About this session

Saturday, 10:20 AM - 11:50 AM

Using a Developmental Science Lens to Amplify Youth Voice in Research

As researchers, we often study youth without meaningfully engaging them in the process. Youth engagement in research activities spans a continuum—from youth advisory boards and consulting roles to youth-centered design to Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) to youth-led research—each offering unique opportunities to bolster the quality and relevance of research. The best youth engagement maximizes the resources, capacity, timeline, and interests of both youth and adults.

This interactive professional development session offers attendees examples, tools, and strategies for engaging youth in ways that enhance the relevance, rigor, and ethical standards of their research. Participants will be broken into smaller groups, providing a “community of practice” space that enables session leaders and attendees to share their experiences and knowledge in collaborative and creative ways. Some groups target those new to youth research engagement (e.g., Incremental Approaches to Increase Youth Voice in Research; Introduction to YPAR), while others will focus on specialized topics (e.g., Youth-Adult Partnerships: Power, Privilege, and Positionality; Building Trust and Group Cohesion; Arts-Based Inquiry Approaches; Adult Capacity Building).

Small groups will be led by Drs. Ahna Ballonoff Suleiman (Executive Director of the UC Davis Center for Regional Change), Parissa Ballard (Wake Forest School of Medicine), Heather Kennedy (Colorado School of Public Health and Program Manager at the Hub for Justice-Centered Youth Engagement), Lindsay Till Hoyt and Francesco Osso (Fordham University), and Brian Villa (UC Berkeley’s Innovations for Youth). Our goal is to provide valuable insights and actionable tools to enhance participants’ research practice while promoting anti-racist and equitable principles.