National Symposium on Play Rights as a Health, Education and Social Justice Concern
This national symposium, aligned with the Making Space for Play in Irish Schoolyards research project, positions play rights in schoolyards as a critical cross-sectoral concern spanning education, health, planning, and children’s rights. Children’s right to play in schoolyards is increasingly restricted, despite overwhelming evidence that play is crucial for health, learning, and inclusion. Irish schoolyards are mostly hard-surfaced spaces, often crowded and devoid of any resources or natural areas with schools facing significant constraints, including: limited policy guidance, inadequate design expertise, insufficient funding, and a lack of knowledge on play value.
That Wilder Bond
We are delighted to thank the Músaem Óige na hÉireann | Museum of Childhood Ireland for their contribution to this symposium. The work of the Músaem Óige na hÉireann | Museum of Childhood Ireland resonates strongly with this symposium, as it centres children’s lived experiences and relationships with place, highlighting how meaningful engagement with play, nature, and community is essential to health, wellbeing, and the realisation of children’s rights.
Their upcoming 2026 project, That Wilder Bond, builds on the Museum’s Snapshot Series, inviting people to share childhood memories that connect personal stories with Ireland’s rich social history.
These stories will be curated into an illustrated storybook, capturing experiences of childhood, family, community, and nature. The book will be launched in Dublin and donated to libraries across the city, ensuring these important histories are shared widely. Inspired by the poem by Nicolette Sowder, the project offers a timely reminder of the importance of children’s relationships with the natural world.
We warmly encourage you to visit the project page and support the current fundraiser to help bring That Wilder Bond to life.
About the Overall Project | Making Space for Play in Irish Schoolyards
This symposium contributes to MAKING SPACE FOR PLAY IN IRISH SCHOOLYARDS, a National 2 year funded research project evaluating existing provision for play in Irish primary schoolyards. This four-phase project uses diverse methods with school communities to raise consciousness on play rights provision in schoolyards.
Symposium Convenor
Dr Michelle Bergin, Lead researcher on Making Space for Play in Irish Schoolyards
Michelle is an occupational therapist, educator and postdoctoral researcher at the School of Clinical Therapies, University College Cork. In her current role as Research Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow , Michelle is lead investigator in the national evaluation of play rights in Irish schools. Michelle's doctoral research within the EU P4Play programme explored how restrictions to children's play are sustained in Irish schoolyards. With over 20 years’ experience across public health, inclusive education, forensic mental health and disability services, her work spans projects in inclusive school design, primary care, play sufficiency, critical pedagogies, community-led poverty reduction and urban unsealing. Her interdisciplinary work draws on health, social sciences and the humanities, using participatory, critical and decolonial approaches to examine how everyday occupations- such as playing -are promoted, tolerated or restricted, and how this relates to health and social justice. Internationally, she contributes across teaching, research, supervision, policy, peer-reviewed publications, media and conference presentations, prioritising respectful collaborations with diverse perspectives to challenge inequities and co-construct alternative, healthier, and more just ways of living well together.
Symposium Co-Convenor
Dr Bryan Boyle
Bryan Boyle is a Lecturer and Programme Co-ordinator in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at University College Cork. A CORU-registered Occupational Therapist, he has extensive experience in paediatric practice and assistive technology. Dr. Boyle supervises graduate and postgraduate research in areas including child-computer interaction, participatory design, school-based occupational therapy, and technology to support participation for children with disabilities.
Bryan was co-investigator on the EU Horizon 2020 P4Play programme and co-principal investigator on a National Disability Authority-funded project exploring the assistive potential of consumer technologies. His research combines occupational therapy and computer science, focusing on how technology supports children’s play, learning, and recreation, particularly for those who are marginalised or have disabilities.
He holds a BSc (Hons) in Occupational Therapy from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc in Computer Science, and a PhD examining immersive virtual reality for autistic children. Throughout his career, he has worked directly with children with disabilities and contributed to the development of Ireland’s national assistive technology assessment services.
Contributors
Keynote Speaker | Prof John McKendrick
Co-Director of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit, Glasgow Caledonian University
John’s research interests cover children’s use of space, children’s play and child poverty. He was on the Board of Directors of Play Scotland from 2007-2017 and was awarded the Play Champion Award by Play Scotland in 2024 for services to play. He has examined several PhD theses on play and served as external examiner for university degrees on play at Gloucestershire, Leeds Beckett and Northumbria universities. He has edited ten collection of papers on play. Four of these collections also arose from the International Play Association’s triennial conference in Glasgow in 2023, for which he co-ordinated the Academic and Practioner Panel: two pre-conference collections and edited two collections of papers, in which participants shared their perspectives on Priorities for Play: Towards 2030 and beyond and Inspirationally Playful: people, places and practices that have inspired play practitioners and researchers and two post conference collections, i.e., Born to Play, a collection that aims to promote play in Scotland, and Play for Health and Wellbeing, an edited collection of research papers in the International Journal of Play. Other collections include ‘Play and education in Scotland’ (Scottish Educational Review, 2019); ‘The playway to the entrepreneurial city’ (Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2018); ‘Unleashing the Power of Play: Research from the International Play Association 20th Triennial Conference’ (Children, Youth and Environments, 2018), two collections of papers examining the impact of Austerity on playwork (Journal of Playwork Practice, 2014) and playspace provision (International Journal of Play, 2015), and an earlier collection of papers on 'Children's playgrounds in the built environment', a Special Edition of the Built Environment (Alexandrine Press, 1999).
