Hosted in The Mermaid, London, a consortium of youth organisations and delegates from all over the UK came together to explore the biggest issues affecting young people today, and how to tackle them.
The event kicked off with a welcome talk from Channel 4 reporter Fatima Manji. She framed the focus of the day, and then honed in on the specific issues in question through an interview with UK Youth's CEO Anna Smee and Jake Pitt, Vice Chair of the British Youth Council.
This preceded a panel discussion that included Elliott Goat, Co-leader of Undivided, Floriane Fidegnon-Edoh member of the British Science Association's CREST Youth Panel, Brendan Quirk, a UK Youth Voice member, and Alice Pinney from Girlguiding. Upon the list of discussed topics was how to engage young people in politics - something particularly relevant given the upcoming election.
Concluding that opening sessions was an interview and performance by Hussain Manawer, who alongside being a performance poet just happens to be an astronaut in training! He discussed the growing importance of being able to talk about mental health, before finishing with an outstanding poem - 'The Playground'.
.@HussainsHouse performing at @ccollisions_uk representing The Mix. #CreativeCollisions pic.twitter.com/F0pP22PAmM
— The Mix (@TheMixUK) May 3, 2017
The breakout sessions were split into key focus areas: Youth Engagement, Social Mobility, Identity and Skills for the Future. The first breakout sessions were as follows:
- YE: A Political Voice for the Next Generation
- SM: Working with Young People to Improve Social Mobility
- I: Embracing Diversity in a Frightened World
- SF: The Apprentice
The second sessions were:
- I: Internet Citizens: Let's make a better web!
- YE: Youth Hackathon
- SM: Whose Job is it Anyway?
- SF: Youth Sector Rebooted
After lunch it was the time for the afternoon plenary, which was hosted by Cognitive Neuroscience Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore. She discussed mental health and the young brain, and how it changes through adolescence. She cited studies that showed that adolescent mice drink alcohol than their elders, and that adolescents are twice as likely to take risks when with people their own age group.
Questions were raised about the effects of pornography on the developing mind, or how the world of counter-terrorism can do more to help mental health, and in both instances there were no concrete answers because quite simply there hasn't been any studies into it. They hope this will change down the line.
The final breakout sessions of the day were
YE: By Young People, for Young People
The Big Debate came next, where, following a keynote speech from Steve Reed MP, a Question Time style debate was played out infront of the audience. Chaired by the Founder of Shout Out UK, Matteo Bergamini, the panel also included Professor Louise Archer, Michael Lynas, and Dr Louise Ashley.
The debate brought up interesting topics. Steve Reed MP made the note that young people are the least likely to vote, and that needs to be addressed. He also said he would like to see a law implemented where social media accounts can be wiped when you're 18, so stupid things you do when you're younger cannot come back to haunt you in later life. It also raised that young people are the most likely to volunteer, which wasn't the case previously. This feeds nicely into work I've previously done, which found that young people are more concerned with individual issues, rather than party politics.
The final talk of the day was by Megan Hine, who is a survival consultant and has travelled around the world, and even been shot at. She spoke about survival, mental fortitude, and resilience - and how all of these skills need to be developed in young people.
While certainly an interesting and informative day, there were certainly some sessions that worked better than others.
I also felt at times that there was a lack of consequence to the whole event - a lot was discussed, and some potentially good writeup points, what will actually come from the day? Will youth political participation increase? Will mental health suddenly become funded adequately?
Probably not.
But then I have to ask myself- is that a realistic outcome? Again, probably not. The importance of this event was more in raising awareness. Out of the 600 attendees, there was over 250 young people there. Hopefully they took inspiration from the event, and left with a desire to change the status quo, find and use their voice, and spread that activism to others.
This looked really interesting!