Youth participation to shape the future society
Our ambition is to empower the next generation of youth to feel confident in their ability to shape the future society and address its inherent challenges. We do this by deep diving into the needs of youth through collaborating and co-creating with young people and societal partners (such as youth organisations).
Despite the growing number of youth participation initiatives in both research and policy, significant groups of young people remain underrepresented. Our work addresses this gap by exploring how to meaningfully engage diverse groups of youth.
In our transdisciplinary work, we deliver innovative and inclusive participatory insights and tools, as well as promote the development of skills and supportive environments for youth. Our projects are designed to make participation accessible, relevant, and impactful for all youth, helping to build a society that reflects their voices and aspirations.
Resources
Scientific Publications
- Joyce Weeland, Kasia Tabeau, Milene Guerreiro Goncalves, Wanda Tempelaar & Lysanne te Brinke (2025) –SPARK: Supporting Participation and Research for Kids– doi: 17605/OSF.IO/68SJY [Link]
- Let’s Movez Together – Development and Evaluation of a Tool for Meaningful Child Participation in Understanding and Supporting Digital Resilience (2025), Kim Doornhein, Chiara de Jong, H. Ying Chuck, Esther Rozendaal, DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/68SJY [Link]
- Ruimte creëren voor jongerenparticipatie in beleid – Opbrengsten van 2 jaar samenwerken met Rotterdamse jongeren, jongerenwerkers en beleidsmakers bij de gemeente Rotterdam (2024), Irene Fierloos, Lysanne te Brinke, Susanna Osinga, Betsie Loeffen, Maartje Roggeveen en Arwin van Buuren, DOI: 10.25397/eur.27275469 [Link]
- Yara Toenders, Kayla Green, Dr. Lysanne te Brinke, Dr. Suzanne van de Groep, Dr. Renske van der Cruijsen, Nienke Steenks, Taleah Dumoulin en Prof. Dr. Eveline Crone, Jongerennperspectief op prestatiedruk (2023), DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7707648 [Link]
Webinars
- Youth Perspective on Performance Pressure (2024) Link
Graduation reports
- Rethinking Youth Participation in Policymaking, A Frame Innovation Approach, S. Osinga (2024) [Link]
- Towards responsive policy making, Enabling policy advisors to experience thinking and acting in response to the needs of youth, B. Loeffen (2024) [Link]
- Putting participation to practice, A participatory approach to the design and programming of youth hubs, M. Roggeveen (2024) [Link]
- Beyond street harassment, cultivating agency over the public space for young people in Rotterdam, J. van Driel (2025) [Link]
- Street Exploration, An interactive installation showing youth perspectives on street harassment, R. Smits (2025) [Link]
Media
- Podcast – ReSearching a Healthy Start: Youth participation [Link]
Core team
Arwin van Buuren (EUR), Bianca Boenders (You!ng), Charlotte Tuijl (EUR), Coen Koevoet (EUR), Eveline Crone (EUR), Esther Rozendaal (EUR), Jeroen van der Waal (EUR), Judith van de Wetering, Kayla Green (EUR), Lysanne te Brinke (EUR), Milene Gonçalves (TUD) Susanne Osinga (TU Delft) and Yentl Liewma (Gemeente Rotterdam)
For more information, please contact:
Related items
Video
Charlotte van Tuijl about Healthy Start
Charlotte explains about her research and about Healthy Start
Publication
‘Civil servants think young people find them boring and old’
Municipalities want to do more with youth and young adults. Officials are often unsure of their skills to deal with them. They could do better.
Campaign
Healthy Start at Rotterdam week against sexual street harassment 2025
The City of Rotterdam is organizing the Rotterdam Week Against Sexual Street Harassment from May 12-18, 2025.
Workshop
Graduation project Juliëtte van Driel
Enabling youth to shape their public environment
Interactive installation
Graduation project Robin Smits
Interactive installation to help youth explore their voices
Publication
Youth participation within the municipality
How can youth participation in municipal policies be improved?
Event
Defence Kayla Green
Second PhD defence for Kayla Green – this time for societal partners
Theatre production
The city she loves me
Theatre performance on youth participation inspired by Healthy Start research
Research facilities
State-of-the-art fMRI scanner
Convergence has unveiled a dedicated 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner facility (with fMRI capabilities)
Publication
The Idea Dinner: a participative method for youths and youth workers
How can participation be shaped within youth hubs in Rotterdam? And how can young people and youth workers collaborate to shape the purpose and programming of these spaces?
Publication
Creating space for youth participation in policy
We conducted design research on improving youth participation in policy in the city of Rotterdam, together with youth, youth workers and policy makers
Event
Crooswijk op Stelten Festival
We organized activities for both children and adults related to child participation in research
Theatre production
Never Mind
We teamed up with Erasmus SYNC Lab and the Me & Society foundation in Rotterdam to develop a theatre production on mental health and social inequality, made by and for youth
Event
MIND Us Student Tour
During the week of Mental Health we joined the MIND Us Student Tour in Rotterdam to organize a brain storm session and talk about mental health
Podcast
Live podcast on sexual street intimidation
Healthy Start and Erasmus Verbindt organised a live podcast about sexual street intimidation at WORM Rotterdam
Tool
Experiment cards
An educative tool in the form of experiment cards and facilitator’s manual to help policy advisors think and act with a focus on youth participation
Publication
Implementing youth participation at the municipality of Rotterdam
Our research gives insight into individual and contextual factors that are connected to the implementation youth participation (ages 4-26) in policies of the municipality of Rotterdam
Education
Transdisciplinary course ‘Local to Global’
In the course ‘Local to Global’ students do research on the consequences of global challenges for local communities, children, youth and parents in Rotterdam
Media
Lysanne te Brinke on tv show ‘Tieners tegen kwalen’
Starting Wednesday 14 August Healthy Start Ambition Lead and assistant professor Clinical Psychology Lysanne te Brinke appears in the new MAX tv show ‘Tieners tegen kwalen’ (‘Teens against ailments’).
Publication
Rethinking youth participation in policy making
Design research and creative sessions with stakeholders show the different perspectives of both youth and policy makers on youth participation
Podcast
(Re)Searching a Healthy Start
On this podcast, researchers from Healthy Start and their societal partners talk about our ambitions
Interview
Irene Fierloos about her project
Research on Youth Participation: Understanding perspectives of all stakeholders
Report
Report youth participation in policy making
The report offers insight into the most common challenges regarding youth participation and how municipalities can improve youth participation in policy making.
Interview
The story of Milene Gonçalves
‘Can ‘design’ methods and creative techniques help harness young people’s ideas effectively?’
Interview
The story of Lysanne te Brinke
“Many adolescents feel that their opinion and ideas are not valued”
Interview
The story of Michelle Achterberg
‘How can we make young people more resilient to external influences and improve their mental health?’
Our partners
Cult North
Erasmus Verbindt
GGD West-brabant
Gro-up
Ombudsman Rotterdam Rijmond
Popunie
Stichting Me and Society
Stichting Vreedzaam
You!nG
Stichting Time Out
Gemeente Rotterdam
WMO Radar
SOL
Stichting Lieve Mark
Albeda College
Vereniging Nederlandse Gemeentes
University of Utrecht
Indigo
Netwerk Nieuw Rotterdam
Stichting Werkshop
Woonstad Rotterdam
Stichting Move
