Youth@Work: “Connecting policy, research and practice” Conference

The  Youth@Work: “Connecting policy, research and practice” Conference will bring together a diverse group of researchers, policy makers, youth workers and others actively working in the youth work sector to discuss how to build processes to inform youth work with relevant and rigorous research around youth employability and entrepreneurship. It will include speakers from research, youth work, policy  and business – each of whom would have opportunities to describe their organizations and how collaboration would be most beneficial for advancing their work. 

During the Conference, speakers and participants will discuss on several levels: practitioners will discuss how they currently use research and evidence to inform their practice in the field; policy-makers will discuss how decisions at the local, national and supranational levels are influenced by research and evidence; researchers will discuss how they engage with organizations and governments to collect and analyze data and publish results. 

Effective and impactful youth work programs require a commensurate effort to engage in research that informs policy makers and practitioners with credible and actionable information. Over the past decade, the RAY network has contributed to a growing body of knowledge on the impact of Erasmus+ funded programs on youth and youth workers. These studies have examined factors such as competence development, youth participation and citizenship and overall program engagement. 

In addition, the Pool of European Youth Researchers (PEYR) network was created by the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership to support evidence-based policy making in the youth field. PEYR members act as both a resource to European agencies engaged in youth work and as a collective group that coordinates larger research projects.  

Despite the developments that have taken place with research on youth work, there are still gaps both in our knowledge of good practices and in our process of translating research for policy-makers and practitioners. The Conference will look at these gaps and propose solutions to bridge them. 

So if you are…

a youth worker, would you like to know more about what works or not in youth work?

a policy maker, do you want to know more about effective policies on youth work and good practices?

a researcher, would you like to see how your research can be really used in policy making? 

Join this Youth@Work Conference and explore the potential of research-policy-practice collaboration for youth work in Europe.

Objectives 

The Conference is organized under the Youth@Work Partnership on Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship of Erasmus+ National Agencies - www.youthatworkpartnership.org 

It has 4 main goals:

• building up a platform that would serve to discuss and share practices
• showcasing the works and results of Youth@Work;
• understanding the added value of the project for youth work and youth employability/entrepreneurship;
• building up on these 3 elements to create a strong follow up.

In addition, the Youth@Work conference will be a big moment for networking – a constant element for the whole event. The Conference wants to be a big meeting point for all those passionate that believe youth work creates opportunities for personal and professional development of young people. Following the core values of the Y@W project, it will put together representatives from the three main sectors that make our society grow: business, public and third sector.

Here you can see key components that can be applicable to Youth@Work:

Need for research in general and youth research, in particular 

Need for “nonpartisan” research (independent research)

Need for access to “good data”

Scientific rigor of the research

Research that is communicated in a language that other actors would understand

Communication process that gets the research out there

Profile of Participants

The Conference would like to hear voices and thoughts from different minds. We are looking for 50 participants from Erasmus+ Programme countries, Eastern Partnership, Southern Mediterranean  and Western Balkan countries, with the following professional backgrounds: 

• Researchers, academics and evaluators interested in applied research on youth that influences policy and practice;
• Youth workers; community workers; educators; trainers and young change-makers; youth leaders
• Formal education representatives from primary schools, higher education and VET programs;
• Local, national, or supranational (EU) policy-makers interested in building networks between universities, practitioners, and government decision-making.
• Y@W past events’ participants;
• Y@W Pool of Trainers;
• Practitioners, policy makers and researchers that are interested in the topics of youth work, employability, (social) entrepreneurship, sustainable economy and development, education, CSR;
• Young people; Youth workers; Youth leaders;
• Representatives of NGOs and Foundations;
• Representatives of the Education system (formal and non formal);
• Representatives of trade unions;
• Representatives of youth trade unions;
• Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs representatives; 
• Young entrepreneurs;
• Participants in the Entrecomp Europe Project.