Youth in a Digital Age

Youth wellbeing is one of the critical issues of our time. Beyond the scary and often divisive headlines, practitioners are working in a range of ways to improve outcomes for young people, recognising how interconnected and challenging the issues young people face are.

Starting in April 2026, the School of System Change, in partnership with The Risman Foundation, is launching a bespoke learning programme for practitioners supporting youth development – to build their capacity and connections to address the social digital crisis affecting young people in the UK. The moment calls for us to move from siloed solutions to a wider networked approach guided by a collective vision, and with the interests and voice of the UK's youth at the center.

The learning programme Youth in a Digital Age is an intergenerational inquiry into youth wellbeing that will use systems thinking to:

• Create intergenerational learning spaces where professional practice and lived experience inform one another
• Collectively inquire into and map the complexities and interconnections of this urgent issue
• Learn systems change tools and frameworks, and identify leverage points and possibilities for supporting a system-wide approach to improve youth wellbeing
• Enable participants to craft a collective diagnosis of the systemic dynamics of the social digital crisis and the many ways it can be addressed

Throughout the programme, participants will engage in action inquiry – a process through which we continually act, reflect, iterate and learn as a way of engaging with complex issues. You will apply systems approaches in real time to your own context, exploring and mapping live challenges, as well as experimenting and engaging others to better understand the change that is possible when working together. This will be supported by a peer-learning environment and the facilitation team. 

Participants will be expected to actively engage in the process by sharing their knowledge, experience and insights, and contribute to collective sensemaking, with the aim of supporting them to address the challenges in their work. These learnings will be analysed and synthesised by the School to form a ‘lighthouse’ report, seeking to inform future and systemic interventions that will advance the flourishing of the UK’s young people in the digital age.

We’d love you to be part of this journey!

Programme Structure

• 28-29 April in London: This collective inquiry will kick off with a 2-day in-person diagnosis workshop, where the cohort of this learning programme will be joined by additional experts and practitioners from the field. 
• 30 April in London: On the following half day, the cohort will officially kick off the learning programme in person.
• May-October: All future sessions will take place online, with around 3-4 hours per month of contact time.

Learning outcomes

Through this course, you will:

• Understand systems change as a process, practice, and an outcome.
• Develop your understanding of systems dynamics and how they apply to your work advancing young people’s wellbeing in the digital age. 
• Learn a selection of system change tools, frameworks, and practices;  applying them to the challenges you’re working on.
• Identify key leverage points – where and how to most effectively intervene through your projects and programmes. 
• Work through cycles of action inquiry to apply learning in real time – experimenting, reflecting, and adapting with guidance and support through small group-, team-, and one-to-one coaching.
• Connect and co-inquire with a UK-wide network of changemakers across the field – learning not only from the facilitators, but from each other.

How you will learn

At the School, we believe there is no one ‘right’ way of doing systems change work, and embrace both multiple methodologies and multiple ways of learning. In this course, we host you through a combination of participatory in-person and online workshops, personal reflective exercises, and coaching calls with our facilitation team. You will also be asked to take your learning away and apply it to your work, with our support.

Learn more about the School curriculum

Facilitators

Producer

We’re aiming for a group of 18-24 people who:

• Are keen to start exploring what systems change looks like in the field of youth development in a digital age through a blend of theory, hands-on application, and discussion.
• Value learning alongside a diverse group of peers who bring different perspectives and experiences to the topic and systems change.
• Are excited to share their existing knowledge and experience from the field, as well as new learnings and shifts they will notice throughout the programme with peers and the School team to contribute to our collective inquiry.

This course is for you if:

• Hold knowledge or have sector-specific experience about the impacts of social or digital technology on young people, through either lived experience (e.g. youth representatives and parent groups) or professional experience (e.g. education, youth services, policy development or advocacy).
• Lead or have significant responsibility for a project or initiative where you can apply learnings from the course in real time.
• Are excited about the idea of collective learning and sharing insights from your action inquiry process with the other participants and the School team.
• Can attend the in-person workshops from 28-30th April 2026 and can commit to the online sessions from May-October 2026 (more details below).
• Are based in the UK.
• Are aged 16 or over. Young people are encouraged to apply.

If you’re connected to the field but do not qualify for the cohort (for example, as a funder, researcher or tech practitioner), we invite you to express your interest to join the 2-day pre-course collective visioning workshop on 28-29 April to explore who is working across the ecosystem. Please reach out to Clara at [email protected] for more information.

If you are looking for a shorter introduction to systems change, our Delta course might be right for you.

• Information sessions
  • Wed 25 February 2026, 13:00-14:00 GMT
  • Tue 17 March 2026, 13:00-14:00 GMT
• Application deadline: Sunday 29 March 2026 at 23:59 GMT

Course dates & times

In-person workshop

• 28-30th April 2026 in London (2.5 days - exact timings to be confirmed)

Please note that while the programme is fully funded, travels and accommodation to attend the in-person workshop are not included, although we offer a limited amount of stipends to eligible participants (youth representatives will be prioritised). You can request this stipend in your application form.

Online sessions

• 20 May, 09:30-12:30
• 17 June, 09:30-12:30
• 22 July, 09:30-12:30
• 9 September, 09:30-12:30
• 7 October, 09:30-12:30
• 14 October, 09:30-13:30

Participants must commit to participating in all of the in-person and online sessions and contributing as much as possible.

There are no fees to take part in this programme, as the course is fully funded by The Risman Foundation (apart from travel and accommodation for the in-person workshop on 28-30 April 2026, unless eligible for a stipend).

Terms and conditions apply: a percentage payment will be required should you decide to drop off the course at any point – we will share more details about this when you are accepted onto the course.

We seek to create safe and brave spaces for participants from different backgrounds and lived experience to engage in learning together. We acknowledge the power and responsibility we hold in our role as a convenor and learning provider, placing multiple ways of knowing and awareness of difference as fundamental design principles in our programmes.

Read more about our commitment and journey around equity and difference here.

Accessibility needs

If you anticipate requiring additional support for your wellbeing, learning or access needs during the course, then please let the team know as soon as possible, so we can factor this into our session design. You can let us know in the application form or email us at [email protected]. We are happy to arrange a call to discuss how we can support your learning. The course producer will also be on hand throughout the course if you have any questions or concerns to raise. 

Please join the course team for a 1-hour online information session to learn more and to ask questions:

• Wed 25 February 2026, 13:00 GMT
• Tue 17 March 2026, 13:00 GMT

Complete our application form by Sunday 29 March at 23:59 GMT. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes. You can save your progress as you go and have the option to keep a copy of your answers at the end.

We review applications on a rolling basis so participants can book their travels and accommodation for the in-person sessions as soon as possible.

Apply

Want to speak with one of our team to answer any specific questions? Please email us at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!

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The Risman Foundation is committed to raising a generation of flourishing young people in the UK and beyond, regardless of their circumstances.

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