Apply for our Young People’s Health Conference co‑design group

You’ll work closely with Barnardo’s Voice & Influence Team and experts from The King’s Fund to make sure young people’s voices lead the process from start. You’ll take part in online and in‑person sessions with other young people to help:

• Shape the conference theme and programme.
• Highlight the issues that matter most to young people today.
• Gather and share the views of other young people.
• Influence how young people’s experiences are represented.
• Be part of delivering the conference, including speaking opportunities if you’d like.

Your ideas will directly influence a national professional event attended by people who design, deliver, and lead services for children and young people across a range of sectors.

The insights you bring will help shape conversations about health, wellbeing, and support systems and could influence how services think, plan, and work in the future.

You will get the opportunity to:

• Develop skills in event planning and coordination.
• Build confidence in public speaking (if you choose).
• Strengthen leadership and communication skills.
• Gain experience working with national organisations.
• Receive ongoing personal development support and training opportunities.
• Help deliver a national conference attended by sector leaders.

You will receive a voucher to recognise your time and contribution, and all travel, accommodation, and reasonable expenses will be covered.

You will need to be available to attend regular online planning sessions with a group of other young people.

• Around two sessions per month.
• Usually Tuesday evenings, 5.30–7pm.

In‑person planning days

We will hold two full‑day, in‑person sessions (likely July or August and October).

All travel and overnight stay costs will be covered.

You must be available for our first planning meeting in early April.

Conference attendance

• 30 November: Travel to London and overnight stay (accommodation covered)
• 1 December: Conference Day

If you are unable to travel due to accessibility reasons, we still welcome you to apply for the planning role.

We’ll keep additional tasks outside of these commitments to a minimum and always communicate them in good time.

You don’t need any specific qualifications or experience to apply. We’re looking for a diverse group of young people with different backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences.

Applicants need to:

• Be aged 11–24.
• Have been involved with Barnardo’s services within the last six months.
• Be able to commit to the sessions and conference dates.
• Be happy to sign up to become an NHS Youth Forum member (if you are not already a member). There is no additional requirement for membership, other than having the opportunity to attend NHS Youth Forum sessions and events if you choose. We can support you to do this and explain more details about how the forum membership works.

We want this opportunity to be accessible. If you need support to take part or to complete the application, we are happy to support you in whatever way works best, whether that’s arranging a phone or video call, accepting a voice note application, or exploring any adjustments you might need to take part.

If you have any questions about this opportunity or would like to discuss your application, please contact us via email.

We're accepting applications on a rolling basis.

After you apply, we’ll arrange an informal interview with you to learn more about your experience, skills, and what has inspired you to get involved.

We will also ask for a written reference, this can be from a personal or professional contact. We won’t ask them to share any personal information about you, it’s mostly so we can verify who you are.

If you have any questions about the role you would like to discuss before applying, please contact us via email.

Please note that only Barnardo's staff will have access to any information that identifies you. We will store your data in a confidential folder on Barnardo’s internal servers. We will keep your application information for one year and then it will be securely destroyed.

Please contact the Voice & Influence team via email if you would like a copy of our Your Data, Your Rights leaflet or for any more information related to your data.

You can find the full Privacy Notice on our website.