Call for Expressions of Interest: Young Researchers’ Network

Making young people’s voices heard is necessary to make democratic systems sustainable and representative of all generations. To further understand youth issues with nuance and complexity, it is important to platform young people as the best suited to political research participation as it most affects themselves and their peers.

To do so, the Young Researchers’ Network initiative will bring together a diverse group of international young scholars and democracy support practitioners from all regions. The initiative aims to foster cross-regional and cross-disciplinary exchanges on the topic of youth participation in democracies across the world.

Young selected researchers will follow a three-year programme, supported by the Youth Democracy Cohort. They will have the opportunity to exchange and learn from researchers and key people working on the topics of Youth Participation, Civic Engagement and Democracy. The programme foresees tutor support and regular meetings for potential support to participants’ research and data analysis. In addition to this, there will be online training sessions on research methodology, data collection and paper drafting. The programme will also include recurring webinars on interesting topics for the young group of researchers.

12 Case Studies On Youth Political Participation

• The initiative will result in the publication of 12 case studies (3000 words) written by young researchers, to be collated into a flagship report on global youth political participation.
• The report will highlight policy implications and give recommendations for international development donors as well as youth policy decision-makers on improving youth participation through national and international policies.

Compensation

• Successful candidates will receive EUR 10.000,00 to support their part-time research on the country case study and ad-hoc research assistance for the Young Researchers’ Network initiative over the 3-year duration of the initiative.
• Members of the Young Researchers’ Network will be based remotely and will be invited to Brussels to present their research in 2024 and 2025.

Qualifications

• PhD students, early-career academics and young professionals studying or working in an area related to youth in the field of development studies or democracy studies,
• Candidates should be currently undertaking or have been awarded a PhD or master’s degree from an internationally recognised university within the last three years.
• EPD will aim to have representation from all major world regions in the network and will take this into account when considering applications.

For more information, visit European Partnership for Democracy.