Towards scaling up, out and deep: Debriefing youth experiences of youth participatory action research and citizen social science

Youth encounter specific forms of epistemic injustice when they are invited to decision making and participatory processes. Our empirical outset is debriefing sessions with youth co-researchers based in Norway who have participated in numerous national and international Youth Participatory Action Research projects and Citizen Social Science projects over the past decade. Here the youth reflect on their role, purpose and competencies built, but also on the perceived lack of societal influence that their knowledge production has. Building on critical and post-colonial theory, we argue that these practice-based reflections open a space of epistemic diversity, and that a novel combination of Action Research, Citizen Science traditions and arts-based methods offer new strategies for scaling: up, out and deep. The youths’ positioning ventures from participating to partnering roles, provoking a re-thinking of the scaffolding needed to provide for epistemic partner growth and care.