Conference Agenda

What if young people had a state? One run by-and-for young people, with the support of adults and organisations working with-and-for them. This proposition builds on innovative anarchist, activist and academic practice for re-imagining the state in diverse and plural state-like forms (Cooper, 2018). This initiative develops as an alternative to forms of youth research and participation that tends towards tokenism, where young people are present but not powerful; or, indeed, not adequate to enable young people to become virtuoso organisers, designers, artists and citizens able to collectively engage with the challenges of living meaningful lives in a world in excess of its ecological boundaries. This presentation seeks to share emerging practice as the youth state is founded in Manchester. This is a collaboration between Unit X – an interdisciplinary creative, art and design platform at Manchester School of Art and Design – and the Greater Manchester Youth Combined Authority – the apex regional youth democratic assembly representing 650,000 young people and 28 youth charities and local assemblies. From January to April 2026, 350 students working across 7 thematic projects will meet with the GMYCA representatives to co-design new agendas. The Unit X students will collaboratively develop a series of state-like interventions into young people’s lived experience, which will be mobilised through the GMYCA and aligned networks and processes. The youth state is a speculative and prefigurative practice orientated towards understanding the function of collective infrastructures of peer, mutual and state-like care and support as it can be created and nurtured, reversing the decades of neoliberal assault on collective bases of solidarity and power in communities (Fisher, 2018). As such we are collectively investigating, what is the youth state approach to research, data, ownership and the boundaries or possibilities of youth-led research beyond neoliberalising institutions.

Theories of the ‘built environment’ formulated in the fields of architecture, software studies, and game design, come with assumptions about human sensory aesthetics in both real and virtual environments. Aesthetic dimensions play a large role in shaping our spatial habits, which entail corporeal “relational techniques of lived abstraction” (Massumi, 2014). The software rendering of space – in architectural models and game design - underscores this aspect of lived abstraction, relying on abstract forms such as vectors, shapes, and volumes, all of which are visual aesthetic elements that figure prominently in shaping our sense of belonging and alienation (de Freitas et al, 2019). In this presentation, we report on research investigating complex urban contexts where young people navigate policed environments and attempt to reclaim buildings built precisely for surveillance and control. This research is framed by theories of investigative aesthetics using various software methods to expose contested territories that are not properly reported or represented by regular data methods, often because the truth is inconvenient and buried. We use software to extract and visualize data pertaining to spatial justice, with an emphasis on the role of speculation when synthesizing data. Our project pursues “hyper-aesthetics” to expose the hidden spatial experience, where “to hyper-aestheticise is to heighten, elicit or exacerbate the capacity of bodies, technologies or states of matter to sense and increase perceptual experience” (Fuller & Weizman, 2021, p.58). We discuss sensory ethnographic data collected in New York City, and data from design experiments using game software, where the aesthetic of fantasy, hidden forces, and eerie abstraction shed light on young people’s experiences. Workshops with participants exposed the labyrinthine geometry of a/symmetric flows of bodies, and a warren-like space of crisscrossing paths, forming sites of intensive affect and a “right to opacity” in the midst of police-security watch towers.

In some interviews I conducted with pregnant adolescents as part of my PhD project on Equity Access to Inclusive Education for Pregnant Adolescents in Thailand, I observed some silences, pauses, and many short answers that, from my observations, were filled with various stories and emotions. In these situations, if the researcher does not pay adequate attention during analysis, some essential aspects of the data may be easily overlooked. The question is how to interpret these pauses, silences, and a simple response like ‘I don’t know’, and how we can uncover what remains unsaid between the lines. The method I use to echo the stories of pregnant students is Situational Analysis (SA), as developed by Adele Clarke, which highlights the interrelated foundational methodologies in pragmatist philosophy and interactionist sociology. SA includes various theoretical concept methods such as social world/arenas, situation of unit analysis, researcher reflexivity, and analysing complexities, including positionalities and differences. It also requires rich and diverse data that would be empirically constructed through four kinds of maps, followed by analytic works and memos that would allow us to understand the situation as a whole. According to this, the project aims to demonstrate how the Situational Analysis is employed to help researchers analyse and understand the complex situation of pregnant students in Thailand and make their voices heard.

During the period of emerging adulthood, individuals with a history of parental addiction are at significantly higher risk of disrupted identity formation, maladaptive coping strategies, attachment insecurity and mental health difficulties. Despite these findings, little is known about how young adults make sense of these experiences with their parents and may mobilize resilience processes in this crucial developmental transition. This qualitative study aimed to explore the lived experiences, psychosocial needs and protective factors among young adults who were raised by parents with addiction problems (i.e., alcohol, drugs, or gambling). Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with emerging adults (aged 18-25) whose parents had a history of substance or gambling addiction. The interview guide explored childhood experiences, perceived family dynamics, emotional and relational needs, as well as pathways of personal growth. Data were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis framework. Five overarching themes emerged including “living in emotional uncertainty” (i.e., chronic instability, fear, and shame that dominated family life), “becoming an adult too soon” since parentification and undertaking responsibility prematurely replaced childhood safety, “the invisible child” as silenced emotions and secrecy shaped young people’s identity and self-worth, “breaking or repeating the cycle” reflecting the experiences of some participants who reproduced addictive or self-destructive behavioural patterns, while others engaged in therapy, education, and caregiving roles that fostered awareness and resilience, and finally “redefining belonging” which echoed the participants’ attempts to build connection through substitute relationships with other “families” or the community and develop new meaning making of their experiences. The findings highlight the risk of intergenerational transmission of addiction and the enduring impact of parental addiction on emerging adults’ emotional regulation, relationship patterns and self-concept. Implications are discussed for prevention, early intervention for this age group and inclusive psychosocial policies addressing young adults with addicted parents.

Research on teachers' well-being and resilience exists extensively in international studies, yet Greek research studies remain limited. This paper investigates Greek secondary school teachers' well-being by studying individual, social and environmental influences and mediating variables on their mental health and resilience and mental health.

The presence study employed an international research protocol based on the work of Nastasi & Borja, (2016). Three focus groups discussions were the basis of empirical data collected during the school year 2024-25. The sample included 21 secondary school teachers from public schools in Heraklion and Rethymno, Crete, Greece. The study also integrated ecomaps (Matsopoulos, 2017) as an additional data collection method, which builds upon information gathered from focus groups. The final results were based on a synthesis of these two data collection methods.

Data collected were coded with a qualitative approach (Ponce et. al., 2022) and involved both deductive and inductive reasoning in which an initial coding scheme applied, using a broad set of codes, which was then generated, refined or redefined (based on the

dataset) as an interpretive step. These codes were generalized for both ecomaps and focus groups. The initial coding scheme was based on the Teacher Well-Being Project Qualitative Codebook (TWB, 2023), an internal working document which was developed from the work of Nastasi et al. (1998) and further refined by the Promoting Psychological Well-Being Globally Project (Nastasi & Borja, 2016)..

The main findings of the study showed that a supportive and healthy school environment fosters emotional stability, while teachers also reported stress and anxiety linked to interactions among family, community and educational systems. One of the most prominent findings of teachers’ stressors that emerged was the newly introduced to the Greek educational system, of individual and school unit evaluation. This new policy of evaluation is obligatory in all Greek schools.