Dynamics of Youth: a community in which we complement each other

The strategic theme Dynamics of Youth (DoY) will bring together more youth researchers, beyond faculty boundaries. At the same time, contact with professional practice will be strengthened. Easier said than done, but little by little, DoY is making good progress. Academic Director Catrin Finkenauer calls for more mutual curiosity and fun in this process.

We’re here to stay. That much is certain, says Catrin Finkenauer. “The four strategic themes are part and parcel of Utrecht University. They are crucial for the achievement of all kinds of university ambitions – take Open Science, Sharing Science, innovative learning, social engagement, interdisciplinarity and international research, for example.” But if we are to be able to make a real impact and get more people involved, we need to be able to find and understand each other better, she says. “Support staff must collaborate with each other across faculty boundaries and make time for this in their work. Academics must learn to look beyond their own specific discipline and acknowledge that they need this cross-faculty support.

"If you really want to work in an interdisciplinary way, you have to take the time to be curious, to get used to each other’s language, to trust each other."

Dialogue sessions

Catrin regularly visits all the faculties to tell people about Dynamics of Youth. “On these occasions, youth researchers often ask me: how do I find other people in my field? We try to help them with this through our dialogue sessions. Every six weeks, researchers share ideas on a topic from different perspectives. These are readily accessible, online meetings that last no more than 45 minutes.” Researchers who want to highlight a youth-related theme can ask DoY to organise one of these dialogue sessions. Catrin: “DoY does this to give people the opportunity to get to know each other. If you really want to work in an interdisciplinary way, you have to take the time to be curious, to get used to each other’s language, to trust each other. Bringing play back into science. That takes time, so it is easy to fall back on what you know. Sharing ideas with others in areas well beyond your comfort zone, on the other hand, is energising.”

From mini youth to Ladies C

The Executive Board has called upon Dynamics of Youth to involve more people in its work. The themes of the existing hubs are too specialised for this, explains Catrin. “That’s why we plan to work with four large domains. It’s a bit like the structure of a sports club: you have the youth teams, various adult teams, the bar committee, etc. All of these are individual components, but everyone ultimately belongs to the club, from mini youth, through the Men’s A team to the Ladies C team. That’s how we want DoY to be, too. Take the Early Childhood domain, for example. Within that domain, people can conduct research into, for example, language development, bonding, brain development, nutrition, sleep, etc. Different clusters work together on research under an overarching theme, under the umbrella of DoY.”

Make yourself easy to find

To involve more people with Dynamics of Youth, we have to be able to find them. Using your profile page effectively can help with this, explains Catrin. “Every member of staff at Utrecht University who works with children and youth can select Dynamics of Youth under Research Themes in their profile. This will make you easy to find.” Another tip from Catrin: subscribe to the newsletter. “In it, you can read how DoY facilitates research and education and strengthens community outreach.”

"The challenges around youth are extremely complex and cannot be solved by science in isolation."

Collaborate with professionals

If a real impact is to be made, this link with professional practice is crucial. The JongGeleerd podcast (in Dutch) illustrates how scientists and professionals can complement each other. Catrin Finkenauer finds that many researchers think in terms of disciplines, whereas the challenges around youth are extremely complex and cannot be solved by science in isolation. “Take issues such as social inequality in education, child abuse or the impact of COVID-19 on young people, for example: to make a real impact, you need a diverse team. Someone who understands the law, for example, people from the municipal authority and schools, an educationalist... you can only make a real difference when you work together.” And the solutions that are devised will be more robust if we measure them more often and more broadly against professional practice, explains Catrin. “Imagine, for example: science develops a treatment method for abused children that assumes that the person treating the child can talk to them individually in a quiet environment. Someone from professional practice then says, for example, ‘This just won’t work, because I work with a child who always wants to have their grandma with them, and the grandma has a noisy dog.’ In that case, as a scientist, you must discuss with the professional how you can still make your method effective.”

Constant new questions

Another example: as a result of medical advances, more chronically sick children are growing up with conditions from which they would previously have died. “A chronically sick young person says, for example, ‘I want to go out with my friends, but I’m so tired.’ If the doctor can’t do anything more to help in medical terms, we have to look beyond this and see the child in the context of their development into an adolescent, where social interaction is crucial. What kind of knowledge do we need? A psychologist? Someone who considers the social norms in terms of people with a disability? The world is changing and is constantly posing new questions for us to answer. Our child rehabilitation researchers do just this – they look at the whole picture.

"We need people who build bridges, who can listen to a different perspective."

Community

What kind of people do we need if we want to work in an interdisciplinary way? “People who build bridges, who can listen to a different perspective.” That is a change that we must address in the curricula of Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes and in Continuing Education, says Catrin. And that change also requires greater diversity within our university. Catrin has now come full circle. “From the top down: Open Science, the Strategic Plan and the strategic themes are the start of that change. But we must do this together, as a community where people with differences can work together and acknowledge and complement each other’s strengths. That, for me, is Recognition and Rewards.”