Call for priority topics on women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health beyond 2030

This call has just been released. We will submit at least one coordinated response from the Children’s Voices Centre.

Call for priority topics on women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health beyond 2030
WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) are seeking input to help shape the future of women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health beyond 2030. https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/call-for-priority-topics-on-women-s--children-s--and-adolescents--health-beyond-2030 (Deadline 18 October 2026) 

 

CVC2026 in WHO Disability Health Equity Network newsletter!

The WHO Disability Health Equity Network (based in Geneva, Switzerland) profiled our Children’s Voices Conference (2026) in their newsletter (see below and attached)! They wrote

"The Children’s Voices Centre at Charles Sturt University international online conference held 1-3 September
The event brought together researchers, practitioners and students from around the world to share research with, for and about children, including several presentations on the right to health for children with disabilities. Find out more and see event presentations at Children’s Voices Conference 2026 (CVC2026)”

Children's Voices Centre community research lunch

 Today's Children's Voices Centre community research lunch was our bimonthly CVC update.

We discussed:

1. Success of CVC2026. A summary is available here: https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2026/09/childrens-voices-conference-2026-cvc2026.html

2. Launch of Children Draw|Create|Share Belonging: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research

3. New special issue of Child Language Teaching and Therapy focussed on  and edited by CVC staff and HDR student: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/clt

It was a good time of sharing amongst CVC staff and affiliates. 

CSU course: Supporting university staff with their mental health

Today I attended the Charles Sturt University course: CSU Real Talk: Supporting university staff with their mental health

"Mental health is a state of well-being in which every individual realises their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to contribute to their community" - World Health Organization 

 Mental health spectrum: healthy - coping - difficulties - diagnosed with illness 

 NIP: notice - inquire - provide 

Here are two general information slides from the session: 

 

SPAA-C lecture for Finland's speech and language therapists

 Tonight A/Prof Kate Crowe (CVC Adjunct and A/Prof at University of Iceland) and I recorded a lecture on the Speech Participation and Activity Assessment - Children (SPAA-C) for a professional development course for Finland's speech and language therapists. We were invited by Krista Tuohimaa, Head of the Research Unit of Logopedics, University of Oulu, Finland.

 The SPAA-C is available for free here: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/speech-assessments/spaa-c

Here is the original article describing its origin:

McLeod, S. (2004). Speech pathologists' application of the ICF to children with speech impairment. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 6(1), 75–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/14417040410001669516 
 

Research with ICS and 2- to 3-year-old children

Today I met with Claire Price who is undertaking her PhD at Southern Cross University with Prof Nat Munro, Prof Elise Baker, and Prof Pam Hadley to discuss using the Intelligibility in Context Scale in her research. Best wishes for your research Claire and team.

 

Planning to visit Vietnam

At the end of this month Dr Helen L. Blake and I will be visiting Ha Noi National University of Education in Vietnam. Today we had a meeting with A/Prof Ben Pham to discuss the visit. While we are in Vietnam we have a number of meetings and presentations. We will be presenting:

*Keynote address: Saturday 3^rd October HNUE-Conference
Topic: Supporting speech, language and communication for children with disabilities in Vietnam

*Workshop on ethics on Friday, 2nd October, 2016 
Topic: Ethical considerations in conducting research with children (2 hours including interpretation into Vietnamese)
Host: HNUE, Department of Science and Technology and HNUE ethics council

*Workshop on Monday, 5th October, 2026, 9:00AM-11:30AM and 14:00PM-16:30PM
Topic: Children’s speech assessment and intervention: What’s new? and What’s evidence?
Participants: special education teachers, SLPs and other related professionals
Host: Faculty of Special Education, School of Child Development Sciences-HNUE

Helen, Sharynne, Ben

 

WHO Disability Health Equity Network: Workstream 4

Today was the sixth meeting of Workstream 4 of the WHO Disability Health Equity Network.

