Our Research · Manchester Metropolitan University

Our Research

We believe young people should have the opportunity to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect them. MCYS employs participatory approaches to engage with young people across a range of contemporary and historical issues.

As an interdisciplinary research centre, the MCYS team brings together academics and practitioners from a range of disciplines, including Sociology, History, Criminology, Linguistics, Politics, English and Classics. We use our expertise in participatory and creative methodologies to explore areas such as:

Identity and belonging
Health and wellbeing
Marginalisation and exclusion
Migration and diversity
Youth Justice
Youth Language

In addition to collaborating with young people and their communities, MCYS works with agencies and organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors, both in the UK and internationally. We welcome opportunities to work with third sector organisations, government bodies, the education sector, universities, professional societies, non-departmental public bodies, and advocacy groups.

We are involved in a number of public events and community initiatives and activities, including:

Delivering Community Resolutions: the role of youth offending services

MCYS was commissioned by HM Inspectorate of Probation to explore the implementation and delivery of Community Resolutions with young people in England and Wales.

Poverty, Vulnerability and Family in the Ancient World

Supported by the European Commission’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship, and jointly hosted by History Research Centre at Manchester Metropolitan.

Voices of the Future

Collaborating with children and young people to re-imagine treescapes.

The impact of COVID-19 on the youth justice system

In partnership with the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ) the study aims to understand the unprecedented implications that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the youth justice system and the vulnerable children it works with.

Reclaiming the Narrative: Challenging Islamophobia and empowering young British Muslims

This collaboration between the British Muslim Heritage Centre, the Manchester School of Art and MCYS harnesses social scientific and arts based methodologies.

Serious Youth Violence

Investigating the role of adverse childhood experiences in serious youth violence, with the aim of developing a youth-informed service response

Youth Advisory Council

Honouring MCYS’s commitment to engaging young people in all aspects of our work, the Youth Advisory Council (YAC) was launched in October 2019

Youth Endowment Fund

A 10-year initiative aimed at tackling youth offending by intervening early with 10-14-year olds across England and Wales who are at risk of crime and violence.

Book Club Project

This project, funded by the Siobhan Dowd Trust, provides free books to schools in Greater Manchester and beyond.

The Hope Group YPAR Project

This project involves the co-production of a zine that explores the UK asylum process from the perspective of young people from asylum-seeking backgrounds.

Evaluation of Young Manchester

Young Manchester is a new grant-making charity, funding the delivery of child and youth activities across Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester Youth Justice University Partnership

The partnership comprises of Manchester Metropolitan University, the Youth Justice Board and the 10 Youth Offending Services across Greater Manchester.

Kicking crime into touch: May 2018-May 2020

Working with Comic Relief and Sport Relief along with England Rugby Union to provide rugby training and activities for young men aged 16-17

Children’s well-being in Bangladesh

Dr Haridhan Goswami has recently completed fieldwork for this International survey on children’s well-being in Bangladesh

Youth Justice Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)

Pioneering the application of a Youth Participatory Action Research (or YPAR) approach to youth justice service redevelopment in Greater Manchester

Youthquakes: young civic engagement and political action in challenging times

How do young people ‘do politics’ in 2019? This project investigates how a continuing crisis of austerity, precarity and insecurity affects young people’s politics.

Comic Relief: Getting out for Good

The Getting Out for Good project is working with at-risk young women and girls across Greater Manchester to understand the challenges they face in their local communities and to help them build positive social networks.

Ancient Roman and Late Antique Artefacts from Egypt

This collaborative research and museum project transforms our understanding of social experience, relations, and cultural interactions among the populations of Egypt in the Roman and Late Antique world.

South Asian Research Network for Childhood and Youth Studies

Spanning multiple disciplines and working across four South Asian countries.

UrBEn-ID Project

Exploring the ways ways in which young people in an urban environment use language to enact and perform identities in their day to day lives.

Young people’s engagement with substance use treatment services

A study within the youth justice system in Manchester.

Passions of Youth

An AHRC-funded project, celebrating the leisure passions of young men across Greater Manchester.

Youth Justice Board Re-settlement Consortium Evaluation

A successful tender for Youth Justice Board Re-settlement consortium evaluation

SEND Project

Supporting youth offending teams, the youth secure estate and local authorities effectively to identify and meet young offenders’ Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

Read more about our Research and Activities in the Research and Activities Archive:

View the Research and Activities Archive