Youth research unit news
Trapped in a ‘low-pay–no-pay’ cycle of work
New research by Teesside University published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that unemployed people have a strong work ethic.
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International Sociological Association Congress
Members of the unit presented research in two streams at the International Sociological Association Congress in Barcelona in September 2008.
Dr Colin Webster
Dr Colin Webster, Visiting Research Fellow with YRG, has presented a paper based on social class influences on criminal careers at the European Society for Criminology - Developmental Criminology Group in Edinburgh.
Professor Robert MacDonald
Professor Robert MacDonald was invited to address the Department of Social Welfare Studies, University of Ghent, Belgium. His lecture, under the title of Disconnected Youth? Growing up in Britain's Poor Neighbourhoods was attended by over 300 people, including undergraduate and postgraduate students in social work, criminology, sociology and pedagogy as well as academic staff and researchers from the university.
Dr Ray Arthur
Dr Ray Arthur has been invited by the European Society of Criminology to join a working group on 'Juvenile Justice and Youth Protection'. One of the objectives is to make a report to the Ministries of Justice of participant countries, EU member states and to the European Commission, on ‘Reforming Juvenile Justice’ (a related publication is forthcoming under the same title). Ray also presented a paper in Dublin 'Protecting the best interests of the child in Ireland: do young offenders qualify?’ at the fourth Annual North-South Criminology Conference 2008. One of his earlier Howard Journal papers has been reproduced in Parents and Children (Bainham, 2008), a collection which brings together some of the best journal articles of the last 20 years which deal with various aspects of the relationship between parents and children. Ray also has a further refereed journal publication forthcoming in Family Law, that examines the ‘Demise of Welfare Considerations in the Youth Justice System: the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008’.
Dr Tracy Shildrick
Dr Tracy Shildrick has been invited by European bodies to speak about her research at two events in France. She also joined a round-table of European experts at the University of Nanterre to discuss social and educational policy for post-16 year olds in Europe, as well as giving a paper about the UK situation. The conference was attended by over 250 French politicians, policy makers and practitioners. A paper based on her presentation is to be published in the French journal Diversité. The second event, in Paris, is organised by the Council of Europe under the theme of young people, health and well-being in Europe. Tracy presented research about the impact of ill health and bereavement on the transitions to adulthood of socially excluded young people. A paper on this same theme, with Robert MacDonald, is under consideration by the refereed journal, Social Science and Medicine.
British Sociological Association's Youth Study Group conference
A half-day conference organised by the YRG on behalf of the British Sociological Association's Youth Study Group attracted over 40 participants from Finland, Ireland and the UK to Teesside University. Speakers were selected to address current theoretical debates about 'young people, class and place' in advance of a special issue of the Journal of Youth Studies in 2009. This will be guest edited by Tracy Shildrick, Robert MacDonald and Shane Blackman (Canterbury Christchurch University). Dr Shildrick is co-organising a mid-term conference in Estonia, for the European Sociological Association's Youth & Generation Research Network.
British Sociological Association Youth Research Group seminar
This British Sociological Association seminar run by Professor Rob MacDonald and Dr Tracy Shildrick was fully subscribed to.
Youth Justice: An International Journal
This article by Professor Rob MacDonald, Dr Mark Simpson and Dr Colin Webster was the most downloaded in the year July 2007 - 2008 - 2,494 times.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation support third Teesside YRG study
The Teesside Youth Research Group has won further research funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for a third study in a series which examine issues of youth transitions, social exclusion and marginality.
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New Nuffield Foundation Research on Adolescent Mental Health
Evidence suggests that adolescent mental health problems have risen significantly in recent decades. If so, is this happening everywhere or is there something specific about the UK? What might be driving these trends? What are the policy implications? What needs to change to make things better?
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Dream Homes: Ten Years on
Dr Judith Brown, of the Third Sector Development Unit, and Professor Robert MacDonald have been commissioned to undertake a small-scale evaluation and review of the development of Community Campus 87, a Teesside-based social enterprise.
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International reach of Teesside Youth Research
Teesside youth researchers continue to have an international impact.
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Local and regional activities
Members of the Youth Research Group have recently spoken at several regional events about their research, particularly the implications for youth policy and practice. Researchers talked at a conference of over 100 youth work practitioners in Durham (February 2007) about youth exclusion and the significance of ‘critical moments’, social capital and the role of professionals. The conference, organised by researchers at Durham University and the Regional Youth Work Unit, was followed in June by a Social Futures Institute conference in Middlesbrough, supported by IGNITE. Dr Tracy Shildrick, together with colleagues from Durham and other North East universities, has since helped co-found the North East Youth Research Forum. Its aims is to help make better links between youth research, practice and policy in the North East, for example by hosting a series of workshops and seminars and developing a practitioner-friendly website to quickly and easily disseminate research findings.
European impact
The past few months have been successful for the Youth Research Group (YRG) in sharing Teesside youth research with a wider European audience. In January 2007, Dr Tracy Shildrick spoke about youth transitions at a European Sociological Association Youth Network conference in Slovakia. In May she addressed a Council of Europe seminar on youth and the future of work in Strasbourg. Dr Shildrick and Professor Robert MacDonald also presented the findings and analysis of their Teesside studies to a summit of trade unionists, employers and government representatives from 17 EU states in Dublin in June. The symposium, dedicated youth and work issues in Europe, was organised by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. Their presentation focused on how best to understand and theorise labour market precariousness amongst young adults.
More about the Youth Research Group
Life after punishment
Professor MacDonald of the Youth Research Group, has been invited to present to and participate in a new ESRC research network and seminar series which will explore 'Life After Punishment' - an event organised by criminologists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Keele.
Both Professor MacDonald and Dr Shildrick, Convenor of the Youth Research Group, will also discuss the implications of their research on young people, social networks and social exclusion to another ESRC research seminar series on mentoring, co-organised by Professor Janet Shucksmith.
Professor MacDonald and Dr Shildrick presented to the Policy Studies Institute in London in October 2006 about their extensive research on young adults, 'poor work' and social exclusion.
Promoting work on Neighbourhoods
The recent period has been particularly successful for the Youth Research Group with a raft of work being accepted for publication and a round of speaking engagements.
- An article by Robert MacDonald, Tracy Shildrick, Colin Webster and Donald Simpson, 'Growing up in poor neighbourhoods' accepted and published in a special issue of the high ranking journal Sociology, about class, culture and identity.
- Tracy Shildrick has published, 'Youth culture, subculture and the importance of neighbourhood' in Young: the Nordic Journal of Youth Studies.
- Colin Webster, Robert MacDonald and Mark Simpson's paper 'Predicting criminality? Risk factors, neighbourhood influence and desistance' is published in the first edition of the re-launched journal Youth Justice.
- A volume entitled Drugs in Britain: Supply, Consumption and Control, edited by Mark Simpson, Tracy Shildrick and Robert MacDonald, will be published by Palgrave, later this year.
In early 2006, researchers from the group have presented at invited research seminars at Napier and Northumbria universities, and at the British Sociological Association conference. Robert MacDonald gave very well attended lectures as part of University's Public and Professorial lecture series and the School of Social Sciences & Law twighlight lecture series. Colin Webster was invited to share a platform with, and present research conclusions to, government ministers and criminal justice professionals at a high profile, Howard League conference.
