Young people’s access to social rights
Young people’s access to social rights is a topical issue and in the current social, economic, and political climate, it is crucial to ensure that social policies have a meaningful and positive impact on young people, especially given the clear link between access to social rights, social justice, democratic stability and security.
The upcoming activities and publications will collect and synthesise existing knowledge on young people’s social rights (social, economic, legal, and political) and foster dialogue between researchers, policymakers, youth work practitioners and young people to bridge gaps between evidence, policy and practice.
A keynote event will be a research symposium organised in September 2026, which will be enhanced by a subsequent youth knowledge book on the current state of play, knowledge briefs and youth knowledge breakfast webinars.
More information on the research symposium can be found here.
Objectives:
- Collect and synthesise existing knowledge on young people’s social rights
- Bridge gaps between evidence, policy, and practice by fostering dialogue between researchers, policymakers, youth work practitioners, and young people
- Support the development of evidence-based policies and youth work practices addressing current socio-economic challenges and advancing young people’s social rights
- Promote youth perspective and youth mainstreaming approaches
- Ensure wide accessibility and relevance of knowledge through targeted publications and user-friendly formats
Expected outcomes:
- Research Symposium on young people’s access to social rights, centred around a collection of research papers
- Youth Knowledge Book “State of play of research on young people’s access to social rights in Europe”, compiling the most relevant and insightful contributions from the symposium, as well as a potential Insights publication on the key findings
- Knowledge Briefs and “Youth Knowledge Breakfast” webinar(s) exploring social rights
Indicative timeline
2026
- Meeting of the scientific committee of the Symposium
- Research Symposium on young people’s access to social rights (September 2026, Strasbourg)
2027
- Publication of the Youth Knowledge Book and Insights publication
2028
- Promotion and dissemination of the Youth Knowledge Book and Insights