Dr Maedbh Nic Lochlainn
University College Cork
Maedhbh is a Lecturer in Human Geography and GIS at the Department of Geography at UCC. She teaches across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate modules in geography, but have particular strengths in critical GIS, digital/urban geographies, and research methods. Her research interests are at the intersection of urban and digital geographies, and she has published research in leading international peer-reviewed journals (including City, Housing Studies, and Digital Geography and Society). Prior to starting at UCC, Maedhbh was a
Postdoctoral Researcher on the FINCITY: European Financial Centres in Transition project at the University of Luxembourg. She completed her Ph.D. in Geography at Trinity College Dublin, where she was a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Research Scholar. https://orcid.org/0000- 0002-5391-14015
Dr Fiona Armstrong
Fiona is an experienced Occupational Therapist with a strong background in the Irish healthcare system, having worked across both acute and community settings with children and adults. Throughout her career, she has been committed to delivering client-centred interventions as part of multidisciplinary teams, supporting individuals to achieve meaningful participation in everyday life.
Fiona holds a Master’s degree in Health Services Management from Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Driven by a particular interest in paediatrics, she later completed a Master of Education (MEd) in Early Intervention at TCD, further strengthening her expertise in supporting child development and promoting positive developmental outcomes.
Fiona is particularly passionate about approaches that empower children and families while promoting independence, participation, and wellbeing.
Fiona’s PhD project explored Play and Risk in children. Her research examined how play supports the development of executive functioning and life skills, particularly through opportunities for children to assess risk, develop self-awareness of their strengths and abilities, and build safety awareness. The study also investigated the current state of play infrastructure in Ireland, parental attitudes towards risky play, and injury rates associated with children’s play. Through this work, Fiona aims to contribute to evidence-based approaches that support healthy child development and balanced perspectives on risk in play.
Dr Avril Johnstone
University of Glasgow
Avril is a Research Fellow in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow and a public health researcher specialising in children’s active outdoor play. Her research examines how school, community, and nature-based environments shape children’s physical and mental health, with a particular focus on reducing health inequalities. She integrates intervention development and evaluation, systems approaches, and qualitative research with children to generate policy relevant evidence. With a background in Physical Activity and Health and experience as a playworker, her work bridges research, practice, and policy, with a strong focus on translating evidence into real-world impact.
Alan Herron
PlayBoard NI
Alan joined PlayBoard in 2009 and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in the summer of 2022. Alan is passionate about championing every child’s right to play and his work is grounded in a commitment to social justice, inclusion, and the creation of child-friendly communities.
At policy level, Alan was centrally involved in the development of Northern Ireland’s first-ever Play and Leisure policy, and the development and roll-out of the Executives Bright Start School Age Childcare programme. Alan has further led the development of play investment strategies across a number of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland based councils, working to enhance access to quality play opportunities and experiences for all children and young people. At national level, Alan sits on the UK Children’s Play Policy Forum, the UK Play Safety Forum and the British Standards Institute Group SW/65 (Children’s Play Equipment).
Angela Stallard
Director, Service Delivery & Development PlayBoard
Angela has spent over forty years working in the field of play, including thirty years in a variety of roles with PlayBoard. She is currently PlayBoard’s Director of Service Delivery and Development. Angela successfully led the implementation and management of an EITP (Early Intervention Transformation Programme) – funded project Play Matters project during a two-year secondment to the Department of Education in Northern Ireland. Aligned with one of the eight high-level outcomes of the Children and Young People’s Strategy—that children and young people enjoy play and leisure - the project created a strong framework for shared understanding and collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders, including government departments, local authorities, community planning partners, health and social care professionals, schools, and parents. She also developed and established PlayBoard’s ‘Positive PlayGrounds’ project which has since been delivered in over 400 primary schools across Northern Ireland.
In her current role, Angela provides operational oversight of PlayBoard’s portfolios including Play Services, Schools Programmes – Positive PlayGrounds and Taking Outdoor Play Seriously (TOPS), Youth@Play, Spaces to Be – OUR Generation, Playful Minds, Training/Workforce and Bright Start. She also oversees development work with local authorities and councils and is currently developing a new initiative focused on Special Educational Needs and Inclusive Play.