Scheduling WHO meetings is difficult. Here are the timezones we each were meeting on: 

• Tue Sep 15: 3-4pm ET
• Tue Sep 15: 9-10pm CEST
• Wed Sep 16: 5-6am AEST (Sydney, Australian time)

We discussed the outcomes of each of the subcommittees to date. I am in subcommittee 3.  We are focusing on research and evidence mobilization.

 

 

It was announced that there is a special issue of Disability and Health Journal https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/disability-and-health-journal titled Global Disability Health Equity https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/336891/global-disability-health-equity

SACHL conversation: Learning from Germany

Today Dr Kate Margetson and I had a wonderful opportunity to learn from our colleague Prof Annette Fox-Boyer from Germany about her use of the Multilingual Children's Speech website and the SACHL. She mentioned that 40% of Germans now speak a language other than German - with common languages including Turkish, Polish, Arabic, Ukrainian, Russian, Farsi/Persian, Romanian. Thanks Annette for sharing your insights and wisdom.

Annette Fox-Boyer, Sharynne McLeod, Kate Margetson

 

Cancer graduation

I just graduated from my 8 year cancer journey. Thank you Prof Fran Boyle, Prof Andrew Spillane, Prof Gillian Lamoray, my wonderful family and friends. I'm so glad to be alive.

My oncologist, Prof Fran Boyle celebrating my cancer graduation (and I'm wearing my PhD bonnet that was at hand for the photo)

.

 

LSHSS clinical forum

Today Helen Blake and I were able to meet with Dr. Karla N. Washington, Editor in Chief of Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools to discuss papers in our clinical forum: Children’s communication and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). 

 https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2026/04/lshss-special-issue-on-convention-on.html

 

Kangaroos at The Treehouse

The kangaroos have come onto campus for spring. We even had two hop by The Treehouse this week!

United Nations recommends the Equal Earth world map

I am delighted that last week (4th September 2026) the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has voted to change their world map from the Mercator projection (created in 1569) to the Equal Earth projection aimed at "a more accurate representation" of the world: https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/09/1168284

The UN Equal Earth projection is here: https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/map-world-1

Equal Earth projection adopted by the United Nations 

I have long advocated for using an equal earth projection of the world. In the Oxford Handbook of Speech Development in Languages of the World (McLeod, 2026) I had bespoke maps made for each chapter (language/dialect) using this projection - and an explanation and comparison with the Mercator projection is outlined in chapter 1.

Here is a map from my book showing the distribution of Afrikaans:

 

50 ASHA journal publications

I have published 50 articles in American Speech-Language-Hearing Association journals. Here is a summary of these publications

 https://pubs.asha.org/action/doSearch?ContribRaw=McLeod%2C+Sharynne

I am very proud that more than one quarter (28%) are with my students as first authors. 

From Mike Cannon: Senior Director, Serial Publications and Editorial Services
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 

Dr. Sharynne McLeod is a Distinguished Professor of Speech and Language Acquisition at Charles Sturt University in Australia. She has received honors from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and served six times on the ASHA Convention Program Committee. She has served as an editorial board member for ASHA journals, was the lead author on articles that received ASHA Journals Editor’s Awards in 2018 and 2019, and has received worldwide acclaim for transformative research on communication rights.

Dr. McLeod has authored or co-authored 50 articles in ASHA journals, dating back to 1994. Together, these articles have amassed more than 2,800 citations and have been read more than 700,000 times. One article, "Children's English Consonant Acquisition in the United States: A Review," which she co-authored with Dr. Kathryn Crowe and published in American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP) in 2020, has recently surpassed 300,000 downloads,  and "Children's Consonant Acquisition in 27 Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Review," co-authored with Dr. Kathryn Crowe and published in the November 2018 issue of AJSLP) surpassed the 200,000-download mark.  

