Five asks for government, policymakers & technology companies
“Digital youth work is not a programme or an add-on. It is anticipatory infrastructure — and it needs to be recognised, funded, and coordinated as such.”
— Dr Alicja Pawluczuk, evidence to APPG on Youth Affairs, February 2026The following asks are informed by our research and by conversations with practitioners, policymakers, and young people. We present them as evidence-grounded proposals rather than finished positions — each one could be strengthened, challenged, or refined through further engagement.
- National Youth Strategy (2025) — push for DYW named in implementation chapter
- NYA Digital Youth Work Standards (2025) exist but lack a funding mechanism — attach one
- Digital Inclusion Action Plan ‘First Steps’ (2025) — formal sector evidence window
- APPG on Youth Affairs — written evidence submission following Feb 2026 oral session
- Scotland and Wales have stronger frameworks — use as model for England
- DSIT Digital Inclusion Action Plan consultation — submit evidence on non-formal education gap
- House of Commons Science & Technology Committee — cross-departmental digital inclusion inquiry
- National Youth Strategy implementation group — advocate for DSIT representation
- TechFirst / TechYouth review — challenge school-only focus that excludes NEETs
- Modern Industrial Strategy (2025) — digital sector plan lacks youth sector linkage
- National Youth Strategy implementation funding — infrastructure vs. project grants argument
- Good Things Foundation National Digital Inclusion Network — shared infrastructure partnership
- Shared Outcomes Fund — cross-departmental bids linking digital inclusion and youth outcomes
- Young Futures Hubs (£70M, 3 years) — advocate for digital youth work to be embedded in hub remit
- National Lottery Community Fund — non-formal digital education streams
- AI Safety Institute — formal submission to include non-formal education in AI harm assessment
- Online Safety Act implementation — Ofcom guidance on youth worker role in platform accountability
- House of Lords AI Committee — evidence on AI’s impact on marginalised young people
- Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum — joint evidence from NYA, YouthLink Scotland, INCLUDE+
- Council of Europe AI Convention implementation in UK — youth sector consultation
- Ofcom Online Safety Act codes of practice — formal submission on youth worker safeguarding needs
- 5Rights Foundation / children’s digital rights consultations
- Meta/TikTok/Google transparency consultations — sector evidence on platform harms in youth spaces
- NYA and YouthLink Scotland — sector-led code of conduct development
- INCLUDE+ Fellowship (YouthLink Scotland) — ethical tech partnerships guidance, outcomes April 2026
Connecting to the wider European foresight context
UK digital youth work policy cannot be developed in isolation. European research — particularly the work of the European Academy on Youth Work (EAYW), SALTO networks, and the EU–Council of Europe Youth Partnership — provides both the theoretical foundations and practical foresight tools that UK advocacy urgently needs. Dr Alicja Pawluczuk sits at the intersection of this European research landscape and UK policy development, connecting the two in ways directly applicable to the National Youth Strategy, the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, and AI governance debates.
The EAYW Futures of Youth Work report specifically positions technological transformation — including AI — as a defining cross-cutting force for youth work by 2050. The UK’s current policy responses are reactive rather than anticipatory. European foresight research offers both the methodology and the evidence base to shift this.
The EAYW Futures of Youth Work project envisions the European landscape of youth work in 2050 through foresight methodology. It identifies technological advancements, climate change, shifting demographics, and changing societal values as the primary forces reshaping the field. The research emphasises collective care, systemic awareness, and adaptability — and argues that youth work must develop future-readiness competencies now if it is to continue empowering young people in the decades ahead.
Anticipatory framing for the National Youth Strategy
Use EAYW horizon scanning to argue the UK National Youth Strategy must plan for 2030–2050, not just present conditions. Digital youth work as 2050-ready infrastructure.
Future-readiness competences for the workforce
EAYW identifies specific competences for future-ready youth work. Map these onto UK workforce development: NYA standards and YouthLink Scotland’s occupational standards as the starting point.
Scenarios for AI in youth work settings
Use EAYW scenario development to run futures workshops in UK youth organisations. The ‘Window to the Future’ game provides a ready-made tool for this.
European evidence to strengthen UK submissions
The EAYW report, alongside SALTO data on digital transformation in Erasmus+, provides comparative evidence UK parliamentary submissions can use to demonstrate international context.
What practitioners imagined in 2020: a workshop snapshot
In August 2020 (updated April 2021), Dr Pawluczuk facilitated a 30-minute “future of digital youth work” mind-mapping exercise at a Digital Youth Work Experts’ Hurdle session organised by Hilary Phillips at YouthLink Scotland. Participants were asked to imagine digital youth work in 2090, and to share their hopes and fears for the field. The exercise was exploratory and informal — a quick snapshot rather than a systematic study — but its themes resonate with what more recent research has found. We include it here as an early marker of how practitioners were already thinking about the long-term future of the field, years before AI became a mainstream policy concern.
