Dr Sukanya Krishnamurthy

Shaping Youth Futures

Dr Sukanya Krishnamurthy shares her involvement in the Shaping Youth Futures project in collaboration with the Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI) at PUC-Rio, Brazil; Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) (India); Fields of View (India); and National Institute of Urban Affairs (India).

How did this collaboration begin?

"Having wanted to connect to the work at Moray House since I joined in 2019 (I am based at Geography), I reached out to Professor Kay Tisdall (Moray House School of Education and Sport) to see if she would be keen to work on the British Academy grant for Shaping Youth Futures that I was applying to.

I knew of Fields of View’s work from other projects, who in turn had worked with YUVA for a long time. Kay on the other hand had worked with Irene (from CIESPI) on other projects, and our successful international collaboration began!"

What’s the current status or progress?

"The project ended in December 2022, with the final knowledge event in New Delhi, India. Our young researchers (from India and Brazil) had completed their individual research projects on young people’s livelihoods in their respective countries over 2020-22.

Through this event they shared their research findings developed using creative dissemination strategies within their communities, to government officials as well as the wider society. Examples of these research outputs include videos and animations, a manifesto, poems as well as singing and roleplays.

As part of the afterlife of their projects, one of the individuals who looked at how lack of transport facilitates affect young people’s livelihoods, will work together with a government official in the transportation department to improve bus services.

There was also a similar impact in Brazil too. As their project output, the young people in Brazil produced a manifesto which they shared widely with government officials and leaders of community organisations. The government of Volta Redonda expressed that because of the City Caravans project on young people and challenges of joining the job market in Brazil, they too will also start a research project about young people to rethink policies on youth employment."

What is your dream for the future of this collaborative partnership?

"To find funding to support the development of these ideas further, and continue working with these young people with whom we have built a strong relationship."

What are the key benefits from this joint engagement?

"Personally, the opportunity to grow as an academic, manager and a person, was something I really appreciated. Learning with so many people- makes for a very interesting research journey! Institutionally, this collaboration across academic institutions, research institutes and community organisations, placed young people at the forefront, where they took on active leadership roles in workshop training, mentoring, data collection, and knowledge exchange.

This has made significant contributions to how knowledge is shared as well as decolonising research practices (e.g. methodologies, practices of ethics, and research dissemination strategies). The successes of this research will not only continue to enrich understandings of young people’s lives in cities by young people, but also forges a commitment towards embracing different forms of knowledge production.

It also looks to see how we can better develop equitable partnerships between Majority and Minority World countries (Global South and North)."

What are the persisting challenges that you faced in this collaboration?

"While the project was planned before the global pandemic, the execution of this project during Covid-19 years brought to the forefront the importance of critical reflexivity when supporting equitable partnerships.

As data collection took place during the pandemic we had to negotiate new ways of research, as well as ethics, different expertise, practices and knowledges. While there are efforts to decolonise knowledge from institutions in Minority World, there remains a need to create spaces where these different forms of knowledges can be leveraged. More practically, issues around paying people on time (we had a lot of challenges with People and Money last year) and visas."

What support from the University of Edinburgh would enhance this partnership?

"Support from the university in terms of the following would be very useful."

• Knowledge exchange events: while these are invigorating ways to share work, learn from other each other, there is a lot of administrative help we needed. Payment to our partners on time, visa issues, research contractual agreements to cite a few examples.
• A social media campaign on the work would be great!

Discover more

View Dr Sukanya Krishnamurthy's academic profile

View Professor Kay Tisdall's academic profile

Visit Fields of View's website

Visit Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action's website (YUVA)

Visit the International center for research and policy on childhood's website (CIESPI)