Children and young people in Wales are to get a unique chance to learn about research and feed back their views about it at a event organised by to commemorate Wales' first Children's Commissioner, the late Peter Clarke.

The Children's Festival of Participation taking place in Cardiff on Wednesday will provide a range of interactive displays to enable young people to learn more about research. Everyone who attends will have a chance to enjoy themselves, learn more about engaging in research across Wales and gain ideas to take back to their schools and organisations. Twenty exhibitors from across Wales and beyond will present findings from research conducted with or about children and young people. These exhibitions will be highly interactive, engaging children and young people in dissemination activities through games, quizzes, slideshows, videos and photographic displays as well as drawing and mapping activities. The children and young people will also have the opportunity to have a go at designing their own research projects.

Sean O'Neill, Policy Director at Children in Wales said, "Children in Wales are extremely pleased to be involved in this important event marking the life of the first Children's Commissioner in Wales. This event will not only see young people having an opportunity to learn more about the research currently being undertaken, but also being given a chance to contribute and inform this important work. The active involvement of children in research is something that Children in Wales is keen to encourage and support, with this event providing a good opportunity to showcase children's participation"

The Children's Festival of Participation is being organised by Cardiff University in association with the Children's Commissioner for Wales and Children in Wales in memory Wales' first Children's Commissioner, the late Peter Clarke.

Notes

1. Children in Wales is the national umbrella organisation for voluntary, statutory and professional organisations and individuals who work with children and young people in Wales. http://www.childreninwales.org.uk. Children in Wales was established in March 1992 and became a registered charity in 1993. It aims to promote the interests of children, to improve services in Wales and to put children high on the Welsh agenda. We work closely with our members who comprise professionals, policy makers and consumer groups to improve the lives of all children living in Wales, but especially young children, those affected by family instability, children with special needs or disabilities, and those suffering the effects of poverty and deprivation. We collect and disseminate information about children and promote good practice in children's services through research, policy and practice development, publications, conferences, seminars, training and access to an extensive library and information service. Children in Wales has offices in Cardiff and Caernarfon.

2. 'By Us, For Us, About Us: A Children and Young People's Festival of Participation in Research' will be a one-day event at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on the 11th March 2009 as part of a series of activities commemorating the first Children's Commissioner for Wales, Peter Clarke, who died in 2007. The event is being organised by Cardiff University in association with the Children's Commissioner for Wales and Children in Wales.

Children in Wales