Contemporary Youth Cultures and Transitions (CYCaT) at The Open University

A collaborative knowledge exchange and impact hub supporting disadvantaged and racially minoritized young people’s successful transitions into adulthood.

The following pages give you the opportunity to read about our research and knowledge exchange, the projects we are involved with, and the professional development areas that we specialise in. You can find more details about the work of the hub and its team members in the downloadable booklet.

About Us

The Contemporary Youth Cultures and Transitions at The Open University brings together academic researchers – working across and between the boundaries of criminology, human geography, psychology, sociology, and education studies – alongside practitioners and youth activists.

We believe that young people’s voices and experiences should be front and centre of our work. Moreover, that the production of knowledge, as well as being co-created from within those communities it is about and affects, must also look to inform policy and practice. The Research Group is particularly concerned with redressing the academic/media deficit narrative that either problematise and criminalise, or ignore, youth racialised as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. We are committed to ensuring that the holistic lived experience, and intersectional identities, of young people deemed to be at the ‘margins’ of society, within the UK and globally, are sensitively and ethically captured, interpreted and utilised for change.