Unlocking Collaborations at Research Week 2024: Youth Co-Research Masterclass
In mid-July, the Young and Resilient Research Centre (Y&R) took centre stage at Western Sydney University's Peter Shergold Building to launch Research Week 2024 conversations. The event Unlocking Collaboration: Youth Co-Research Masterclass attracted around 30 members of the university community, including staff and students from at least 3 campuses. It was the first of 14 events celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Research Week at Western with the overarching theme “The Next Decade of Discovery: Better Futures, Now”.
Hosted by Y&R’s Co-Director Professor Philippa Collin, as well as Research Officers Louisa Welland and Daniel Prichard, Communications and Impact Assistant Rose Lewis, and two youth co-researchers, Yehansa Dahanayake and Jean Lewis, the masterclasses showcased the Youth Co-Research toolkit for researchers.
These toolkits are a key output from a collaboration generously funded by the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies, as well as the Youth Co-research toolkit for young people which was created through the same collaboration.
Professor Philippa Collin said of the masterclass that; “we all have something to learn and share” and that when it comes to co-research with young people “enthusiasm is there, but people need genuine capacity building resources because enthusiasm might not always match the skills”.
Professor Collin further shared how the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies helped identify the need for youth engagement training and, in response; “these toolkits have been developed with young people and researchers with varying degrees of experience.” She added that the toolkits can offer useful guidance, tips and advice regardless of how experienced you are and added that her hope for the day was to “inspire positive, sustained change in how young people are involved in research.”
Throughout the masterclass, attendees were taken through the fundamentals of co-research, case studies, information and guidance, and tools and resources which are part of the Youth Co-research Toolkits. Attendees also had ample networking opportunities and met a wonderful cross-section of staff and students across the university. The key highlight of the day was hearing from two youth co-researchers, Yehansa Dahanayake and Jean Lewis.
Yehansa is a youth co-researcher on the project Children, young people and climate change: developing child-centred indicators for climate justice. She spoke about how being in this role allowed her confidence to blossom and help her gain confidence in one of her first workplaces. When reflecting on her journey with Y&R, she said; “My voice, my opinion, my insights hold value”. Yehansa urged researchers to invite multidimensional young people to research conversations to ensure better outcomes for young people from target communities.
Jean Lewis, a youth co-researcher on the project From Participation to Accountability in Health Care for young people, also shared her experience of being a co-researcher at Y&R. Jean commented that co-research is like a new skillset to develop; “you watch young people transform and you [the researcher] will transform as well”. Jean encouraged researchers to “stick with it even though it’s challenging, and schedules may conflict... not every young person will be a fit for your research but there will be young people [out there] who are a perfect fit.
One masterclass participant shared the following insight; “[Researchers] don't have to start from scratch... co-research can still be meaningful even if we cannot feasibly do everything with young people due to the constraints of the project... those relationships are [still] so valuable”.
Another participant echoed these sentiments stating that when co-researching with young people; “The toolkit is a wonderful roadmap”.
We look forward to organising more masterclasses throughout 2024! Thank you to all who supported this event.
Watch a masterclass recording here >
