Young Researchers for Social Impact 2023 edition – YLAC
Final application deadline 14th May 2023 (Sunday)
Program dates: 8th July – 6th August, 2023
Founded in 2016, Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) aims to increase the participation of young people in the policymaking process and build their capacity to lead change. Our interventions are designed to equip citizens with a better understanding of the society they live in and the challenges that it confronts. The aim is to help young people broaden their perspective, think critically about their socio-political construct, tap their leadership potential and acquire skills to create long lasting impact.
YLAC’s Young Researchers for Social Impact (YRSI) Program is back for 2023!
The Young Researchers for Social Impact (YRSI) program is a month-long online engagement designed to immerse talented high school students in live research projects with YLAC’s partner organizations. Students are carefully selected, trained and mentored over a period of five weeks to build their capacity as critical thinkers and problem solvers. The goal is to equip students with the tools of research and advocacy to help find solutions to pressing issues that affect our societies today.
Projects concern contemporary issues in fields such as environment, gender, education, global health and governance, and students assist YLAC partners with specific research questions. Partners include organizations such as Our Democracy, Teach for India, Breakthrough, Sangath, Haiyya, Indian School of Democracy, Lung Care Foundation, World Resources Institute and Nipman Foundation, to name a few.
Applications to the 2023 edition of the program are now open. Please follow the links below to see details and apply.
2023 Edition
The 2023 edition is scheduled to run from the 8th of July to the 6th of August. Sessions will be run on both Saturday and Sunday on the first and the last weekend, but only on Sundays in the intervening weeks. This structure is designed to allow students time to undertake individual work on their projects while accommodating constraints at school.
The program includes full group learning sessions, interaction with experts and speakers as well as personalized, small-group mentoring sessions. Since the program is executed online through remote collaboration, students from across the globe/ country can participate.
In the previous editions of the program, we have been joined by students from cities in India and also other parts of the world – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Manipal, Chandigarh, Agra, Guwahati, Dubai, Kuwait, Muscat, Maastricht, Ho Chi Minh City and Lagos, to name a few.
Detailed Schedule
(IST: Indian Standard Time)
1. Curtain Raiser
Week 1 Saturday, 08 Jul
Time: 11 am – 3 pm IST (4 hrs)
Breaks: 1 hr lunch break
Session 1
Introduction to the program
Foundations of Social Impact
Session 2
Interaction with partner organizations (clients)
2. Team Meeting | New Perspectives
Week 1 Sunday, 09 Jul
Time: 11 am – 3 pm IST (4 hrs)
Breaks: 1 hr lunch break
Session 1
Team Building
Session 2
External Speaker
3. Stakeholder Connect | Diving Deeper
Week 2 Sunday, 16 Jul
Time: 11 am – 3 pm IST (4 hrs)
Breaks: 1 hr lunch break
Session 1
Interviews with stakeholders/ experts
Session 2
Case study: Identifying the right research questions
Office Hours With Mentors
Week 1 Wed-Thu
Office Hours With Mentors
Week 2 Wed-Thu
4. Strengthening Your Research
Week 3 Sunday, 23 Jul
Time: 11 am – 3 pm IST (4 hrs)
Breaks: 1 hr lunch break
Session 1
What constitutes good social science research?
Case study: Critiquing research work
Session 2
External Speaker
Office Hours With Mentors
Week 3 Wed-Thu
5. Client Briefing | Using Research For Advocacy
Week 4 Sunday, 30 Jul
Time: 11 am – 3 pm IST (4 hrs)
Breaks: 1 hr lunch break
Session 1
Client briefing
Session 2
Case study: Translating research into action
6. Project Presentations & Peer Critique
Week 5 Saturday, 05 Aug
Time: 11 am – 3 pm IST (4 hrs)
Breaks: 1 hr lunch break
Final presentations by selected groups followed by discussion and critique
7. Project Presentations & Peer Critique
Week 5 Sunday, 06 Aug
Time: 11 am – 3 pm IST (4 hrs)
Breaks: 1 hr lunch break
Final presentations by selected groups followed by discussion and critique
Culmination & Closing
Project Work & Program Rigour
The Young Researchers for Social Impact program is a rigorous month-long initiation for young adults into social science research. Since the program is conducted online through remote engagement, students are not required to conduct field visits or collect primary data. Instead they are expected to rely on existing literature and data sources, conduct online surveys and undertake remote consultations with stakeholders/ experts for analysis.
Projects are sourced from a range of social impact organizations working in sectors such as health, education, governance, gender, youth empowerment, environment etc. The final output from students includes a research brief and/ or an article to put forward a convincing case for their recommendations.
Structure
The program is structured as follows:
- Skill & Learning sessions: Students spend time every week with the entire cohort to pick up skills that inform their projects.
- Team meetings and project work: Every week, students also engage with their project groups and YLAC mentors work with them to guide their work.
- Mid-week office hours: During the week, students can join office hours with their YLAC mentors to ensure that project deliverables are on track.
- Individual work: Apart from the scheduled sessions, students continue to work remotely on their individual pieces.
Time Commitment
On average, a student is expected to spend about 20 hours per week on the program. Since sessions take place outside school hours, and primarily on the weekends, the program is easily manageable with school commitments.
Evaluation & Requirements for Graduation
Attendance at program sessions is mandatory and all project work is tightly managed and supervised to control for quality. Teams are also provided detailed feedback and guidance at every stage of the process.
At the end of the program, students are given a graded certificate by YLAC highlighting the project they worked on. Graduation from the program requires regular attendance, class contribution as well as completing the assigned project work to the satisfaction of the mentors and the client.
Deadlines
| Scholarships deadline: 12th March 2023 (Sunday)Final deadline: 14th May 2023 (Sunday)
Applications to the program are processed on a rolling basis. Typically, applicants are informed of the admissions decision within 3-4 weeks of their candidature being filed. Candidates applying for scholarships must ensure that both their program and scholarship applications reach us on or before the first deadline – 12th March 2023. Ideally, both applications should be submitted within a week of each other. |
Fees & Scholarships
Program Fee
INR 25,000 per participant (excluding GST @18%)
The fee is payable only after an applicant has been selected into the program. The program is run completely online and if the student has access to a computer and an internet connection, no other expenses are anticipated.
Scholarships
We recognize that all deserving candidates may not have the means to fund their participation in the program. To support such candidates, YLAC offers need and merit based scholarships. Scholarship amounts range between 25% and 100% of the total program fee. YLAC decides on the quantum of support based on its assessment of the applicant’s merit and need.
Up to six applicants are offered scholarships in each edition. To be considered for a scholarship, applicants must submit additional details here.
The Journey So Far
The Young Researchers for Social Impact program was launched in the midst of the pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020. We experimented with a program that could help us push students’ thinking on important issues, while allowing for self-learning and remote collaboration. The result was YRSI. And what a great discovery it has been!
We received a phenomenal response to our first edition and have enrolled several brilliant cohorts since. Each YRSI cohort has had the opportunity to work on intriguing researchers questions such as reforming electoral funding, understanding impact of social media usage on mental health, assessing the effectiveness of remote learning, bringing attention to the issue of climate justice, breaking the cycle of domestic violence etc. Working in teams, students systematically broke down research questions, examined existing information and interviewed stakeholders to put together their analysis. They also drafted articles to highlight issues and shed light on potential solutions.
The research paper on electoral funding, for instance, can be accessed here. You can also see examples of articles written by our students here (disability rights), here (environment impact assessment) and here (substance abuse among young people).
Given the amazing response we received from students and the stellar quality of research output produced during the program, YRSI has become a flagship engagement in the YLAC portfolio of programs.
