Evaluation of ‘Grown up?’ Youth engagement and research component

Executive summary

The Nuffield Foundation’s Grown up? Journeys to adulthood is a multi-year research programme exploring what it means to become an adult in the UK today. Hopkins Van Mil was commissioned to deliver a youth engagement and research component, which included working with a Youth Insights Group (YIG) to inform and shape and a wider set of Deep dive workshops. Leah Holmes Consulting provided independent evaluation focused mainly on the process of the YIG, including formative input, and summative assessment.

This was an excellent piece of work. Its defining quality was the inclusive and relational practice that ran through every aspect of design and delivery. Great care was taken to create psychologically safe, welcoming and respectful environments, underpinned by robust ethics and safeguarding, thoughtful accessibility, and consistent practical support. Thoughtful recruitment resulted in a genuinely diverse YIG, the diversity of which was one of the project’s greatest strengths, ensuring discussions reflected experiences across the UK. The inclusion of seldom-heard voices widened discussions, provided learning and benefit to the YIG members, and enriched the evidence.

Hopkins Van Mil delivered the engagement through two interconnected mechanisms: a Youth Insight Group (YIG) comprising approximately 20 young people aged 15–24 from across the UK, who met nine times over 14 months; and eight Deep dive workshops (DDWs) involving 92 further participants, recruited to explore three specific themes in depth. The YIG served as both an advisory body and a source of insight. Its members shaped the content and design of the Deep dive workshops, contributed creative outputs, and provided a sustained perspective on young people’s experiences across the three research themes: Education to Work, Digital Lives, and Mental Health and Wellbeing.

The partnership between the Nuffield Foundation and Hopkins Van Mil was highly effective, values-led and complementary. Delivery was responsive, youth-centred and professionally facilitated throughout. Young people meaningfully shaped the content and direction of the work, and the adviser model – offering personal support – increased accessibility, inclusion and continued engagement. Across the evaluation, young people’s experiences were overwhelmingly positive, with participants reporting that they felt heard, included and able to contribute authentically.

The project has generated valuable new evidence about journeys to adulthood and demonstrated the added value when young people are engaged as collaborators rather than research participants. Working in this way strengthened the relevance and accessibility of the research design, and created clear benefits for participants themselves, including confidence, learning, connection and personal development. It also leaves a strong legacy for the Foundation, informing future programmes, partnerships and ways of working.

Importantly, the project has already had impact on both research and policy. Its insights are shaping wider programme outputs, informing policy-facing work, and influencing future priorities and partnerships across the Foundation.

The evaluation also points to clear lessons for future practice. Early clarity about the boundary between advisory input and research participation, realistic expectations about the scope of youth-led influence, continued considerations in accessible communication, and planning for continuity beyond funded delivery should be considered in future work.

Taken together, the evidence demonstrates a project of outstanding quality that has invested in and developed young people, generated valuable evidence, and established a model of youth engagement practice with lasting relevance.