Founded in 2009 by Kate Tilleczek, Young Lives Research Lab is dedicated to developing culturally and youth-attuned research, education & dialogue across countries, ages, communities and sectors to explore 3 integrated areas of research. 1. Youth & the Digital Age 2. Education with/for Youth Wellbeing 3. Youth & Planetary Wellbeing
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
By embedding EDI into our practices, we aim to produce research that is both meaningful and reflective of the diverse realities of young lives today. Inter-generational collaborations with young people from diverse backgrounds and contexts ensures that lived experiences truly shape our studies. Our engagement efforts prioritize accessibility and inclusivity, creating safe spaces where all voices are valued, particularly those from historically under-represented groups. In our knowledge-sharing practices, we strive to break down barriers to access, using multiple languages, formats, and platforms to make research findings available and relevant to a broad audience.
A Virtual Lab
We work with partners and collaborators all around the world in community initiated/led research alongside young people and their community members. Our hybrid approach to our work ensures we only travel when necessary for relationship building, fieldwork, and knowledge sharing. We have co-developed tools and methods of remote working that engage and uplift our partners and participants, and we ensure the results of our work are accessible in multiple languages and through various forms of print, digital, and social media so that knowledge is returned to communities and young people’s voices are heard at local, national and international levels.
Co-Creating Education ‘Without Walls’
We work alongside young people and their chosen community members to co-design and implement quality educational resources and experiences that transcend formal schooling. We offer space to examine, understand and uplift existing and traditional knowledge, and support critical skills development and ongoing mentorship. Our youth-centered work is integrated, holistic, land-based, culturally relevant and valued by the young people who support us in co-developing it.
Our Commitment to Planetary Health…
Our current geological era is characterized by drastic human impact on the earth’s ecosystems and is known as the Anthropocene. The concept of Planetary Health acknowledges connections between environmental health and human wellbeing, connections at the core of many Indigenous cosmovisions and ecological worldviews. These ideas guide our work and reciprocal relationships with partners, youth, communities and the natural world. We aim to act consciously and acknowledge that we are open to learning and to making improvements.