Young Adults' Transitions, Identities and Future

We will explore aspects related to employment, future aspirations, mental health and relationships, community building, activism and civic engagement.

We will discuss:

• Who are the “Young Adults”?
• What are their challenges and aspirations after they leave the education system?
• What is the role of digitalisation and social media in their identity building?
• Which groups are experiencing more difficulties and vulnerabilities due to race, class, gender or other intersectional identities?
• How do they engage with activism and citizenship?
• How can they be supported in their journey?

With our strong commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, we welcome researchers and PhD students from diverse backgrounds, to present their research and/or research ideas relating to Young Adults. We encourage both individual and joint paper proposals. We also welcome proposals for a roundtable and/or posters.  

Location

The Pavilion, Cavendish Campus, 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1W 6UW

Joining online

Join this event on Microsoft Teams (on the date and time given above)

Programme

• 9–9.15am: Registration, coffee
• 9.15–9.30am: Welcome: Professor Peter Bonfield, Vice Chancellor (University of Westminster), Alan Porter, Interim Head of School of Social Sciences (University of Westminster), Dr Tina Cartright, Reader and Director of Westminster Centre for Psychological Sciences (University of Westminster)
• 9.30–10am: Keynote speech: Professor Helen Haste (Emerita, University of Bath) - Managing Uncertainty- the Challenges for Youth
• 10–11.30am: Young Adults Transitions and Future
  • Chair: Dr Kyoko Murakami University of Westminster
  • Speakers:
    • 1. Dr Wendy Sims -Schouten (UCL): Eclectic Resilience – Revisiting Resilience in light of Racism, ‘Othering’ and Resistance 
    • 2. Dr Thalia Magioglou (University of Westminster): Young Adults between Civic Engagement in the Public Space and Personal Aspirations: discussing data from Greece and the UK
    • 3. Dr Laura Boubert (University of Westminster): Transitions in Higher Education
    • 4. Miti Mwape (Harvard University): Education and societal inequities experienced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) children and young people and correlating employability outcomes in UK and China
    • 5. Marina Leitner: Education as a Journey: the experience of Young Adults from socially isolated communities
  • Discussant:  Jishan Uddin (University of Westminster)
• 11.45am–12pm: Coffee break - working lunch served
• 12–14:00: Young adults search for meaning and challenges
  • Chair: Rottem Perach (University of Westminster)
  • 1. Dr Reidar S Jessen (University of Oslo): Transgender youth and their transition into adulthood: Identity developmental stages and social support.
  • 2. Andrea Markl (presenting), Belinda Mahlknecht and Tabea Bork-Hüffer (University of Innsbruck): The Use of Mobile Messengers in Longitudinal Research: Accompanying Young People in their Transition Phase
  • 3. Dr Orkun Yetkili (University of Westminster) and Dr Deborah Husbands (University of Westminster): The Impostor Phenomenon Among Racially Minoritised Students in Higher Education
  • 4. Dr Terese Mendiguren: (University of Basque Country): How do students at the faculty of communication feel about disability and inclusion? The case of the University of the Basque Country
  • 5. Jamile Cesar (Federal University of Bavaria) and Professor Luca Tateo (Univ. Of Oslo): Branded Clothing, Identity
  • 6. Richard Weissbourd (Harvard University): Generation Z after the Pandemic- in search of meaning?

  • Matira Wheeler (Young Westminster Foundation) - Greeting

  • Professor Tracy Shildrick (Newcastle University and Editor of The Journal of Youth Studies): Presenting the Journal of Youth Studies
• 14:00: Concluding remarks of the first part of the conference: Dr Tina Cartright; Dr Thalia Magioglou 

• 14.00-15.00: Informal session over tea and coffee in C1.52 (just across the hall) with Matira Wheeler and others discussing Young adults of North Paddington: Paths to employment via grassroots youth organisations and designing new ways to measure this ‘impact’ 

Young Westminster Question Time

The Young Westminster Question Time event is happening the same day in our Little Titchfield Street campus from 5–7pm. If you are interested in attending please book your place on eventbrite.

The Young Westminster Foundation has been engaged in action research, such as the one on North Paddington, in collaboration with University of Westminster academics (Alan Porter and Dr Thalia Magioglou) focusing on the employment needs of Young Adults in London, and particularly those who are facing more challenges due to the experience of structural inequalities and intersectional identities. Students at YoW are part of the team of peer researchers who have co-designed and carried out the action research and analysis. 

