Recruiting Children and Young People as Participants in your Research

Are you recruiting children or young people for your research? Will you be working with gatekeepers for schools, community organisations, or families? How do you present your research to different stakeholders in an accurate but meaningful way?

This practical workshop will provide reflections on the needs of different stakeholders, how to identify them, and how to present your research in a way that is relevant to them. You will work with others to develop summaries of your project for different audiences, and research networks that can help you access future participants. You will be developing a set of resources to help you speak to people about your project, including set of bespoke recruitment strategies you can put into place and draft documents for different stakeholders (relevant to your ethics application, as well as actively recruiting participants).

Please come with a laptop for this project, as we will have space for drafting your information sheets or resources for participants and gatekeepers.

Outcomes

Participants in this workshop will:

• Identify key stakeholders and networks that can advertise (or gatekeep) their research projects;
• Write audience-appropriate descriptions for their projects;
• Develop an understanding of competing pressures faced by organisations working with children and young people, and how to navigate those.
  

Contributors

Dr Peter Hart is Director of PGR Studies in the School of Education, and a Lecturer in Inclusion, Childhood and Youth, at the University of Leeds. He is also Director of the Education, Childhood and Youth (ECY) Pathway for the WRDTP.

Dr Delyth Edwards is Programme Lead for the MA in Children’s Studies, and a Lecturer in Inclusion, Childhood and Youth, at the University of Leeds. She is also Deputy Director of the Education, Childhood and Youth (ECY) Pathway for the WRDTP.

Please note: The WRDTP is committed to sustainability and to reducing the waste from excess catering at events. A key challenge here is non-attendance at events. From October 1st 2025, the WRDTP will be changing the way we manage the non-attendance of PGR students who have booked place/s at WRDTP Training events. Any PGR student who does not inform the WRDTP (via training@wrdtp.ac.uk) that they will not be able to attend a WRDTP event at least 3 working days before the event takes place will have the cost of their place deducted from their RTSG (if a WRDTP-funded student), or have this charged to their department (if not funded by the WRDTP). This will allow us to better plan for events and to avoid catering waste. Thank you in advance for your cooperation on this matter.