Nicola Killean became the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland in August 2023. She and her team are responsible for protecting and promoting the human rights of everyone under 18 in Scotland, or up to the age of 21 if they have care experience. 

Nicola has spent the majority of her career supporting children and young people from communities facing particular challenges and disadvantages.  

Before becoming Commissioner, she was the founding CEO of the charity Sistema Scotland which uses music and nurturing relationships to support over 3,500 children and young people across Scotland. 

Maree Todd was appointed as Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport in March 2023.

She grew up in the West Highlands, attending Ullapool High School and then studying pharmacy and prescribing at Robert Gordon’s and Strathclyde, as well as taking an ante-natal teaching diploma at the University of Bedfordshire. 

A pharmacist by profession, Maree Todd worked in NHS Highland for 20 years, mainly as a mental health pharmacist in a psychiatric hospital. She also contributed to SIGN guidance on perinatal mental health. 

She was previously the Minister for Children and Young People.

Dr Lisa Cherry is the Director of Trauma Informed Consultancy Services Ltd leading a dynamic and creative organisation that provides a ‘one stop’ approach to delivering on research, consultancy and learning and development. Lisa is an author, researcher, leading international trainer and consultant, specialising in assisting schools, services and systems to create systemic change to the way that we work with those experiencing and living with, the legacy of trauma. Lisa has been working in and around Education and Children’s Services for over 30 years and combines academic knowledge and research with professional expertise and personal experience. Lisa has worked extensively with Social workers, Educators, Probation Workers and those in Adult Services, training and speaking to over 30,000 people around the world including in the US, Australia and Pakistan and across the whole of the UK.

Lisa has produced multiple pieces of research for various settings and Lisa’s own MA research looked at the impact on education and employment for care experienced adults who experienced school exclusion as children in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In February 2024 Lisa completed her DPhil research at The University of Oxford in the Department of Education. The research asked “How do care experienced adults who were also excluded from school make sense of belonging?”

Lisa is the author of the hugely successful and award winning book ‘Conversations that make a difference for Children and Young People’ (2021)and ‘The Brightness of Stars’ 3rd Edition published in June 2022. A new book contract has been signed for publication in 2024/2025 on cultivating belonging.

Graeme Armstrong is a Times bestselling, multi-award-winning author from Airdrie. His teenage years were spent within Scotland’s ‘young team’ gang culture. After studying English as an undergraduate at the University of Stirling, he completed a Master’s in Creative Writing and is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Strathclyde. His debut novel,THE YOUNG TEAM, was published by Picador in 2020. Most recently, he wrote and presented a BBC series on Scottish gang culture,STREET GANGS, available now on BBC iPlayer. In 2023, he was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists, a once-in-a-decade literary honour.

Shumela Ahmed from Resilience Learning Partnership will explore the need for evidence-based tools, resources and support in the successful implementation of trauma-informed practice.

Participants will learn more about relevant resources currently available to support the implementation of trauma-informed practice at an organisational level.

In this interactive session, presenters Sarah Deeley and Gemma Watson of CELCIS, University of Strathclyde, will consider how co-design can meaningfully generate effective responses and solutions to problems.  

Participants will hear first-hand how co-design was successfully used to design and implement The Promise funded Reflection and Action Learning forum. In addition, discussions will ensue around how participants can use the principles of co-design in their own work setting. There is existing skills, knowledge and experience within teams, settings and sectors. With the right support and facilitation, the workforce is best placed to generate solutions to problems.

In this interactive session, presenters Sarah Deeley and Gemma Watson of CELCIS, University of Strathclyde, will consider how co-design can meaningfully generate effective responses and solutions to problems.  

Participants will hear first-hand how co-design was successfully used to design and implement The Promise funded Reflection and Action Learning forum. In addition, discussions will ensue around how participants can use the principles of co-design in their own work setting. There is existing skills, knowledge and experience within teams, settings and sectors. With the right support and facilitation, the workforce is best placed to generate solutions to problems.

In this workshop, Sandra Mitchell of Children in Scotland will share insights and learnings on how to manage challenging behaviour. Throughout the workshop, Sandra will discuss language, situations and ways to explore our own feelings to identify the best way to approach challenging situations and/or behaviours. 

Join Donna McEwan of CYCJ (Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice) as she shares knowledge and insights on the National Framework and Screening Tool. The tool has been developed in Scotland to help combat criminal exploitation (CCE) by facilitating multi-agency collaboration. Delegates will be given the opportunity to critically evaluate and understand the effectiveness of these tools in identifying and addressing CCE.

This contributes to a more coordinated and effective approach in preventing and responding to child exploitation across different sectors involved in child protection.

Child Criminal Exploitation is a critical child protection issue that necessitates a unified and strategic approach from multiple agencies. By integrating existing policies, legislation, and best practices, we can effectively reduce the incidence of CCE and safeguard vulnerable children.

Participants will learn the importance of collaboration, using a specialised screening tool and a national framework, to identify and address child criminal exploitation effectively, ensuring that every response is tailored through a child protection lens to maximise child safety and well-being.

In this session the presenter will reflect on his eight years in residential care in South Africa in the late 1970s to mid-1980s, concentrating on (contrary to prevailing narratives) the overwhelmingly positive, nurturing, relational life experiences of living in a large scale group care environment, and how these experiences led to him to giving up a life in business running a publishing company to become involved as head of operations of the International Child and Youth Care Network (CYC-Net) – an entirely open access, voluntarily funded online resource for those working with children and youth in care. CYC-Net has recently been described as the “the most important social innovation in our field in the last 30 years”.

In December 2022, CVAA published an independent analysis on the value that adoption brings to children, families and wider society, and found that the best outcomes for children can be achieved at the lowest cost to the state.

As CEO of CVAA, Satwinder Sandhu will guide attendees through the findings of this research, such as the £4.2 billion in value that was generated across England, Wales and Scotland in 2021 when 3,350 children were adopted.

Together with Paula Harkins of Kibble, they will describe how Kibble Adoption’s new radical model will work in partnership with local authorities to address the drift and delay in permanency and contribute to better outcomes for children in Scotland.

In December 2022, CVAA published an independent analysis on the value that adoption brings to children, families and wider society, and found that the best outcomes for children can be achieved at the lowest cost to the state.

As CEO of CVAA, Satwinder Sandhu will guide attendees through the findings of this research, such as the £4.2 billion in value that was generated across England, Wales and Scotland in 2021 when 3,350 children were adopted.

Together with Paula Harkins of Kibble, they will describe how Kibble Adoption’s new radical model will work in partnership with local authorities to address the drift and delay in permanency and contribute to better outcomes for children in Scotland.

Join Kibble’s Head of Education, Leona Donnelly and Lisa Wardlaw, Head of The Skills Academy, to hear insights and learning on how The Skills Academy is helping young people find and sustain rewarding employment, whilst gaining invaluable qualifications, skills and training.

You will hear more about our innovative social enterprise model which seeks to inspire, motivate and engage young learners, whilst equipping them with the skills and confidence to find sustainable employment opportunities. The success of our workforce development model is grounded in dynamic partnerships with local organisations which provide real-life work experience and opportunities for young people.