Young Westminster Foundation brings together youth organisations, young people, businesses, Westminster City Council, schools, funders and the wider community to create opportunities for Westminster’s young people. We’re part of a growing network of Young People’s Foundations (YPFs) established nationally by John Lyon’s Charity. As a membership organisation we support our members, 80+ Westminster youth clubs and youth organisations to thrive through training, information sharing, advice, networks, research and advocacy. Our members are local organisations who work passionately to enrich the lives of Westminster’s 54,000+ young people. These range from large youth clubs to local grassroots charities, to specialist groups supporting young carers, young people facing homelessness and young people with disabilities.

Participant bios

Professor Peter Bonfield

Professor Peter Bonfield is Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Westminster.

Dr Tabea Bork-Hüffer

Dr Tabea Bork-Hüffer is Professor of Human Geography at the Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck and head of the Research Group Transient Spaces and Societies. She works on how practices and power relations shape spaces and societies, especially in relation to three interconnected processes: digitisation, mobilities, and urbanisation. Her work as geographer is characterised by an interdisciplinary outreach, and a focus on cross-sectional topics.

Dr Laura Boubert

Dr Laura Boubert is a Principal Lecturer and teaching fellow in Cognitive Science and the course leader for the BSc in Cognitive Neuroscience. She has a particular interest in developing innovative teaching and assessment methods and in the personal development planning of students, as well as developing students' key competencies skills. Her teaching includes experimental research methods, cognitive psychology, language and cognitive neuropsychology. Her research interests include cognitive neuropsychology, ageing, sleep, hallucinations, teaching and learning in higher education. Laura has been awarded grants by the British Academy for her continued work on cognitive ageing, and has led projects investigating the use of the web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs and e-portfolios in teaching and learning in higher education. 

Dr Tina Cartwright

Dr Tina Cartwright is a health psychologist registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a Chartered Psychologist on the register of the British Psychological Society (BPS). She is a Reader at the University of Westminster, Director of the Westminster Centre for Psychological Sciences, and Course Leader for the MSc Health Psychology. Much of her research has investigated the management of long-term conditions and understanding the patient experience. More recent work has focused on factors associated with wellbeing, with a particular interest in the role of yoga and meditation in facilitating health and wellbeing in patients and the wider population. 

Jamile César

Jamile César is psychoanalyst, Interdisciplinary Bachelor in Humanities, MSc in Developmental Psychology and PhD student at the Federal University of Bahia, working with identity development and issues related to clothing. Co-founder of the seminar on Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory (SIPSI), which, among other topics, works with the psychoanalysis and culture interface.

Dr Maria Flynn

Dr Maria Flynn is a Research Fellow at the University of Westminster and has interests in the psychophysiology of pre-attentive processing, the psychophysiology of stress and in facial expression analysis.

Professor Helen Haste

Professor Helen Haste is Professor Emerita in Psychology at the University of Bath and was a Visiting Professor at Harvard Graduate School of Education 2003-2018. Haste also holds honorary visiting positions at the University of Exeter, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, and the University of Jinan China. She is a British social, developmental, and cultural psychologist and a writer and broadcaster. Her work is based on a theory of culture and the individual that addresses language, rhetoric and metaphor. She uses both qualitative and quantitative methods.  Her data sources are international, including the UK, China, South Africa and Europe.  She is the author or editor of six books and over 150 scholarly papers. Haste is a recipient of two of the International Society of Political Psychology's career awards, the Sanford Award and the Knutson Award, and the Association for Moral Education's Kuhmerker Award for her lifetime contribution to the field of moral development. She is a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Science, the British Psychological Society and the Royal Society of Arts. She has been a frequent contributor to broadcasting and public media.

Dr Deborah Husbands

Dr Deborah Husbands is a Chartered Psychologist and Reader in Psychology at the University of Westminster. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS). In addition, she is the Outreach Coordinator for the School of Social Sciences and created Psych4Schools, an initiative that encourages secondary school students to engage with Psychology as an applied subject through mini-lectures and workshops. She is a founding member and Co-Chair of the university's BME Network and the Lead for the Black History Year Steering Group. She is a member of The Psychologist and Digest Editorial Advisory Committee.

She teaches and supervises projects at undergraduate and Master's levels. Her research focus is on the experiences of minoritised people, using qualitative research methods to understand constructions of identity in higher education, ethnicity, race and the meaning we attach to experiences, as well as in retention, progression and awarding for marginalised students, and the impostor phenomenon on academic performance, academic satisfaction and sense of belonging in under-represented student groups. She works collaboratively with students and several universities on diverse projects to advance equality in higher education.

