Established in 2016, the YRAP primarily exists to ensure that research about young people is informed by and undertaken with young people, including those with lived experience of the issues being explored. We think this is really important for lots of reasons – particularly when research focuses on young people who have already faced marginalisation or silencing from people in power. We want to be part of changing the way that knowledge gets produced – encouraging policy makers, practitioners and researchers to take young people seriously and see them as active partners in bringing about change.

Who we are

The YRAP involves young people aged 16 – 25 years and represents diverse perspectives and experiences, united by a commitment to improve responses to child sexual abuse and related forms of harm. Many of us have prior experience of participating in research projects at the Safer Young Lives Research Centre or have been part of participation work in local projects which support young people after experiences of sexual abuse. YRAP members work in a professional capacity to strengthen the engagement of young people and wider communities in all aspects of the SYLRC’s research and dissemination. To date the panel has involved 16 young women and men aged 16 to 25 from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

What we do

Our work starts here in the Safer Young Lives Research Centre – helping members of the wider research team to develop, design and undertake research in ways that are child- or youth-centred, ethical and empowering. We help with:

• piloting interviews
• exploring research themes
• developing research questions
• sense-checking findings
• designing accessible reports to share research with other young people.

We help train other professionals, share our learning at conferences and co-write with other members of the research team. We also give our feedback on the direction of the research centre. In 2021 we are developing our own research project.

We also support other researchers and policy makers who want to consult with children and young people about issues relating to child sexual abuse. Organisations we’ve supported recently include the Home Office, the University of Sussex and the Centre for Expertise on child sexual abuse

As well as collaborating on research we also work to promote children’s participation rights in practice and policy relating to child sexual abuse more widely. We want people to know that supporting children and young people’s participation rights is a vital part of protecting them. You can read more about this in an article that some of the YRAP co-wrote

Our current programme of work

YRAP recently undertook a 15-month period of strategic development funded by Porticus, a funder we are incredibly grateful to for their open and flexible approach which has allowed us to truly embed the work of YRAP within the Safer Young Lives Research Centre. This funding also enabled the recruitment of a Senior Research Fellow in Young People’s Participation, Bethan Taylor, who led YRAP throughout this period and continues to do so.

During this period we were able to recruit three new members – a process co-designed by current members, as well as sustaining and increasing the influence and impact of YRAP, and the wider participation expertise held within SYLRC. This happened through YRAP members involvement in a series of internal and external research projects and consultations relating to policy and practice, as well as public speaking opportunities, and through YRAP staff consulting on participation with external organisations, and being involved in the development of some international training.

These projects include reviewing the Luxembourg guidelines – international terminology guidelines for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, which led to the development of some practice guidance to accompany the guidelines, and contributing to the development of international training on participatory research on the topic of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

During this period, YRAP were also written into a number of funding bids for which the work is now ongoing, including the co-development of recommendations for child-centred policing and the co-development of a best practice guide for child sexual abuse interventions.

Alongside facilitating YRAP participation in consultations, this funding provided time and resource to support YRAP to co-develop and deliver a research project on a topic of their choosing - strengthening the participatory credentials of the model from YRAP involvement in consultations on projects developed without their input.

YRAP chose the topic of 'care' as the focus of the research they wanted to undertake. Together we developed our research question: 'How did your experience of ‘care’ following sexual violence impact you?' and agreed on a collaborative autoethnographic approach in which YRAP members were both co-researchers and research participants. We are currently working on writing up the poignant findings of this project in a peer reviewed journal article co-authored by YRAP members

The decision-making power of YRAP members also increased during the life-cycle of this funding through their role in the recruitment of the new director of the Safer Young Lives Research Centre. All members took part in the recruitment panel, alongside the Head of the Institute and the Pro-Vice Chancellor, and were presented to and given the opportunity to ask questions (which they all did - and did not hold back). Their feedback was captured and shared with the rest of the panel to inform the decision. This represents a significant step towards YRAP members having a voice and influence at the strategic level within the University.

A short history of the YRAP

In 2016, having secured a small pot of internal funding for a two year pilot, the Safer Young Lives Research Centre developed the Young Researchers’ Advisory Panel (YRAP). Prior to this, we had often worked with young people’s advisory groups on individual research projects and used participatory methodologies. From 2016, we wanted to find a way of supporting young people’s ongoing engagement and influence in the centre. The YRAP was set up in partnership with a group of eight young people who had previous experience of supporting our work in advisory roles.

As far as we know the YRAP is a unique model of enabling young people’s participation in applied research and policy to address child sexual abuse. If you are interested in hearing more about our work or collaborating with us, please contact us via Bethan Taylor at bethan.taylor@beds.ac.uk