The original post is available at alicjapawluczuk.com ↗
- →The division between “digital” and “non-digital” youth work may disappear — technologies could become so embedded that the distinction no longer makes sense
- →New terminology may emerge to describe practices we can’t yet name
- →AI was already anticipated as playing an important role in delivery — even in 2020
- →Ideas of childhood and child development might look quite different
- →Core values of youth work were expected to remain stable, even as the tools changed
- →Youth work may become more self-led and self-organised by young people themselves
- →Budget pressures could drive digitalisation as a cost-cutting measure, reducing face-to-face contact rather than supplementing it
- →The growing influence of tech giants (named as Facebook and Google) could make meaningful privacy a thing of the past
- →Digital exclusion could persist regardless of technological progress — many young people might still lack access or skills
- →Youth workers might struggle to keep up with the pace of digital change, leaving them unable to meet young people where they are
- →Digital tools could help youth workers reach young people in remote or underserved areas, and enable better sharing of practice across borders
- →More support would become available: training, membership organisations, communities of practice for digital youth workers
- →The workforce would become more diverse — people entering youth work from a wider range of professional backgrounds
- →Better evidence would emerge about what actually works, and for whom, enabling more targeted and effective practice
The eight-element infrastructure model
Proposed by the Digital Youth Work Research Hub at the University of Leeds, this framework suggests that effective digital youth work depends on eight interdependent elements working together — none sufficient on its own. It is offered as a working model rather than a definitive account, and is intended to inform conversations about what infrastructure-level investment in digital youth work might need to address. The framework also connects to the EAYW’s foresight competences for future-readiness.
Research & policy documents
The documents below are examples of research from the DYWR.HUB and associated networks — they are not exhaustive. Each entry represents a strand of ongoing work rather than a complete picture of the field.
- 41-page report produced for the UN University examining how COVID-19 accelerated and exposed digital divides in European youth work
- Draws on practitioner experiences across European contexts during lockdown
- One of the first systematic analyses of the pandemic’s effect on the digital youth work sector
- Rapid digitalisation during COVID exposed pre-existing infrastructure deficits
- Digital divides deepened unevenly — intersecting with geography, class, disability, and access to devices
- Youth workers forced to become digital practitioners without training or support
- Pandemic as both accelerant and stress-test for the sector’s digital readiness
- The conditions the report described have not been resolved — they have intensified with AI
- The ‘emergency digitalisation’ moment is now baseline expectation without the investment to match
- Provides longitudinal context: the current policy gaps have been visible for at least five years
- Published by the EU–Council of Europe Youth Partnership as part of their ongoing series on digital youth work
- Examines the structural limitations and power dynamics shaping digital youth work in European contexts
- Establishes the critical infrastructure framework that informs the eight-element model on this page
- Digital inequalities are intersectional: gender, race, disability, and geography all compound exclusion
- Neoliberal framing of young people as ‘digital capital’ or ‘homo economicus’ critiqued
- AI interest divide is structural, not merely individual preference
- Democratic values of youth work under pressure from datafication and quantified impact measurement
- Directly informs the ‘sector autonomy’ concerns raised in the ethics section
- The critique of non-formal education being excluded from public-private digital partnerships remains highly relevant
- Provides the European comparative baseline for UK policy analysis
- 800+ UK departments screened; DYW named in only a handful of relevant policies
- 97% of youth workers deliver DYW; 75% lack formal training
- NEETs — DYW’s primary target — excluded from school-only TechFirst
- Eight-element infrastructure framework developed
- Anticipatory infrastructure: planning for AI, platform shifts, and future digital environments
- Policy invisibility of DYW despite delivering digital inclusion outcomes
- Non-formal education absent from UK Digital Inclusion Action Plan
- Wales and Scotland stronger — model for England
- Primary evidence base for all five APPG asks
- National Youth Strategy must name DYW as a funded, named practice
- Formal DSIT–youth policy coordination mechanism needed
- Move from project grants to sustained infrastructure investment
- AI seen as an ever-present but invisible force
- Clear AI interest divide: enthusiasts vs. alienated workers — mirrors existing digital inequality
- AI perceived as “tested on youth work rather than developed with it”
- Harmful content served algorithmically to new platform users in minutes
- Risk of dehumanisation of youth work via automation
- AI tools entering practice without training or guidelines
- Platform algorithmic systems creating harm without accountability
- AI as opportunity: inclusion, personalisation, admin efficiency
- No UK AI training framework for youth workers — urgency established
- Online Safety Act hollow without workforce trained to implement it
- Youth work sector needs formal seat in AI governance
