Engaging young people in questions around technology, society, discrimination, and inclusion 

As a third-level research-led university, Trinity College Dublin is committed to fostering world-class research. Our Science and Society Research Group in the School of Education is dedicated to engaging with wider publics outside of academia and welcoming new and diverse communities into our college. Through this project, we encourage participants to envision alternative futures for themselves and their communities using creative methods and to take steps towards these envisioned futures through participation in society. The Critical ChangeLab project allows us to engage with participants on issues of democracy through creative and imaginative methods, and affords us the opportunity to work with participants to create the research that will inform the project outputs. 

Our Critical ChangeLabs focus on fostering critical literacies in participants by envisioning alternative futures for themselves and their communities. Through this approach, we have worked with young people to engage in questions around technology, society, discrimination, and inclusion. 
 

From design thinking to zine making: methods and approaches  

The Critical ChangeLabs that we have run have been created in consultation with educators and civic society partners who work directly with the young people participating in the programme. Depending on the skills and interests of the youth, we have typically chosen methods that would be the most engaging and relevant. During our programmes, we have used design thinking, historical timelines, augmented and virtual realities, walking tours, walking debates, mind mapping, zine making, and world-building to thoroughly investigate an issue and to take some action towards the future. 

Context & participants   

The first group of participants consisted of approximately ten young people, aged 17-25, in a non-formal youth work setting in Ireland. The relationship between the youth work organisation and Trinity College Dublin was new, and the educators were eager to be involved in the Critical ChangeLab programme. The group was made up of members of the organisation’s Junior Board, which consists of young people from across a range of their programmes and services who make decisions and recommendations for the organisation and its programmes. They were an incredibly engaged and enthusiastic group of young people to work with. 

Looking ahead

As we look ahead to our next PAR cycle, we hope to work with equally engaged and inspiring young people. We aim to take the issues we started to explore with our first PAR Cycle group further and to expand on them and their creative responses to them. We are excited to envision the future of our society with even more young people and to be involved in their process of shaping their futures for themselves and strengthening democracy.