A toolkit for researchers wanting to engage with young people as co-researchers

This toolkit is designed to support and guide researchers who wish to meaningfully engage young people as co-researchers to explore and solve real-world problems, together.

The information in this toolkit mainly draws on the experiences and learnings of researchers working in the fields of social and cultural youth studies. However, you can apply the resources in diverse research settings.

What does this toolkit provide?

This toolkit offers guidance, advice, tips and practical tools to support collaborative co-research partnerships between researchers and young people. We hope it inspires positive, sustained change in how young people are involved in research and provides the tools needed to put ideas into action.

The resources help researchers to:

• understand more about co-research and the benefits of working with young people as ‘youth researchers’

• navigate challenges, like addressing power imbalances and defining roles and responsibilities

• work with young people safely and ethically

• answer questions about payment and remuneration

• communicate with youth researchers to work together effectively.

How was this toolkit developed?

The need for this toolkit was identified through our research collaborations with young people, researchers and partners as part of the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies. Our team conducted an environmental scan of existing guides and toolkits, which identified a gap in practical resources to support researchers to put youth co-research approaches into practice. The toolkit responds to this gap and aims to build effective youth collaboration in research on issues that impact young people’s lives.

We have been fortunate to work long-term with youth researchers aged 16 to 25 in the Centre for Multicultural Youth’s Explore* program. These experiences in Australia have informed the toolkit resources. The toolkit also draws on evidence from academic literature and existing resources.

It is a work in progress. It will be refined, refreshed and added to over time, and supplemented with resources tailored for specific groups of young people and areas of research.

We have developed a complementary toolkit to support and guide youth researchers in the early stages of their co-research journey, with a focus on social research. That toolkit offers information, advice, training materials and practical tools to build young people’s confidence and skills as researchers.