D5.5 Policy Brief: Recommendations for Youth Citizen Social Science and Future Policymaking for Social Inclusion of Youth

It is imperative to incorporate the viewpoints of young people to enhance the policy-making process for youth social inclusion. The voices of young citizen social scientists (13–29 years old) who participated in the EU-funded YouCount project are shared in this policy brief. They discuss how social inclusion for youth might be achieved and identify critical issues for social inclusion. They also discuss what social inclusion means to them. The brief also highlights possible motivators for social inclusion and the effects of applying a youth citizen social science to address social inclusion, building on the conclusions from YouCount's research. Several recommendations are also included for policymakers who wish to adopt youth citizen social science and embrace youth viewpoints for youth social inclusion. Finally, the brief includes example of one out of ten hands-on youth citizen science projects conducted within the YouCount project. This example illustrates how engaging young citizen scientists in youth citizen social science has raised important issues about youth social innovation in Norway, that they have also tackled by involving themselves in co-creative problem-solving efforts.