Joining a project that is already underway is never easy. Usually, however, there are a wealth of resources available to a new starter: background literature, articles or prior research. As a first port of call when beginning a new project, I always spend the first few days reading, getting to grips with the current state of the field over a cup of tea. But what do you do when you are researching an invisible, under researched population?
My name is Ros, and I am joining the Visible Co-Space study for three months as part of my first year of the Wellcome-UCL PhD in Mental Health Science. This PhD involves three rotation projects in the first year, aimed at trying new things, learning new skills, and working out what we would like to do for our final PhD project. My first project was in a molecular genetics lab and while I loved the hands- on wet lab (an experimental lab working with chemicals, drugs or organic materials) I was really keen to gain some more experience working directly with participants, particularly crossing over into policy. The Visible Co-Space study, which investigates the impact of youth community centres on young people’s physical and mental health was therefore the perfect project, drawing on a variety of my research interests and giving me a key insight into how academic research can be translated into real-life policies.
The project focuses on young people who are not in education, employment or training. Keri, the director of the project, and I, had discussed how there is limited research on this group of young people. However, I didn’t realise just how deep this lack of research extended until I began to delve into the literature. While there were a few adjacent papers on community-based approaches to mental health, there were almost no papers that examined community youth spaces themselves.
The lack of research on this topic not only makes it challenging for individual researchers to understand, but it also has significant real world implications. Between 2010 and 2019, 30% of youth clubs in London were closed. What kind of impact has this had on young people? At the same time, the current government has pledged millions of pounds to develop networks of ‘youth hubs’ as part of Labour’s Safer Streets Mission. The aim is to provide support to young people – but the details on structure and exact purpose of the hubs remain vague. To ensure that these initiatives truly benefit young people, research is needed to figure out what kinds of resources will have the greatest impact.
Labour’s Safer Streets Mission
Although joining the project halfway through brings its own challenges, I am lucky that I am starting right before our data collection phase. I have had the opportunity to sit in on meetings with community partners as they learn more about the project and help us with recruiting young people. Soon, we will begin interviewing young people across the country about their community spaces, helping us make meaningful, evidence-based recommendations for change that reflects their realities.
UCL Visible CoSpace: A study of space and health 