What is co-research?
A toolkit for young people interested in research and co-research
This toolkit was developed in partnership with the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS). Individual toolkit resources are available on their website here.
This toolkit will support and guide you on the early stages of your research journey. We focus on social research (it’s what we do!) but there’s still plenty of helpful information for other areas of research. The toolkit offers support, alongside research training and professional development. The aim is that you can get involved in meaningfully shaping and conducting research that investigates some of the trickiest challenges that our society faces today.
Building resilient societies should be by and for young people – your involvement as collaborative researchers is critical because those who make decisions about society draw on research to inform what they do. The resources in this toolkit provide information, advice and resources for you to build confidence and skills as co-researchers to contribute to real-world impact. It includes:
- Information about what it means to be a co-researcher
- Insight on what it’s actually like being on a research team
- A summary of the benefits that young people, research, and the community can experience from having young people involved
- Real experiences and advice from other young researchers
- ‘How to’ guides that provide tips to manage research challenges and get started in a research career
- Introductory training guides and activities that introduce the concepts of research ethics, social research methods and research project management
- Practical tools and templates, from managing wellbeing to planning a research project timeline.
This toolkit has been developed by young people, researchers and partners at the Centre for Multicultural Youth, through CRIS research. The toolkit was identified as one key way to build effective youth participation in research about the issues that impact young people’s lives.
This toolkit is a work-in-progress, which we will refine, refresh and add to from time to time. So don’t forget to come back and see what’s new!
To learn more about Explore, watch this quick video
Youth Co-research Toolkit for Researchers
A toolkit for researchers who wish to meaningfully engage young people as co-researchers to explore and solve real world problems, together. This toolkit was developed in partnership with the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University and the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS).
This toolkit is designed to empower researchers looking to engage young individuals as co-researchers in tackling real world issues. It provides valuable guidance, practical advice, and tools for fostering collaborative partnerships between researchers and youth. While primarily drawing from the experiences of those in social and cultural youth studies, these resources can be applied across various research domains.
The resources in this toolkit were developed by researchers (including youth researchers) at the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University in partnership with the Centre for Multicultural Youth. The toolkit resources were informed by the collective learnings of:
- researchers who have worked with youth researchers in co-research projects at the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies;
- youth practitioners (Jess Case, Edmee Kenny, Willow Kellock and Soo-Lin Quek) at the Centre for Multicultural Youth; and
- young people involved in the Centre for Multicultural Youth’s Explore program. We also drew on the current literature and existing youth participation and engagement guides, including the Wellbeing Health & Youth Guidebook for Youth Engagement in Health Research.