Co-producing and Navigating Consent in Participatory Research with Young People

Research within the fields of youth sexuality and safeguarding, and ethical governance more broadly, has traditionally prioritised risk aversion over the rights of young people to participate in and shape research. This excludes younger people from setting agendas and directly communicating their lived experience to those in power. This article describes and draws upon findings from an innovative two year participatory action re-search study exploring sexual consent with young people through embedded and participatory re-search across seven sites. The project was designed with young people and practised non-traditional approaches to research consent. As well as co-producing research data, the findings highlight how methods of co-enquiry and being explicit about the research consent process enabled young people to develop competence that can be applied in other contexts. The paper addresses ethical tensions between young people’s rights to participation and protection. It argues that alongside robust safeguarding procedures there is an equal need to develop robust partici-pation and engagement strategies with an explicit focus on young people’s competence, agency and rights to participate regardless of the perceived sensitivity of the topic. The paper concludes with proposals for future youth centred research practice. These relate to re-search design, ethical governance processes around risk and sensitive topics, emphasis on working col-laboratively with young people and practitioners, a greater focus on children and young people’s rights – including Gillick competence and fluid models of consent. In doing so, it presents an essential point of reference for those seeking to co-produce research with young people in the UK and beyond