The Institute for Inspiring Children's Futures, based at the University of Strathclyde, works with partners with a collective vision of ensuring that children and young people have what they need to reach their full potential, particularly those facing adversity.

There is a stark gap between our collective ambitions for children, and the daily lived realities of many children around the world.

Despite children’s well-being being a critical indicator of future societal and economic stability, there’s still a long way to go to fulfil children’s rights and prioritise all children in the decisions affecting their lives.

We work to reveal and help resolve the structural barriers to children fulfilling their potential. We are seeking and applying new solutions to emerging and long-standing, real-world problems. Rooted in Scotland and working around the globe, we are aiming to shape the future with and for children.

Children’s human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals guide our efforts to close this gap. And so, we work with a range of interdisciplinary partners to develop the evidence-base and strengthen the political will to support effective policy and practice responses for children, especially those who are most likely to be ‘left behind’.

Check out our latest work!

Our Key Priority Areas

We reveal and help resolve the key challenges and barriers to children fulfilling their full potential, whilst keeping a steady focus on the preventative approaches required to shape better futures. By anticipating the future, we support prevention; by enhancing the present, we identify mitigating factors; and by enhancing the future, we apply the best responses now. 

Check out our 2025 - 2030 Strategy!

 

Our Projects

To bring our key priority areas to life, we are working with a number of key partners, in over 20 countries worldwide.

Our current projects include:

See more about our Past Projects.