Lessons learned in youth-focused Citizen Social Science and fast-paced world café discussions on how to create social innovations were the focus of the YouCount consortium meeting in San Sebastian. Here are some of the Swedish participants’ takeaways from the meeting.
In the EU-funded YouCount project academic researchers and young citizen scientists are joining forces to boost young people’s inclusion in society. The Citizen Social Science project is distributed across nine European countries, with each case study focusing on different groups of youth participants facing diverse social inclusion challenges, including lack of access to jobs and education.
On 21–24 March 2023 around 50 researchers and young people from Italy, Hungary, Spain, Lithuania, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria and the UK gathered at the Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness in San Sebastian, Spain for the YouCount consortium meeting. The aims were to share experiences between cases and discuss methodological approaches and emerging findings, as well as to brainstorm and plan upcoming presentations, publications and educational materials.
This meeting really opened my eyes to research and the power that science has. I realised that our research affects other people and not just the people participating in this project.
Hasibe Akan, chair of Botkyrka Youth Council
Young people connecting through citizen science
The Swedish case was represented by Lina Rådmark and David Borgström from VA (Public & Science), Ann Mutvei Berrez from Södertörn University and four members of the Botkyrka Youth Council.
Hasibe Akan, Chair of Botkyrka Youth Council, came away inspired and full of new insights. Reflecting afterwards, she mentioned how valuable it was to meet other young citizen scientists and researchers and share experiences between cases.
“This meeting really opened my eyes to research and the power that science has. I realised that our research affects other people and not just the people participating in this project”, said Hasibe Akan.
After opening remarks by Reidun Norvoll, researcher at OsloMet and the YouCount Project Coordinator, and Mari Jose Aranguren, General Director of Orkestra, participants were given a presentation on youth-focused Citizen Science from Heidi Ballard, founder and Director of the Center for Community and Citizen Science at UC Davis and renowned expert on public participation in scientific research.
Heidi shared key learnings from other studies within the field and set the stage for the following world café discussions in which case representatives shared experiences, challenges and lessons learned throughout the project.
“I am bringing home a new awareness of the amazing young people that are doing really cool social justice work in other countries. I think the best thing about YouCount is its diversity with each case working in its own way, but at the same time they are all connected”, said Heidi Ballard.
Lessons learned and ways forward
David Borgström, Project and Communications Manager at VA, was equally impressed with the young citizen scientists and their unique perspectives and insights. Reflecting on the session around lessons learned, he found the similarities between cases particularly interesting.
“Even though our cases differ in terms of focus and target groups, we seem to face similar challenges when it comes to, for example, engagement and retention of participants. This made it possible to really learn from each other and start developing ideas that can benefit future projects”, said David Borgström.
Lina Rådmark, a researcher at VA, participated in sessions on how the knowledge co-created in the YouCount project can be used to create social innovations and affect policy making.
“I bring back insights around the importance of actually including the young citizen scientists in every step of the project, from formulating the research questions to analysing the results and discussing them with stakeholders and decision makers”, said Lina Rådmark.
Reflecting on her takeaways, she also mentioned having gained a greater sense of humility around the challenges associated with involving young people in research.
“It is one thing to talk about including youth, but to actually turn words into practice is another thing completely”, said Lina Rådmark.
At the end of the meeting the young people from the Swedish case said that they see us as human beings now, and not only as researchers and scientists.
Ann Mutvei, Södertörn University
When Ann Mutvei Berrez, a researcher at Södertörn University was asked about her takeaways she mentioned gaining new insights around the differences and similarities between the natural and the social sciences when it comes to citizen science. The meeting also gave her insights around how young people view academic researchers, and how projects like YouCount can change young people’s perceptions of researchers.
“At the end of the meeting the young people from the Swedish case said that they see us as human beings now, and not only as researchers and scientists. That surprised me and made me very happy at the same time”, said Ann Mutvei Berrez.