Dr Reidar S Jessen

Dr Reidar S Jessen is a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo. He is currently a visiting scholar

at the London School of Economics, where he participates in the EU funded research project youth and digital skills (ySKILLS). In addition, he is conducting a follow-up study on subjective experiences of gender in transgender youth.

Marina Leitner

Marina Leitner is an Education Science graduate from Universidad de San Andrés in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Upon completing an MA in Education degree from the University of Bath, she embarked on a self-designed learning journey across different regions of the world for two years. She held a position as General Director of Universidad de General San Martín’s Secondary School in José León Suarez, in Buenos Aires. She has taken part in projects that work around pedagogy, local knowledges, community and personal and social transformation. Her work focuses on coordinating groups and bridging between institutions and communities. 

Dr Thalia Magioglou

Dr Thalia Magioglou is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Westminster. She works on Democracy, Justice and Human Rights as Hegemonic Social Representations as well as Young Adult’s conceptions of future aspirations and challenges from a qualitative research perspective. Her work has been published in Culture and Psychology, European Psychologist and Cahiers Internationaux de Psychologie Sociale. She has created a European network of political psychology at the FMSH, Paris, and co-authored the collective volume Culture and Political Psychology: a Societal Perspective, Infoage Publishers in 2014.  She publishes fiction in Greek.

Belinda Mahlknech

Belinda Mahlknecht is a PhD candidate at the Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck and member of the Research Group Transient Spaces and Societies. Her research focuses on the investigation of the negotiation of difference of young people in socio-material-technological spaces using qualitative and smartphone methods.

Andrea Markl

Andrea Markl is a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck and member of the Research Group Transient Spaces and Societies. A teacher herself, she is in contact with young people’s everyday experiences which she seeks to better understand through her research. Her central research interest lies in young people’s everyday practices and negotiations of difference in sociomaterial-technological spaces and links these to inclusion, exclusion, and violence. 

Dr Terese Mendiguren

Dr Terese Mendiguren is an Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). She dedicated her doctoral thesis to the citizen participation in the press and media. She has been academic secretary of the Department of Journalism (2015/2021) and currently is the Vice Dean of Communication and Social Projection of the Faculty of Social Science and Communication, and Visiting Fellow at the Department of media and communication in LSE. She has teaching experience in undergraduate and master's degrees. She is currently researching about the needs of communication students with disabilities at her university, in collaboration with the ONCE Foundation, and has started a new line of research linked to disability activism and hate speech. Before her incorporation into the academic field, she worked for almost a decade as a journalist in news media writing and television.

Dr Kyoko Murakami

Dr Kyoko Murakami is a lecturer in psychology at the Department of Psychology, the University of Westminster, London, and an honorary research fellow at the University of Bath. UK. She teaches courses in social and cultural psychology and qualitative research methods. Previously, she held an associate professorship in psychology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Her research topics include social remembering, reconciliation, learning in collaboration, dialogism and ageing. She is an executive committee member of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology and a member of the editorial board of Culture & Psychology. Her books include Discursive Psychology of Remembering and Reconciliation (2012), Dialogic Pedagogy (2016) and Activity Theory: An Introduction (2024). Her papers have been published by Culture & Psychology, Memory Studies and Learning, Culture and Social Interaction among other journals. 

Miti Mwape

Miti Mwape is an Education Policy and Analysis candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, within the Identity, Power, and Justice in Education concentration. Having trained within the fields of Education and Social Care, her practice has focused on working with children, young people, and their families within education and within their communities in the UK and China. Her research interests are centred around exploring and addressing education and societal inequities experienced by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) children and young people and correlating employability outcomes. 

Dr Rotem Perach

Dr Rotem Perach is a Lecturer at the University of Westminster. His research interests are in applied social and health psychology, particularly misinformation, facemasks, decision-making, self-regulation, and public health. He received his PhD from the University of Kent, and has worked as a researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London, University of Sussex and University of Westminster.  

Alan Porter

Alan Porter is the Interim Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster. His main research interest is in the genealogy of psychological theories. He is currently working on a textbook that will help undergraduate psychology students understand the historical/philosophical background of current theoretical and methodological disputes and controversies in the social/behavioural sciences. He is particularly interested in trying to understand where social psychology is positioned in these disputes and controversies. He also has a long standing interest in the psychology of learning and teaching, conducting research in the areas of learning styles, student expectations and student approaches to studying. 

