Nordic network for data collection and youth studies

20.07.18 | Project
NORDBUK has funded the launch of a Nordic network for data collection and youth studies. A good deal of research on issues relating to children and young people has been conducted in the Nordic countries, but to date there has been no systematic review of Nordic knowledge of these issues as a whole. Consequently there is a call to map the potential for increased exchanges with regard to existing studies in the Nordic Region.

Information

Dates
01.01.2017 - 31.12.2019

During the 2000’s the environment which young people grew up in changed rapidly. A relevant knowledgebase is required in order to understand these young people and to develop the skills needed to work with them. The Nordic countries have a common welfare regime – the Nordic welfare regime – and thus offer very similar living conditions for young people growing up in these countries. Likewise the Nordic countries currently face similar challenges in terms of rapid structural change, digitalisation, youth marginalisation, an increased need for integration, etc.

Over the past decade several studies have been conducted in each of the Nordic countries that make important contributions to mapping the day-to-day lives of young people, and that offer a deeper insight into the factors that elucidate differences in the conditions of young people in the various countries they are growing up in . Such factors may be linked to poverty and social inequality, recreation opportunities, education, migration, consumption of intoxicants, crime, political mobilisation, etc.

However, there is no systematic overview of this knowledge. Furthermore, youth studies in the Nordic countries have been developed largely independently through regional and national initiatives. Consequently an up-to-date joint study is a necessary first step for deepening co-operation.

The Nordic network on youth surveys aims to establish new and stable Nordic co-operation on youth research. A first network meeting was held in Stockholm in April 2017 with participants from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. Participants included youth researchers and representatives from the agencies and organisations most involved in surveys of young people.