 Here is my acceptance speech

I am so grateful to ASHA for the honour of receiving the Kawana Award for Lifetime Achievement in Publications. This award has been previously won by people who have shaped my research and career including Larry Shriberg, Ray Kent, and Marc Fey. While most people who have won this award are from the United States, two of my Australian colleagues have also won this award in 2014: Mark Onslow and Ann Packman.

I’m proud to have published 50 articles in ASHA journals (so far…) including receiving ASHA Editor’s Awards – in JSLHR and AJSLP. I am honoured to have written these 50 papers with 110 different co-authors. My colleague, Kathryn (Kate) Crowe and I published two papers about children’s consonant acquisition that have had over half a million downloads influencing research, policy and practice around the world. Building research capacity is a focus of my work and 30% (15) of the papers have my PhD students as first authors. Other colleagues who have co-authored a number of ASHA journal articles include: Sarah Verdon, Elise Baker, Jane McCormack, Kate Margetson, Sarah Masso, Helen Blake, Suzanne Hopf, Ben Pham, Linda Harrison, Cen Wang, Van Tran, Nicole McGill, and Karla Washington. ASHA journals are such an important place to publish high quality evidence that can change children’s lives.  They have a substantial global reach across North America and the entire world. Thank you for publishing our work and for this important recognition.

Welcome to CVC Felicity

It was wonderful to host Felicity Laurence, my PhD student at The Treehouse in Bathurst this week. The kangaroos all came onto campus to meet with her. We were able to meet with Dr Audrey Wang, Dr Nicola Ivory,  Emma Hayes and Emma Scanlon in person and Sarah Verdon online during the very productive week. Felicity also won a CSU cap during the student promotion of RUOK? day!

Royal Society of NSW - voting to increase participation of young people under 35 years

 The Royal Society of NSW is voting on the following

At its 26 August 2026 meeting, the Council of the Royal Society of NSW considered changes to the Rules of the Society that will support the increased participation of, and engagement by, young people by broadening the category of Associate Membership and providing for an appointed Early Career Researcher member of the Council.

Children's Voices Conference 2026 (CVC2026)

This week we have hosted the Children's Voices Conference 2026 (CVC2026) at The Treehouse and online: https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/2026/

CVC2026 Snapshot

Registrations

• 1434 attendees | 64 countries

Presentations

• 7 keynotes (free online access)
• 2 streams (free online access)
• 144 oral presentations | 35 countries: 
  Creating a More Inclusive World for Children: International Interdisciplinary Research 
• 200 children's drawings: 
  Children Draw Health Global Online Galleries
• 5 yarning circles (free live + online access)
• Welcome to CVC2026 (free online access) by CSU Deputy Vice Chancellor Neena Mitter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=379fUQwLtU4 
• Launch of CVC2026 (free live + online access) with CSU Vice Chancellor Renée Léon, Children’s Voices Centre Children’s Advisory Group with Associate Professor Kathy Cologon, and keynote speaker Dr Mélanie Gréaux, World Health Organization, Switzerland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3JZ6aS8Drg&t=1s
• Launch of Children Draw|Create|Share Belonging (free live event)

CVC committees

• 80+ affiliates and adjuncts from Charles Sturt University Children’s Voices Centre

CVC2026 conference launch with the Vice Chancellor and CVC staff and affiliates (Photo: Amy Whitfield)

Some of our CVC staff and affiliates on the first morning of CVC2026 (Photo: Amy Whitfield)

 

Statistics

• 1,343 video views across all videos in the Children's Voices Conference 2026 playlist. Video views count from the moment a video starts to play.
• 151.4 total hours watched
• 6.46 minutes average view duration
• The launch video has had 130 views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3JZ6aS8Drg&t=1s
• CVC-601 has had the 2nd highest views of 107 views: https://youtu.be/_HankKrLW6g

Registrations

1434 registrations | 64 countries: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Ghana, UK, Greece, Hong Kong SAR China, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Macao, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, United States, Vietnam.  