Professor Tracy Shildrick

Professor Tracy Shildrick is Professor of Inequalities at Newcastle University. She has researched and written widely about young people, poverty and inequality. She has particular interests in young people from deprived backgrounds and she is Co-Editor in Chief of Journal of Youth Studies (with Dan Woodman and Rob MacDonald). She has led projects for the Joseph Rowtree Foundation and a lot of her research focusses on dispelling popular myths about poverty (and 'the poor') using research and evidence. Her co-authored book Poverty and Insecurity: Life in low pay, no pay Britain won the British Academy, Peter Townsend Prize in 2013 and she is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. 

Dr Wendy Sims-Schouten

Dr Wendy Sims-Schouten is Deputy Director of Arts & Sciences and Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Psychology at University College London. She is a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society, and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Wendy has a specific interest in interdisciplinary research with a focus on historic and contemporary practices around mental health, wellbeing and safeguarding of marginalised/disadvantaged groups, including child refugees/migrants, young care leavers and families from ethnic minority communities, in national and international contexts (England, Scotland, Netherlands, Egypt, Canada, Indonesia); she has also researched issues around mental health literacy in Higher Education. Her work centralises voices and coproduction and has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, Research England, NIHR, as well as charities and Portsmouth City Council. Wendy is Co-Editor of the British Psychological Society Journal “Psychology Teaching Review” and Chair of the Editorial Board for Children & Society. 

Dr Luca Tate

Dr Luca Tateo is Professor of Theory, Epistemology and Methodology of Qualitative Research at the University of Oslo, Norway. He is co-editor in chief of the Journal “Human Arenas. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Psychology, Culture, and Meaning”, Springer, and editor in Chief of the book series “Innovations in Qualitative Research”.

Jishan Uddin

Jishan Uddin is a second year PGR student and is investigating collective identity and union activism amongst some of London's 'ethnic precariat' - particularly those working as Uber drivers and University (of London) cleaners, two highly interesting populations in terms of commonalities and contrasts. The research fits in within a wider desire to centre the voices of the marginalised from minority groups particularly originating from what has been termed as the 'global south'. Jishan has worked in Higher Education for almost twenty years and is now a Senior Lecturer at Hertfordshire University's Business School. In keeping with the ethos of his research, challenging practices and accepted orthodoxies of 'business as usual' and creating systemic solutions to reduce the BAME student attainment gaps are two areas his work focuses on.

Richard Weissbourd

Richard Weissbourd is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and he also teaches at the Kennedy School of Government. His work focuses on moral development, the nature of hope, mental health challenges among teens and young adults and effective schools and services for children facing risks. He directs the Making Caring Common Project, a national effort to make moral and social development priorities in child-raising and to provide strategies to schools and parents for promoting in children caring, a commitment to justice and other key moral and social capacities. He leads an initiative to reform college admissions, Turning the Tide, which seeks to elevate ethical character, reduce excessive achievement pressure and increase equity and access in the college admissions process. He is also conducting research on how older adults can better mentor young adults and teenagers in developing caring, mature romantic relationships.  

He is a founder of several interventions for children facing risks, including ReadBoston and WriteBoston, city-wide literacy initiatives that were led by Mayor Menino. He is also a founder of a pilot school in Boston, the Lee Academy, that begins with children at 3 years old. He has advised on the city, state and federal levels on family policy, parenting and school reform and has written for numerous scholarly and popular publications and blogs, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today and NPR. He is the author of The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America’s Children and What We Can Do About It (Addison-Wesley, 1996), named by the American School Board Journal as one of the top 10 education books of all time. His most recent book, The Parents We Mean to Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children's Moral and Emotional Development (Houghton Mifflin 2009), was named by The New Yorker as one of the top 24 books of 2009. 

Matira Wheeler

Matira Wheeler is Director of Strategy & Communications for Young Westminster Foundation, Clore Social Fellow and recent MA International Conflict Studies graduate from King’s College London. She specialises in young person-led, participatory research and the role of youth clubs and organisations in shaping young lives. Young Westminster Foundation brings together youth organisations, young people, businesses, Westminster City Council, schools, funders and the wider community to create opportunities for Westminster’s young people. They are part of a growing network of Young People’s Foundations (YPFs) established nationally by John Lyon’s Charity. YWF supports 80+ youth clubs and youth organisations in the borough of Westminster through training, information sharing, advice, networks, research and advocacy. These local organisations work passionately to enrich the lives of Westminster’s 54,000+ young people in one of the most unequal boroughs in the country, and range from large youth clubs to local grassroots charities, to specialist groups supporting young carers, young people facing homelessness and young people with disabilities.

Dr Orkun Yetkili

Dr Orkun Yetkili (PhD, University of Kent) is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Westminster, UK. His research interests include the social psychology of deviance, attachment, and developing interventions to reduce prejudice and discrimination.