Global Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) Webinar Series - Talloires Network of Engaged Universities

Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a core component of For Youth, By Youth’s growing global movement. YPAR redefines traditional academic research by making community members co-creators, not just subjects. YPAR is hands-on, justice-driven, and rooted in real-world impact. It values local knowledge, cross-cultural understanding, and advances inclusive knowledge production. For Youth, By Youth YPAR Working Group members will develop a shared understanding of YPAR, its foundational principles and applications, gain a collective understanding of its supporters and critics, and craft a vision for its radical expansion throughout higher education internationally.

Image Courtesy of Ruvarashe Mbizvo

Weaving Knowledges: Youth-led Action for Resilient Communities and Livelihoods

The three-part webinar series is designed to inspire youth, university students, university leaders, community partners, funding partners, and others to understand the benefits and challenges of Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as a powerful and transformative approach to research and community engagement.

“Respectful, reciprocal, genuine relationships lie at the heart of the community life and community development” -Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples

The three-part series will explore how young people and communities co-generate, share, and apply knowledges (contextual, relational, technical, analytical) to address systemic challenges such as water and food insecurity, conflict and violence, and pervasive barriers to employment and entrepreneurship.

By intentionally blending diverse knowledge systems, the series addresses food security, environmental sustainability, agricultural innovation, and evolving labor markets. Centering youth agency across all three sessions, the series asks: what happens when different epistemologies meet, and how can higher education partnerships better support young people to weave these knowledge systems together to shape a rapidly changing world?

Join us in November!

November 4, 2026

10:00-11:30 AM ET

Knowledge in Action: How Youth Leaders Transform African Communities

In Dialogue with
For Youth, By Youth Inaugural Cohort Members:

Beatrice Somuah, University of British Columbia; Canada (Alumna)
Tyobo Harriet Yake, Makerere University; Uganda
Reem Wehbe, American University of Beirut; Lebanon
Ruvarashe Mbizvo, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Ghana (Alumna)
Samuel Oliaha, University of Rwanda; Rwanda
Facilitator: Bakhile Dlamini, National Health Service; England | Next Generation Leader

November 12, 2026

12:00-1:30 PM ET

Knowledge in Relationship: University-Indigenous Community Partnerships in Canada

In Dialogue with
University of British Columbia Student Leaders in Canada:

Santana DeFazio, Psychology Student
Tiffany Tilalus, Bachelor’s of Indigenous Education Student
Kylie McKay
Facilitator: Kehinde Yusuf, For Youth, By Youth Second Cohort Member and Mastercard Foundation Scholar

November 18, 2026

10:00-11:30 AM ET

Knowledge in Dialogue: Bridging Youth-led Community Action Across Africa and Canada

Deng Kuol Parmena Aguto, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Ghana (Alumnus) | For Youth, By Youth Inaugural Cohort
Adil Kome, University of Edinburgh; Scotland | For Youth, By Youth Inaugural Cohort
Philip Adebayo, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Toronto; Canada | Next Generation Leader Alumnus
Facilitator: Duaa Mohamed, Head, Strategic Partnerships, Mastercard Foundation

Sessions are free and open to all. Registration is required. RSVP to join the series HERE!