UCan – United Kingdom

A young person from the You Can group working on a project. He is a film maker.

UCan (You can!!) is a young researcher group hosted by The Centre for Children and Young People’s Participation at the University of Lancashire. The group is open to children and young people across the North West who are interested in carrying out research as a way of bringing about positive change for themselves, their communities, or globally.

Young people bring ideas for research to the group. Adults and young people then work together to bring about change, seek funding and share new knowledge.

Many UCan members are disabled or have experience of accessing health and social care services due to a range of life experiences. We are key partners in the work of the academic Centre because we are experts by experience, enabling all of us to look at the world differently.

UCan members instigated the FriendsF4R project because we wanted to reach out to children and young people across the world to share experiences and understanding.

We worked with film and media specialists to create a film introducing our micro-project and to inspire others to take part.

A You Can facilitator supports a young person to tell her ideas in the Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover young people led project.

UCan have also been involved in creating a website with the Centre for Children and Young People’s Participation that collates international evidence and advice with children and young people about broader research topics: