led research projects and their vision for a future where every child is heard, valued, and supported to thrive. Join us in celebrating the voices that shape tomorrow, because when children are heard, the world changes for the better.
Date: Thursday 20 November 2025
Time: 10.00am - 11.00am AEDT
Where: Online via Zoom.
Cost: Free (donations to the Children’s Voices
Centre Little Library Project welcomed).
If you are unable to attend the livestream, we encourage you to register regardless. A recording of the event will be sent to all registered participants.  From regional roots to global impact: Kids Interview UN Changemaker David Ohana

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Washington DC

This week Dr Helen Blake and I are attending and presenting at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention in Washington DC. This year ASHA is celebrating its centenary - 100 years.

Here are our presentations:

• Invited 2-Hour Short Course - Culturally Appropriate Assessment of Multilingual Children in International Contexts - Thu 10:30 am SC03 - Sharynne  McLeod, Helen L. Blake, Kate Margetson, Krisztina Zado
• Technical Research - Community Support For Indigenous Children’s Speech, Language and Communication - Fri 9:30 am 4602L 
• Technical Research - Children’s experience and understanding of intensive speech intervention: "...made my tongue dry up" - Sat 3:00 pm 4734L  

 

ASHA is always a time of catching up with friends and colleagues from across the world - and making new friends and colleagues. 

 

Planet Word Museum

This morning Dr Helen Blake, Bob McKinney, and I went with our family members to visit the Planet Word Museum https://planetwordmuseum.org/. What an amazing place for people who love words. Three floors of extremely creative and interactive exhibits that feature words. Even the lockers and bathrooms featured words in many languages. We could have stayed all day.

International Phonetic Alphabet for the numbers of the lockers - written in world languages

Shelley Velleman (US), Eddie Wong (Hong Kong) Helen Blake (CSU), Sharynne  McLeod (CSU), Bob McKinney (US)

 

Early childhood workforce advocacy from CVC - in the media

A/Prof Tamara Cumming and A/Prof Kathy Cologon have been advocating for early childhood workforce policy recently, with a number of radio interviews based on the CSU media release:  

• Take six steps to fix Australia’s ‘broken’ childcare system - https://news.csu.edu.au/latest-news/take-six-steps-to-fix-australias-broken-childcare-system

Getting over jetlag in Washington DC before the ASHA convention

We arrived in Washington DC last night to prepare for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association convention to be held this week. Today was spent visiting important sites in Washington DC, soaking up some sunshine to get over jetlag, seeing some squirrels, and catching up on work.

The White House

Washington Monument

Capitol Building

Capitol Building

Capitol Building

A squirrel!

 

Helen Blake and I had fun creating these photos in Washington DC

Visiting Dr Margaret Kehoe and the University of Geneva

While in Geneva I had the opportunity to spend the day with my friend and colleague Dr Margaret Kehoe-Winkler. Margaret and I used to work together at The University of Sydney (~1989-1991). Margaret has lived and worked in Geneva for a long time - so was able to show us the University and other interesting parts of Geneva. The university was holding their graduation ceremony when we visited - so we were able to clap for Margaret's research assistant as she received her degree. The 2-year speech pathology program has just over 30 Masters' students per intake. Margaret recently retired, but is continuing with some of her research. I am grateful for her work that informed her chapter on Children's development of Swiss French for The Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World.

University of Geneva - Uni Mail

Graduation at the University of Geneva

Sharynne  and Margaret enjoying lunch by Lake Geneva

Lake Geneva

Thank you to to the Children's Voices Centre Children's Advisory Group for the Children Draw Health analysis

Dear Sáve, Ella, Eirik, Roarke, Knox, Jocelyn, Greta, and Nayantara

WOW! You have made such a difference to the world with your ideas about children’s health.

We summarized your insights into this document: https://cdn.csu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/4506148/CVC-Children-draw-health-2025-Fiji-submission.pdf

Here is the Children Draw Health Global Online Gallery: 

https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-health

WHO Western Pacific Regional Committee Meeting, Fiji

Two weeks ago (20-24 October 2025) I was honoured to share your recommendations to everyone at the World Health Organization meeting in Fiji. The Western Pacific Regional Committee Meeting represented 2.2 billion people since it includes the world’s largest country (China) and smallest country (Niue with 2000 people).

https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2025/10/76th-session-of-world-health.html

WHO Disability Health Equity Network Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland

This week (12-13 November, 2025) I have been so honoured to read your recommendations to everyone at the World Health Organization in Geneva
https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2025/11/world-health-organization-disability.html There were so many people who came up to me afterwards to thank you for your wise ideas about children’s health.

I also got to pop into the United Nations in Geneva and have a look around as well! https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2025/11/visiting-united-nations.html

World Children's Day

We are also sharing information about this project at the World Children's Day event (20th November, 2025) where some of you are interviewing CSU alumnus David Ohana, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, United Nations Foundation as a guest speaker https://unfoundation.org/who-we-are/our-people/david-ohana/

https://alumni.csu.edu.au/news-and-events/events/industry/from-regional-roots-to-global-impact-kids-interview-un-changemaker-david-ohana 

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, Bathurst, Australia

Next week we are sharing your work at the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery as an official exhibition that will last until January 2026 https://bathurstart.com.au/exhibitions-events/cvc-children-draw-health/

Congratulations and thank you.

Regards
Sharynne

WHO in Fiji

Sharing the Children Draw Health research insights at WHO in Fiji

 

Speaking at the WHO in Geneva

United Nations in Geneva

WHO in Geneva

Meeting with Dr Mélanie Gréaux

This morning I met with Dr Mélanie Gréaux to discuss the WHO meeting over the past two days, our current research to listen to children with disabilities about equitable health care, and future plans. It is always a joy to spend time with Mél. We made some great future plans.

 

Geneva - home of the Reformation, Piaget, Rousseau, watches, chocolate, cheese, and so much more

Reformation Wall - John Calvin, William Farel, Théodore de Bèze and John Knox

Piaget

Lake Geneva