Youth Research Dialogue
Enhancing Youth Participation: The Role of European Projects and Social Services
The fifth and last Youth Research Dialogue in 2024 took place on 8 November.
The topic ‘Enhancing Youth Participation: The Role of European Projects and Social Services’ was discussed from different perspectives – the European youth programmes as well as social services and community-based services in different countries. We focused on structural dimensions enhancing or restricting youth participation and individual participation and competences.
Findings from our RAY research project on the long-term effects of Erasmus+ Youth on participation and citizenship (extension) were presented and discussed by our RAY researcher, Dr Susanne Gadinger. Additionally, our guest speaker, Dr Michael Rasell, introduced findings on the the impact of social services. We explored insights on experiences of official participation processes as well as spaces young people are building up by themselves.
The following aspects, among others, were addressed: What long-term effects and impact does the Erasmus+ Youth programme have on participation and citizenship competences?, Young people and their individual participation endeavors and competences, How to develop youth participation in social services in a meaningful way?, Participation of young people using social services in their design and implementation, What needs to be taken into account for young people with fewer opportunities / young people at risk? Evolution of community-based disability services.
Moderated by Leena Suurpää and Domagoj Morić
Live stream available
If you didn’t have the time to join or want to rewatch the Youth Research Dialogue again, just access the recording of the live stream here:
SPEAKERS
>> Dr Michael Rasell, Disability Studies and Inclusive Pedagogy team, Institute of Educational Science, University of Innsbruck
Michael Rasell works at the Disability Studies and Inclusive Pedagogy team, Faculty for Education, University of Innsbruck in Austria. He is a qualitative sociologist whose research focuses on participatory approaches to the design and delivery of social services.
Michael leads the Horizon Europe RESPONSIVE project “Increasing the responsiveness of social services to citizen voice across Europe” (2023-2026). This project aims to develop evidence and practice tools to improve how social service organisations utilise input from people using their services. This project looks at services working with young people at risk of social exclusion, families and child welfare, persons with disabilities and mental health issues. From 2024, Michael is the Austria Country Expert for the European Disability Expertise (EDE) network of the European Commission.
>> Dr Susanne Gadinger, RAY transnational research coordination for LTE EXT/ Institute of Educational Science, University of Innsbruck
Susanne Gadinger, PhD, research assistant at Innsbruck University, Austria, and journalist: Susanne studied Educational Science in Augsburg (Germany) and has been working at the Institute of Educational Science at the University of Innsbruck since 2010. Together with Dr. Helmut Fennes, she helped to set up the RAY network, which consisted of 8 partners at the time (now 36 partners), and worked as a project manager and researcher at transnational network level until 2019; she is still a research partner – now together with Prof. Fred Berger – for the Austrian national agency for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps, OeAD – Agency for Education and Internationalisation. At the same time, she worked as a lecturer, supervising among others seminars to write bachelor theses. Her areas of interest are extracurricular youth education, non-formal and informal learning, intercultural learning, participation, biographical research and qualitative research. In the RAY network she was mainly involved in the following studies: Monitoring of Erasmus+ Youth (and predecessor programmes), Non-formal and informal learning, Effects of the corona pandemic on youth work in Europe, Participation and citizenship education and learning in European youth programs, Long-term effects of European youth programs on participation and citizenship (and the extension of this study 2023). Before her time at university she trained as a journalist and worked as a press and public relations officer.