7 Keynotes

1. Dr Mélanie Gréaux, World Health Organization, Switzerland 
2. Dr Chemba Raghavan, UNICEF Global Center of Excellence, Nairobi, Kenya 
3. Dr Zinnia Mevawalla, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom 
4. Robyn Monro Miller AM, Play Australia (IPA Australia Inc), Australia 
5. Laura Stone, Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Kids, Australia 
6. Ella Simons, Future Council, Australia with Dr Lindsay Smith, Charles Sturt University, Australia
7. Children’s Voices Centre Children’s Advisory Group with Associate Professor Kathy Cologon, Charles Sturt University, Australia

 STREAM 1: Creating a more inclusive world for children: International interdisciplinary research  https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/2026/

1. Children’s rights, voices, and perspectives 
2. Children’s inclusion 
3. Children’s communication 
4. Children’s learning and activities 
5. Children’s health and disability 
6. Children’s services workforce and policy 

STREAM 2: Children Draw Health Global Online Galleries https://www.csu.edu.au/research/childrens-voices-centre/research/childrens-health
200 children from 18 countries (including 101 from Mongolia!)

1. What makes you healthy? 
2. Where do you go to get healthier? 
3. Who helps you be healthy? 
4. What your ideal hospital or health service looks like? 

LAUNCH: Children Draw|Share|Create Belonging

Children and families came to launch this new research initiative that aligns with the theme of CVC2026

Launch of Children Draw Belonging at The Treehouse (Photo: Amy Whitfield)

Yarning circles

1. Children’s Rights, Voices and Perspectives Yarning Circle (24 attendees)
2. Children’s Inclusion Yarning Circle (22 attendees)
3. Children’s Communication Yarning Circle (17 attendees)
4. Children’s Learning and Activities Yarning Circle (7 attendees)
5. Children’s Workforce and Policy Yarning Circle (10 attendees)
6. Children's Health and Disability Yarning Circle (12 attendees)

Live event

CVC staff, affiliates, adjuncts and HDR students came to Bathurst for to attend the live events associated with CVC2026.

• Book celebration (Monday) 
• Dinner (Monday) 
• Kangaroo walk on country (Tuesday) (6 attendees)
• Research pillars discussion (Tuesday)
• Live launch at TV studio (Tuesday) (18 attendees in person + 100 online) 
• Belonging launch (25 attendees - including 7 children)
• Dinner (Tuesday)
• Visiting scholar workshop (Wednesday) (15 attendees - 11 in person + 4 online)

THANK YOU 

Charles Sturt University Sponsors

• Professor Renée Leon (Vice-Chancellor)
• Professor Neena Mitter (Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Research)
• Dr Mark Filmer (Office of Research and Graduate Studies)
• Dr Emmaline Lear (Office of Research Services and Graduate Studies)
• Jessica Harper (Office of the Vice-Chancellor)
• Bruce Andrews (Media)
• Elia Lazarakis (Legal Services)
• Simon McDonald (Spatial Analysis SPAN) 

Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University Sponsors

• Professor Andrew Hope (Executive Dean), 
• Professor Matthew Winslade (Associate Dean Research)
• Kevin Ng (Technical Specialist Officer), Patrick McKenzie (Faculty Technical Manager), Janelle Bateman (Faculty Operations Team), Karl Shead (Technical Officer), Damian Moloney (Technical Specialist Officer) 
• Associate Professor Lena Danaia (Head, School of Education), 
• Ash Coleman (Faculty Executive Officer), Jennifer Morrison (Manager, Faculty Operations)

Children's Voices Centre staff, affiliates, adjuncts, HDRs
Conference Co-Chairs

• Associate Professor Kathy Cologon, Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod, Associate Professor Tamara Cumming, Children’s Voices Centre

Conference Secretary

• Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Children’s Voices Centre

Conference Administrator

• Emma Hayes, Children’s Voices Centre 

Digital Media Curator

• Amy Whitfield, Children’s Voices Centre

Organisation Committee

• Dr Carolyn Gregoric (Chair)

