We provided youth workers with the skills needed to engage young people in participatory, action-focused, participant-led research—making it more suitable for informing policy-making at all governance levels. This proved particularly crucial when policy, research, and practice aimed to support marginalized groups often overlooked, such as young carers (YCs), which was the primary focus of the project.
NEXUS addressed urgent calls from researchers, policymakers, and practitioners for participatory youth research to amplify young voices—especially vulnerable groups like young carers (YCs, 2-8% of European youth). Despite UNCRC/CFREU rights, gatekeepers often blocked access over protection fears (Kennan et al., 2012), leaving research top-down (Raanaas et al., 2018). Core Need: Youth workers lacked skills for action-focused, participant-led research informing policy across governance levels. YCs—caring for family with long-term needs—faced impacts on education/health/wellbeing, yet remained policy blind spots. Policy Context: Recognized in European Child Guarantee and EU Care Strategy, YCs required interconnected policy/research/practice. NEXUS equipped workers with training (WP2 piloted with 45, WP3 piloted with 104 across GR/IE/IT) to bridge gaps, empowering 33 young carers as co-researchers. At critical youth development moments (Young, 2006), skilled facilitators proved essential. NEXUS delivered evaluated tools, directly responding to this training void while supporting Europe's care strategy implementation.