What we do

WP 1

WP1 brings together international researchers and explores youth participation in Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Germany and Türkiye. Youth participation is examined in the context of migration; political society; well-being and loneliness; spare time, hobbies, open youth work; climate change and digitalization.

WP1 also contributes to the development of RDI structures of Humak UAS by developing an electronic platform attached to the iconic national Youth information library. The platform contributes to the interaction between the researchers and the youth field, hosts events, and functions as a dissemination channel for RDI results.

WP 2

WP2 addresses youth participation by identifying mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion in the sphere of hobbies and free-time activities. The focus is on the participation of marginalised young people. The objective is to examine the involvement of marginalised young people in organised leisure activities and additionally, to identify what kind of methods and practices NGOs have adopted to increase inclusion and participation.

WP2 contributes to the RDI capacity of Humak UAS by producing a published handbook on innovative development work methods for RDI. These innovative methods are characterised by their creativity, participation, and action-oriented approach. The handbook will provide a novel resource for conducting RDI activities and students’ thesis projects, and serves RDI also at a more general level.

WP 3

WP3 examines a variety of participatory methods to promote the inclusion of young people. WP3 aims to 1) to develop different kind of ways to hear the opinions of youth and take them in part of data production and 2) to test what are good and working participatory methods with young people in different environments. The key idea is to develop methods that are youth-oriented, interesting, inspiring, creative and relevant for the youth of today.

WP3 is exploring which methods work for reaching different target groups, what kind of information can be gained, and how actors in youth work can be encouraged to develop and disseminate youth-friendly participatory methods. Both methodological information and opinions of young people are applied in ongoing RDI projects and in the development of new ones.