- AI interest divide maps onto digital exclusion — same communities most at risk
- Meta updated Community Standards (Jan 2025) to permit LGBTQ+ hate speech
- AI content moderation structurally harms marginalised youth
- AI-generated deepfakes emerging as a youth work crisis
- Manosphere content targeting youth spaces with no funded response
- Feminist critique of ‘neutral’ technology design — algorithmic harms are gendered and intersectional
- Democratic resistance: DYW as a space for critical AI citizenship
- Neoliberal datafication of young people’s experiences critiqued
- Online Safety Act fails to address platform policy changes enabling hate
- National Youth Strategy must name LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent youth explicitly
- Gender-based digital violence absent from mainstream digital inclusion policy
- Intersectional analysis entirely missing from DSIT’s neutral framing
- Digital transformation-related Erasmus+ projects grew from 12.2% (2018) to 24.6% (2020)
- Most projects focus only on skills and participation — ethics, rights, sustainability trail behind
- Funding inflexibility prevents digital transformation from being taken seriously
- Non-formal education spaces crucial but consistently under-resourced
- Digital transformation as horizontal EU priority (2021–2027) — no UK equivalent post-Brexit
- COVID accelerated digital shift but exposed infrastructure deficits
- Gap between digital transformation rhetoric and funded practice
- UK has no equivalent to Erasmus+ digital transformation infrastructure since Brexit
- TechFirst replicates the same failure: skills with no ethics, rights or inclusion framing
- European evidence strengthens UK parliamentary submissions with comparative context
- Digital inequalities are intersectional: gender, race, disability, geography all compound exclusion
- Youth work organisations with digital access become innovators; those without fall further behind
- AI interest divide is structural, not individual
- Democratic values of youth work under pressure from datafication
- Neoliberal framing of young people as ‘homo economicus’ or ‘digital capital’ critiqued
- PPPs in digital skills focus on formal education — non-formal sector excluded
- Impact measurement criteria must be challenged
- UK National Youth Strategy’s economic framing risks the homo economicus critique
- DSIT does not engage with non-formal education — documented here
- Intersectional analysis absent from UK digital inclusion policy
- AI, deepfakes, sextortion and fake accounts named as specific digital threats
- Online Safety Act as primary digital governance mechanism
- £70M for Young Futures Hubs over 3 years
- Data and digital infrastructure for safeguarding named as a priority
- Digital youth work not named or funded as a distinct practice
- Online Safety Act compliance placed on platforms — no investment in workforce supporting young people
- Non-formal education absent as digital inclusion delivery mechanism
- Young Futures Hubs: digital youth work not embedded in hub remit
- This is the document that must change — APPG Ask 01 targets this directly
- Strategy identifies the problem (AI harms, deepfakes) but doesn’t invest in the solution (trained digital youth workers)
- Young Futures Hubs implementation process is the immediate entry point
Current UK consultations & entry points
Live and upcoming opportunities to connect the research evidence to formal UK policy processes. This is a living resource — updated as consultations open and close.
A living code of conduct: responsibilities in both directions
Ethical standards for digital youth work cannot sit only with youth work organisations. Technology companies operating in spaces where young people and youth workers are present bear direct responsibility. This framework — to be co-developed with the sector, young people, policymakers, and industry — sets out what each side must commit to.
What the sector commits to — and needs support to deliver
- Centre young people’s rights, agency, and voice in all digital youth work — not as participants, but as co-designers
- Adopt and maintain digital safeguarding standards equivalent to face-to-face practice
- Pursue critical digital literacy — not just skills, but the power to understand, question, and challenge digital systems
- Resist the datafication of young people’s experiences — oppose reductive metrics that reduce young people to data points
- Build collaborative networks for ethical, critical AI adoption — sharing resources, learning, and advocacy across the sector
- Engage in co-creation of AI-use guidelines — bringing youth worker expertise into governance processes
- Pursue futures-readiness as a professional standard — using tools like the EAYW Futures Toolbox in ongoing CPD
What tech companies must be required to deliver in spaces where young people are present
- Conduct meaningful youth impact assessments before deploying AI systems on platforms used by young people
- Ensure platform content policies do not expose LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, or otherwise marginalised young people to structurally enabled harm
- Make algorithmic transparency accessible to youth practitioners — not just regulators
- Cease the deployment of exploitative engagement systems targeting young people’s vulnerabilities
- Provide accessible tools for youth organisations to report harm and protect young people’s privacy
- Meaningfully consult the youth work sector when designing products used by young people
- Commit to funding youth sector digital literacy initiatives independently of corporate branding or data harvesting
Moving forward, the youth sector is increasingly positioned as a key player in understanding the dynamics of youth digital culture, online safety, and emerging digital skills. That positioning brings both opportunity and risk.
