Join the SPHR Young Person’s Advisory Network

If you are a young person aged 16–25, a youth worker, or work within a youth organisation, and are interested in being involved in SPHR’s research you can now join our Young People’s Advisory Network. 

As part of the SPHR Public involvement and engagement (PI&E) strategy to diversify and improve the quality of PI&E, SPHR researchers reached out to youth organisation CHILYPEP to learn more about how to involve young people, including those who are under-represented in research. The key takeaways from this early scoping work were:

• Working together alongside youth workers is a valuable way to connect with young people, particularly those who are most unheard
• A ‘hub and spoke’ model may be a practical approach
• There needs to be some continuity and investment in the long term for young people

In autumn 2024, we undertook two workshops with youth workers from across the UK.

The objectives were to:

1. Understand the needs and expectations of youth workers for a young person’s public advisory network.
2. Explore ideas and strategies for developing a hub and spoke model.
3. Identify key components and resources required for successful implementation.
4. Gather feedback on potential challenges and solutions.

Key outcomes from these workshops included:

• Youth consultation often requires young people to go to places and meet people they do not know – we need to go to them instead.
• Youth work has experienced prolonged financial and resource pressures – space/opportunity for open questions needs support.
• When consultation happens, it is essential to avoid a closed-door approach – don’t go in with the answers you want to hear already.
• There is a need to work with young people to ensure they will feel the value and benefit of involvement and engagement.
• It will be essential to focus on reaching a wide diversity of young people.

Introducing the hub and spoke model

The SPHR Young People’s Advisory Network (YPAN) comprises a centralised ‘hub’ that brings together members of the SPHR, young people aged 16–25, and key national and local organisations working directly with young people. The ‘spoke’ part of the model represents a network of other young people, youth workers, and organisations that work with young people. The core ‘hub’ will work to connect, involve, and engage young people in research that matters to them.

Aims

As a network, we are co-developing ways to:

1. Ensure that the voices, experiences, and needs of young people are meaningfully embedded in SPHR public health research
2. Promote inclusive and equitable youth engagement across all stages of SPHR’s work, with a focus on amplifying underrepresented perspectives.
3. Build a creative and collaborative space for youth-serving professionals and young people to influence research priorities, design, delivery, and dissemination.
4. Strengthen partnerships between SPHR and community organisations working with young people, fostering trust and mutual learning.
5. Develop a sustainable and diverse network that empowers young people to take on advisory and leadership roles within public health research.

Where can I find out more?

If you are a young person aged 16–25, a youth worker, or work within a youth organisation, and are interested in being involved in SPHR’s research, you can fill in an expression of interest form. There’s also an infographic you can share with your networks/contacts

Alternatively, if you would like to find out more about the network or are a SPHR researcher with any queries related to collaborating with the network, please contact Michelle Tester-Jones at M.C.Tester-Jones3@exeter.ac.uk or Rachel Proctor at r.h.proctor@exeter.ac.uk.