Panel Discussion
The Future of Research in and with the RAY Network: Content, Methodology, Actors
On Thursday 25 September, we hosted a panel discussion titled ‘The Future of Research in and with the RAY Network: Content, Methodology, Actors’. The panel discussion was live-streamed directly from our annual RAY Network Meeting in Copenhagen.
AIM and FOCUS
The panel ‘The Future of Research in and with the RAY Network: Content, Methodology, Actors’ explored the future directions of research in the field of youth, non-formal education, and European youth programmes, with a particular focus on the role of the European youth research network RAY. Designed as an interactive and forward-looking conversation, the panel brought together selected representatives from national and transnational RAY research partners and National Agencies to reflect on emerging trends, methodological transformations, and the evolving research ecosystem.
The panel was structured around three interlinked pillars — Content, Methdology, and Actors — and addressed the critical question: What kind of research will be needed, how will it be done, and by whom?
In addition to these pillars, a transversal discussion thread considered the purpose and use of research in the near future: For whom is this research conducted? And how can it serve youth work practice, policy-making, and cross-sectoral collaboration?
RECORDING
If you missed the panel, you can watch the recording here:
PANELLISTS
>> Eva Feldmann-Wojtachnia (RAY researcher for Germany, Center of Applied Policy Research at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich)
Eva Feldmann-Wojtachnia is a researcher of the Research Group Youth & Europe at the Center of Applied Policy Research at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU); she is part of the RAY Team for Germany, member of the RAY Strategy group and an expert of European Youth Policy. Main topics are participation and inclusion, civic education, non-formal learning settings, participative evaluation formats, education for democracy and tolerance.
>> Rilke Mahieu (RAY NA colleague, National Agency JINT, Belgium Flanders)
Since 2019, Rilke Mahieu works as a staff officer in JINT, the National Agency for the European Youth Programmes in Flanders, Belgium. Among her daily tasks are the creation and sharing of knowledge on (international) youth work and nurturing strategic cooperations in the youth field. Before joining JINT, she obtained a PhD in Social Sciences at the University of Antwerp.
>> Andreas Karsten (RAY transnational research coordination)
Andreas coordinates the transnational research team of the RAY Network for the research-based analysis of European youth programmes. He works for Youth Policy Labs, a small research agency and think tank in the youth sector, where he leads an international team of participatory research, public policy and open data aficionados.
CONTEXT
The RAY Network – Research-based analysis of European youth programmes – is a self-governed European youth research network. Currently, 36 National Agencies of the Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps programmes and their research partners in 34 countries are involved.
The RAY Network was founded in 2008 with the aims to contribute to quality assurance and quality development in the implementation of the European youth programmes, to evidencebased & research-informed youth policy development in the youth field in Europe, to the recognition of non-formal education & learning in the youth field as well as to the dialogue between research, policy & practice in the youth field.
The RAY Network regularly conducts multilingual surveys with beneficiaries of the European youth programmes – the RAY Monitoring Surveys of Erasmus+ Youth and the European Solidarity Corps. The outcomes of the surveys as well as findings from the RAY thematic research strands support relevant stakeholders in the youth work field both on strategic and practical levels, inform policy- and decision making on national and European levels as well as support the implementation of the programmes.