The core aim is to support a shift in how intergenerational relations are understood and practiced, particularly in education.
About the programme
The Childism Institute is an independent, international research programme co-directed by Tanu Biswas, John Wall, and Hanne Warming and co-hosted at University of Stavanger (Norway), Rutgers University (United States), and Roskilde University (Denmark).
At the University of Stavanger, the Childism Institute is hosted at the Department of Education and Sports Sciences (IGIS).
The Childism Higher Education and Research Program (CHER) is hosted at the Department of Education and Sports Sciences (IGIS), and focuses on advancing early-career research training, critical supervision, and curriculum development in the field of childism and related intersectional perspectives. The core aim is to support a shift in how intergenerational relations are understood and practiced, particularly in education. It centers theoretical and empirical work that challenges adult-centric norms, drawing on intersectionality, decolonial thought, and critical perspectives from marginalized positions. Through academic collaborations, doctoral and master’s-level supervision, research internships, and pedagogical innovation, it contributes to transforming dominant perspectives and cultivating intergenerational justice in theory and practice. CHER is part of the global The Childism Institute an independent, international research programme co-directed by Tanu Biswas (University of Stavanger), John Wall (University of Rutgers), and Hanne Warming (Roskilde University). It works through both digital and hybrid formats.
Multilingual scholarship
CHER advances childist scholarship across languages, extending beyond anglophone academia. Current working languages include Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and English.
Curriculum Development and Educational Innovation
CHER plays an active role in curriculum design and delivery, particularly within the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU) framework. At the University of Stavanger, it offers the following micro-modules:
- Game the Bias: Adultcentrism in Educational Relationships (ECM130)
- Childism and Contemporary Global Crises (ECM230)
- Beyond Self: Autoethnography and Post-Qualitative Research (ECM135)
- Childism and Archiving the Climate Movement (ECM180)
- Negotiating Politics in Deep Polarization (ECM210)
These courses are accessible to incoming international students from partner institutions. They integrate challenge-based learning with critical perspectives on adult–child power dynamics, reflexivity, and epistemic justice.
It also co-facilitates an online PhD and Postdoc Masterclass in Childism (non-accredited), open to all doctoral and postdoctoral researchers who want to develop their research in dialogue with intergenerational ethics, childist theory, and intersectional methodologies.
Additionally, it supports research internships and mentoring at the master's level, such as through collaboration with the European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations.
Research and Teaching Collaborations and Institutional Cooperation
- The DEMCI Research Program Area (Democracy and citizenship: Participatory research and inclusive education)
- Intersectionality Studies at UiS ·
- The global Childism Institute network
- The Scandinavian network for childism ·
- The journal childhood & philosophy (University of Rio de Janeiro)
- European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations
- European Consortium of Innovative Universities