It is essential that the autonomy of the sector is protected as a democratic citizenship space — one that aligns with youth work values and maintains its critical, participatory foundations. We want digital youth work to be innovative, well-funded, and genuinely meaningful to young people. At the same time, there are real dangers worth naming.
Youth work spaces could become unregulated testing and playground environments for technology companies — where new products, platforms, and AI tools are trialled on young people and youth workers without meaningful consent, oversight, or accountability to the sector’s values. External investment from tech companies, however well-intentioned, must not be allowed to compromise the sector’s independence or reshape its priorities from the outside.
There is a risk that digital youth work becomes primarily a vehicle for digital upskilling for employment — valued instrumentally for its contribution to labour market outcomes — while losing its critical edge. Digital literacy that does not include analysis of internet governance, digital human rights, platform power, and the politics of data is incomplete. Youth work has always been about more than skills; that must remain true in digital contexts too.
These tensions do not have simple resolutions. They require ongoing, critical conversation within the sector — and a policy environment that funds youth work on its own terms, rather than primarily as a delivery mechanism for others’ agendas.
Fellowship team: Alex Hutchison (Director, ForrData; INCLUDE+ Fellow) · Hilary Phillips (Digital Youth Work Lead, YouthLink Scotland) · Jane Dailly (Grants Manager, YouthLink Scotland) · Paulina Met (Senior Communications Manager, YouthLink Scotland)
Read more about the fellowship at INCLUDE+ ↗
Digital Youth Work Research Hub — European & UK digital youth work
The Digital Youth Work Research Hub (DYWR.HUB) brings together researchers working at the intersection of digital youth work, digital inclusion, and policy. The profiles below represent the core research team and associated European collaborators contributing to the Hub’s evidence base.
Dr Pawluczuk is one of the leading researchers connecting European digital youth work research to UK policy development. Her work spans the full arc from foundational theory to parliamentary evidence — from doctoral research on digital youth culture and social impact in Scotland (Edinburgh Napier University, 2019) through to her most recent evidence sessions before the APPG on Youth Affairs in 2026.
As a member of the Pool of European Youth Researchers (EU-CoE Youth Partnership) and former lead researcher for the SALTO Participation and Information Resource Centre’s Digital Transformation programme, she has contributed directly to the European frameworks that inform UK digital youth work practice. Her 2022 report Insights into digital transformation in the youth field (SALTO, European Commission) analysed 16,964 Erasmus+ projects. Her EU-CoE Youth Partnership report Technology and the new power dynamics: limitations of digital youth work (2022, with Adina Marina Şerban) established the critical infrastructure framework applied in UK policy contexts.
In the context of the EAYW Futures of Youth Work agenda, Dr Pawluczuk’s research on the ‘AI interest divide’ (Automating youth work, 2023), the neoliberalisation of digital youth work, and anticipatory infrastructure provides the theoretical bridge between European 2050 scenarios and immediate UK policy asks.
Cristina Bacalso is the Research Lead for the Equitable by Default? Youth Work, Digital Equity, and Policy in the UK project at the DYWR.HUB. She is an independent research consultant specialising in public policies for adolescent and youth development, and the human rights of young people.
She has worked at international, European, and national levels, with organisations including UNICEF, UNICEF Innocenti, UNDP, European Commission, Council of Europe, European Youth Forum, and with various national governments and youth civil society organisations. Her focus areas are evidence-informed youth policies, youth participation, participatory research, and youth work. This breadth of international policy experience brings a rigorous human rights and equity framework to the Hub’s UK-focused policy analysis and advocacy.
Lotte Vermeire is a PhD researcher in communication sciences at imec–SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. She is part of both the Digital Inclusion and Citizen Engagement unit and the Media, Marketing, and User Experience unit. Her research investigates digital and data literacy, digital youth work, and digital inclusion.
Her PhD project focuses on digitally inclusive initiatives aimed at improving data literacy in both formal and non-formal educational settings — bringing a European comparative perspective to questions of how digital and data literacy can be meaningfully embedded across different learning contexts. Her work directly informs the Hub’s analysis of workforce training and literacy frameworks, and connects UK digital youth work practice to the broader European research landscape on digital inclusion.
The Digital Youth Work Research Hub (DYWR.HUB) is hosted within the INCLUDE+ Network at the University of Leeds. It produces research evidence, policy analysis, and advocacy resources to support the recognition and resourcing of digital youth work in UK and European policy frameworks. The Hub connects UK-based research to international networks including the European Academy on Youth Work, SALTO networks, and the EU–Council of Europe Youth Partnership, and works directly with practitioners, policymakers, and young people to ensure its outputs are grounded in the realities of the sector.