• A/Prof Kathy Cologon, A/Prof Kathryn Crowe, D/Prof Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Stenson 

Children’s Voices Committee

• Associate Professor Kathy Cologon (Chair)
• A/Prof Kathryn Crowe, Dr Kate Freire, Katrina Gersbach, Kasey Hillyar, Dr Marie Ireland, Janine Krecko, Holly McAlister, D/Prof Sharynne McLeod, Arifa Rahman, Dr Lindsay Smith, Sarah Stenson

Scientific Review Committee

• Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod and Associate Professor Tamara Cumming (Chairs)
• Dr Helen L. Blake, Sarah Bartlett, A/Prof Kathy Cologon, Associate Professor Kathryn Crowe, Dr Jessamy Davies, Dr Lysa Dealtry, Dr Belinda Downey, Dr Kate Freire, Dr Kasey Garrison Katrina Gersbach, Associate Professor Leanne Gibbs, Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Hannah Greig, Dr Jo Grimmond, Kasey Hillyar, Dr Laura Hoffman, Associate Professor Suzanne C. Hopf, Cyrena Hunt-Madden, Alam Hossain, Associate Professor Brendon Hyndman, Dr Marie Ireland, Janine Krecko, Dr Kate Margetson, Professor Jillian Marsh, Holly McAlister, Arifa Rahman, Associate Professor Mehdi Rassafiani, Dr Goutam Roy, Dr Shukla Sikder, Dr Lindsay Smith, Sarah Stenson, Professor Sarah Verdon, Dr Lucia Wuersch

Publications Committee

• Associate Professor Tamara Cumming (Chair)
• A/Prof Kathy Cologon, Dr Leanne Gibbs, A/Prof Suzanne C. Hopf, Alam Hossain, Associate Professor Brendon Hyndman, Distinguished Professor Sharynne McLeod, Arifa Rahman, Dr Goutam Roy, Dr Shukla Sikder, Professor Sarah Verdon

Promotion/Social Media Committee

• Associate Professor Kathy Cologon (Chair)
• Emma Hayes, Dr Marie Ireland, Janine Krecko, Dr Kate Margetson, Arifa Rahman

Participant Network and Fun Committee (including orgainsation of Yarning Circles)

• Sarah Bartlett and Dr Jo Grimmond (Co-Chairs)
• Dr Lysa Dealtry, Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Alam Hossain, Dr Shukla Sikder

Professional Recognition Committee

• Professor Sarah Verdon (Chair)
• Dr Carolyn Gregoric, Kasey Hillyar, Janine Krecko, Holly McAlister, Arifa Rahman

CVC 2026 Facebook group to keep the discussion going!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/240093224084969 

CVC staff and affiliates outside The Treehouse (Photo: Amy Whitfield)

 

CVC2026 workshop - Sticks and stones, flowers and gnomes: Generative listening and the art of provocation

Today for our CVC2026 face-to-face workshop, our CVC Visiting Scholar led a workshop titled:

Sticks and stones, flowers and gnomes: Generative listening and the art of provocation

Dr Zinnia Mevawalla,  University of Strathclyde, UK

We not only learned about generative listening - but also practiced listening to one another using a range of artifacts as provocation. It was a valuable session. Thank you Zinnia.

 

 

 

LAUNCH: Children Draw|Create|Share Belonging

During the Children's Voices Conference (CVC2206) we had the official launch of Children Draw|Create|Share Belonging. Associate Professor Kathy Cologon and Dr Zinnia Mevawalla officially launched this new research project with CVC staff, affiliates, adjuncts and community members (especially children). We had a lot of fun creating artworks by learning about one another and depicting special aspects about that person to engage in an understanding of inclusion and belonging.

Kangaroo walk on Country to start CVC2026

 CVC affiliates gathered at the Kangaroo Walk behind CSU to spend an hour acknowledging the traditional custodians and Wiradjuri land as the first event of CVC2026. Over 100 local kangaroos were there to greet us.