Within GUTS, we collaborate with adolescents and youth organisations through participatory methods and citizen science. Across our program, we don’t view youth as merely passive research “subjects”, but aim to engage them as active agents across the research process. Thus, GUTS is shaped “with” or “by” adolescents, and not “about” them. By doing this, we form a community between GUTS researchers, youth organisations, and practitioners.

Benefits of Participatory Research: Enhancing Relevance, Quality, and Engagement

• Enhanced relevance and quality: Participatory research ensures that research questions, methods, and interpretations are closely aligned with young people’s lived experiences.
• Mutual learning: Researchers gain deeper contextual insight, while adolescents experience and a sense of ownership over the knowledge produced.
• Enhanced trust and accessibility: This collaborative approach enhances trust, accessibility, and long-term engagement.
• Meaningful action and practice: This approach increases the likelihood that long-term findings translate into meaningful action and practice.
• Adolescents as citizen scientists: Young people actively participate in GUTS by taking ownership of how and when data is collected, aligning it with their daily lives and priorities

Empowerment: This approach empowers young people to contribute in ways that feel relevant, feasible, and impactful.