For Youth, By Youth convenes youth leaders from around the world to explore how young people can lead change in their communities, shape the future of higher education, and expand how knowledge is created and shared.
Participants of the inaugural cohort collaborated through thematic “working groups” - cross-border learning communities where youth, institutions, and local partners engaged one another through storytelling, technology, wellness/health, and civic action. These groups were not academic courses or clubs; they were exploratory spaces where young people learned from lived experience, examined social challenges, and generated new forms of public scholarship rooted in community realities. Underpinning this work were the core principles of conscious leadership and global solidarity, which invited participants to lead with awareness, empathy, and shared purpose while learning alongside peers facing similar challenges across borders.
The three case studies that follow highlight work emerging from the Storytelling, Youth-Led Participatory Action Research (YPAR), Ethical/Responsible AI, and Future of Higher Education working groups. Together, they demonstrate how young leaders are strengthening community–university partnerships, elevating public scholarship in these fields, and helping shape a long-term knowledge base for the movement. Over the next five years, this growing collection of case studies and other forms of public scholarship such as documentary films and youth narratives will serve as a resource for educators, researchers, and future cohorts committed to reimagining the purpose and promise of higher education.
