Participatory research: Focus on the future of child and youth welfare!

Participatory research: Focus on the future of child and youth welfare!

On June 17, 2025, a lunch talk took place at the Faculty of Art, Health and Social Science that dealt with the topic of *participatory research*. The guest speaker was Prof. Dr. Olaf Kraus de Camargo from the CanChild Center in Canada, who was present both online and on site at the Arts and Change Campus. The lecture offered international perspectives and discussed the connection between science and everyday life.

Participatory research aims to explore, understand and change social reality in partnership. The focus is on the emancipation of marginalized groups, social justice and democratization. The participation of social actors in research processes and their empowerment are central elements of this methodology. Loud medicalschools-hamburg.de This type of research aims to improve the everyday lives of families, children and young people and to include their perspectives in the research process.

CanChild Center and its mission

The CanChild Center is internationally known and has 78 researchers from 10 countries who published a total of 255 publications in 2024. With over 1 million website clicks and more than 6,000 newsletter subscribers, the network aims to break new ground in child development research worldwide. One aspect of the CanChild Center's research is the inclusion of families and children as partners in the research process.

Participatory research has not only found reference in general educational research, but also has particular application in child and youth welfare. This form of research could broaden the perspectives of recipients and specialists and lead to more differentiated research results.

In its position paper, the Working Group for Child and Youth Welfare (AGJ) emphasizes that participatory research projects in child and youth welfare have so far been rare, but are becoming increasingly important. She calls for more flexible funding conditions, the creation of safe social spaces and a changed understanding of scientific roles in order to promote such approaches. Loud agj.de Participatory research could include the perspectives of all those involved and thus achieve qualitative results.

The challenges of participation

However, implementing participatory research also presents challenges. Increased time expenditure as well as scientific and ethical implications are important factors that must be taken into account when planning such projects. In Germany, child and youth welfare services have so far been reluctant to implement such projects. The AGJ also observes that trust and the social framework are crucial for success.

The AGJ emphasizes the need to use participatory research as an innovative tool for the further development of child and youth welfare. A successful example of this are the projects “Democracy education in daycare centers” and “Unaccompanied minor refugees in Brandenburg”, which show how participatory approaches can bring about concrete, positive changes. These initiatives highlight the importance that children's and young people's perspectives have on research and its results.

The lunch talk on June 17th, as by medicalschool-hamburg.de documented, has made a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion about participatory research and has shed further light on the connection between scientific findings and the real lives of children and young people.