The Race Equality Foundation is working with the Bridge Renewal Trust’s Youth Echo initiative on a new peer research project supporting young people from Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic communities in Haringey to provide their perspectives on social media and online safety.
The project has two aims: to help young people gain the skills required to conduct research, and to gather evidence that can contribute to current policy debates around online safety and proposed social media restrictions for under-16s.
The value of peer research
In July 2026, Peer Researcher, Michael Zorah, and Research Administrator, Dylan Bradbury, kickstarted the project by facilitating a workshop with seven young researchers aged 17–18, with the aim of empowering young people to share their perspectives on online safety.
The workshop also explored the value of peer research: an approach that centres the voices of individuals with lived experience throughout all stages of the research lifecycle. Rather than treating young people as the objects of research or policy, peer research recognises the knowledge and expertise that lived experience brings to the table. This approach is able to capture insights that researchers may otherwise have missed.
During the workshop, the young people shared their lived experience of benefits and pressures associated with social media. In light of this, the group reflected on proposals to restrict young people’s access to online spaces. This discussion embodied the principles of peer research, and revealed how mainstream narratives surrounding this issue are lacking meaningful engagement with young people.
Learning by doing
The workshop introduced three research methods used in the Foundation’s work: surveys, interviews and focus groups. We discussed the insights each could uncover, alongside their strengths, limitations and ethical considerations. A key theme was reflecting critically on researchers’ own assumptions and biases, while recognising that research can still be motivated by a commitment to addressing social issues.
The group agreed to combine different methods to balance breadth, depth and practicality within a short timeframe. They were also interested in drawing on ethnographic research through observation of online spaces, adding another layer of insight to what young people tell them directly.
Three further development workshops led by the Bridge Renewal Trust will allow the peer researchers to finalise their research questions and plan how to gather evidence. Over the coming weeks, they will visit youth clubs and community spaces across the borough to collect and analyse evidence about young people’s experiences of social media, online harm and age restrictions.
From lived experience to real policy evidence
At the end of the project in September, the group will present their methods, findings and reflections at a celebratory event at the Foundation’s London office.
The Foundation will then work with the young researchers and the Bridge Renewal Trust to turn their findings into accessible resources and policy recommendations to share with policymakers and other relevant stakeholders.
The project will build transferable skills including critical thinking, listening, research design, teamwork, analysis and public speaking, supporting participants as they take their next steps into university, employment or other routes in education. Just as importantly, they will produce substantive evidence on a policy question about which young people’s voices are often missing.
