About

ENGAGED Youth is a research project funded by Horizon Europe (2025-2028) that investigates how youth engage politically and participate in society. Led by the University of Bergen, Norway, the project brings together partners from Romania, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Five Universities are partnering with three NGOs that work with youth from diverse backgrounds. Together, we conduct research through Living Labs*, where the voices and perspectives of youth are actively involved throughout the process. Using a combination of surveys and qualitative studies, the project explores how youth develop their social, cultural and political identities, sense of belonging, trust in democratic institutions, and civic engagement – both within their local communities and on digital platforms.

The project will co-create and validate knowledge-based measures together with youth to better understand their identities, sense of belonging, trust in institutions and engagement in society. These measures will be used to analyse and investigate levels of engagement among 13- and 15-year-olds, as well as among emerging adults aged 18. They will be available across most European countries through the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, a cross-national research study conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe.

In addition, qualitative research will capture how youth themselves define political and community engagement, and how they express their views and take action on key societal issues. The project will identify both formal and informal structures of youth democratic participation with particular emphasis on the role of social media platforms in facilitating youth engagement.

Finally, policy initiatives will be co-created with youth and policymakers using the Co-Create Dialogue Forum tool, including pilot testing in our three Living Labs. Special attention will be given to the inclusion of marginalised groups, both in the research and in the development of policy recommendations.

*You can find more information about our three Living Labs and the five Universities under the Partners section

Keywords: social identity, cultural identity, political identity, political participation, civic engagement, democratic participation, adolescents and emerging adults, sense of belonging, living labs