Building Bridges for Evidence Informed Public Policy: Youth Wellbeing

On the 1st of March 2023, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and the Irish Universities Association (IUA), brought together 46 policy makers and 36 higher education researchers to consider how we can align current research with policy priorities in order to enhance the lives of young people in Ireland today and in the future.

The IUA is the representative voice of Ireland’s research intensive, enterprise engaged, public universities and one of DCEDIY’s key strategic actions is to develop quality, evidence informed youth policy.

The event included a plenary session and 3 brokerage sessions which allowed policy makers and researchers to discuss how best to respond to the challenges of promoting well-being for all young people in Ireland today. The themes of the brokerages sessions were identified by DCEDIY as key challenges facing young people. The National Disability Authority and Tusla also contributed to the thematic areas. These brokerage sessions were chaired by Ms Mary Doyle, Visiting Fellow, Public Policy, Trinity College Dublin, Dr Fergal Lynch, Senior Lead, Government and Public Policy Engagement, University of Galway, and Seán Ó Foghlú, Senior Fellow, in Public Policy, Maynooth University.

Theme 1: “Looking Forward” – how can we support youth wellbeing in early adulthood

Theme 2: Young people, LGBTI+ and wellbeing

Theme 3: Civic engagement and future of democratic engagement

This was the first time DCEDIY and IUA engaged in this type of brokerage format and the response to the event was very positive – both researchers and policy makers found the format valuable in terms of mutual learning and networking. The feedback from attendees and reflections from our 3 Chairs is included in the report of the event and includes ways we can improve on future events of this type.

If you would like to know more about this event please see below