Teesside academics help to put focus on youth issues

Renowned researchers into youth issues from Teesside University are to speak at an international conference which aims to highlight and address challenges facing young people.

New Agendas on Youth and Young Adulthood: Youth Studies Conference 2013 will be held at Glasgow University from April 8 to 10.

Professors Rob MacDonald and Tracy Shildrick, from Teesside’s Social Futures Institute, are also involved in organising the conference, sponsored by the Journal of Youth Studies, of which they are both deputy editors.

Both have researched and written widely around issues involving young people, poverty and worklessness.

The aim of the conference is to set the agenda for the future study of youth and young adulthood in ways that build on past achievements, identify new directions and fresh perspectives to enhance the understanding of young people’s experiences.

Professor MacDonald, whose research interests include sociology, criminology, social policy and youth studies, said: 'As well as delivering our own research papers, we will be chairing roundtables of some of the most established and most promising youth researchers internationally, to take stock, learn lessons and set out new agendas for youth research in the future.'

The conference will include a mix of talks from leading researchers in the field, debate on topical issues and theoretical concerns and themed paper sessions.

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