Action Research partner proposals open

Youth Futures and the D2N2 Connected Futures partnership are seeking an Action Research partner to work alongside the partnership and the newly recruited Youth Voice Ambassadors as they enter a new phase of testing ideas and exploring potential solutions for young people with learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum conditions. 

The research will include:

• Carrying out collaborative, iterative research with the partnership and the Youth Voice Ambassadors to understand, reflect on and strengthen their practice
• identifying early indications of systems change and potential future evidence / evaluation approaches
• observation of the system and how it is influenced by and responds to the partnership’s interventions

We are describing this as Action Research to make explicit our expectation of ongoing / “live” feedback between the research partner, the partnership and wider stakeholders. We anticipate that the Action Research will actively contribute to shaping and refining the work of the partnership during the testing phase, as well as generating findings and recommendations for future work in the region and more widely.

We are seeking providers with:

• Experience of conducting research with young people with learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum conditions, and a clear understanding of the power differentials involved and appropriate techniques to redress these
• Strong experience of iterative, participatory action-oriented research
• A good grounding in systems thinking and clear approaches to the monitoring and evaluation of systems change

The action research will be conducted between February and September 2024. We have allocated an indicative budget of £80,000-£100,000.

Interested parties should download the call for proposals and application guidance here.

The deadline for proposals is 10am on 26 January 2024.