Dr Wendy Russell
University of Gloucestershire
Wendy is a Senior Research Fellow in Play at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. Her current research mostly focuses spatial justice for children both in public and institutional spaces and on playwork. She is a co-founder of the international Philosophy at Play conferences and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Play.
Cross Sectoral Panel Contributors
Debby Clarke
Dublin City Council Community & Social Development Officer (Former Dublin City Council Play Development Officer}
Debby began her career with Dublin City Council (DCC) as a playworker, spending over 20 years in inner-city and suburban Play Centres. She then moved into community development before returning to play advocacy in 2003 as Play Development Officer for Ballymun Regeneration Ltd, one of Europe’s largest regeneration projects. In Ballymun, she focused on children and young people's opportunities for play in schools as a rights-based issue, in terms of health and well-being, in particular mental health and social and emotional development.
In 2012, Debby returned to Dublin City Council as Play Development Officer, playing a key role in completing and launching the Dublin City Play Plan, “Play Here, Play There, Play Everywhere” (2012–2017). A strong advocate for child development and the value of play, she has extensive experience working with children, young people, and communities. She holds a BA Honours in Play and Playwork Practice from the University of Gloucestershire and applied this expertise to develop and implement a citywide strategic action plan for play and author the Dublin City Play Strategy “Everywhere, Any Day, You Can Play!” (2022–2027). Debby’s work is underpinned by UNCRC Article 31, General Comment 17, and the Wales Play Sufficiency Duty, promoting innovative play opportunities across Dublin, including National Playday, celebrated nationally by Irish local authorities. She also contributed to the 2023 Urban 95 Initiative, aligning with DCC’s Play Strategy.
In 2023, the role as Play Development Officer was discontinued, and Debby was reassigned as Community & Social Development Officer in Dublin’s Central Area. In this role, Debby continues to to take a multi-disciplinary, interdepartmental and multi-agency approach to drawing on ‘play’ as a key community engagement tool working across departments and agencies with schools, childcare settings, after-school and summer programmes, marginalised groups, and age-friendly initiatives. This includes creating child-friendly, playful neighbourhoods, ensuring children have a voice and are involved in the design and planning of their play spaces and equitable access to sufficient opportunities to play for play’s sake.
Christina Duff
Irish Heart Foundation
Christina is the Schools Physical Activity Coordinator with the Irish Heart Foundation’s Children and Young People team. The Irish Heart Foundation supports primary schools in their mission to nurture children’s wellbeing with engaging programmes and resources for active classrooms, movement breaks, healthy eating, PE and more - all co-designed with children and available free online.
Christina is a Registered Health Promotion Practitioner and a passionate advocate for active play, physical literacy and wellbeing. She is a current committee member of the newly established Irish branch of the International Play Association, former chair of the Children’s Research Network’s Outdoor PLAE (Play, Leisure and Education) Special Interest Group and an active member of the PARS Playwork Practice international community.
Dr. Helen Lynch
P4play and collaborator with University College Cork, Ireland
Helen is a play researcher and advocate, and qualified occupational therapist, specialising in working with children with disabilities, families and communities. She worked for 20 years as an academic in UCC and continues to contribute to UCC via ongoing research and PhD student supervision. She is currently supervising 4 self-funding PhD students from Ireland, Malta, Greece and Belgium. She has coauthored over 55 papers, 12 chapters and has presented at many conferences internationally. With expertise on child-centred methodologies, she has led many research projects concerning inclusive childhood play environments, and the rights of children to play and was Co-PI on a Horizon2020 EU grant, P4play: www.p4play.eu. She is a member of the steering committee for Cork Child Friendly Cities and convenor of Internal Play Association Ireland branch in 2025.
Fíonnadh McGonigle
National Disability Authority
Fíonnadh is an architect, who joined the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design at the National Disability Authority in February 2023. In her role as Senior Built environment Design Advisor she works to promote Universal Design in the built environment. She completed a Masters in Advanced Environmental and Energy studies at the Centre for Alternative Technology, and her keen interest in sustainability and architectural ethics, brought her to issues about social sustainability and Universal Design. Fíonnadh previously worked in architectural practice in Co. Wicklow
Professor Emer Ring
Dean of Early Childhood and Teacher Education at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland.
Emer leads and manages the Faculty of Education, which is one of the largest education faculties in Ireland, providing a wide range of teacher education programmes from early childhood to post-primary level, both at undergraduate and post-graduate levels. Emer lectures at undergraduate and post-graduate levels and engages in a wide range of research focused on inclusion, pedagogy, autism, children’s rights, education policy and early childhood education.
Funding
NUI Early Career Academics Grant
Research Ireland post-doctoral fellowship grant
