Senior Research Fellow: Young People’s Participation

I am a qualitative researcher focused on issues of power and powerlessness, with a background in practice and 15 years of experience volunteering and working with children and young people. I joined the Safer Young Lives Research Centre in January (2024) to lead on the work with the Young Researcher’s advisory panel (YRAP).

Prior to joining the Safer Young Lives Research Centre, I spent almost 10 years in the charity sector in a range of roles. My time in the charity sector began with providing wellbeing support to young women and girls with a range of vulnerabilities, including care experience, bereavement and those who were NEET or at risk of NEET. I then moved into the domestic abuse sector developing and delivering trauma-recovery programmes for children and young people affected by domestic abuse, and then focusing on behaviour change work with children and young people using harmful behaviours, as well as adult perpetrators of domestic abuse. This latter focus led me to a research role within SafeLives, a national charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse for everyone, for good. Here I led on a discovery piece of research called ‘Verge of Harming’, focusing on young people’s use of harmful behaviours and support for young people who harm. This was my first experience of participatory research with young people, working alongside a young expert-by-experience, and a panel of young people who consulted and co-developed the work. Following this project I worked closely with a group of young advocates and survivors on a series of participatory research projects initiated by them. This included research focused on ‘toxic relationships and the police response’, which led to a set of recommendations which the young people took to Parliament to discuss with MP Jess Phillips, as well as a creative piece of participatory research focused on ‘Domestic abuse and intersectionality’, which started with the young people’s own experiences and explored both the individual and the shared story.

My doctoral research explored lived culture in a support service for sex working women, focusing on experiences of power and powerlessness within the service, and reflecting on the practices of service-providers and how these aligned or conflicted with the services written ethos. I still hold a keen interest in organisational culture, and particularly how it can facilitate or inhibit participation. Alongside my role in domestic abuse support, I was part of a research project at Bournemouth University exploring researcher’s experiences of doing sensitive research, and remain passionate about researcher wellbeing and the consideration of this as part of formal ethics processes.

Research interests

• Creative and participatory approaches to data collection and analysis, including children and young people’s involvement and participation within services and research
• Issues and experiences of power and powerlessness, particularly those relating to domestic abuse and sexual abuse
• Organisational culture

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Psychology with Counselling – University of Huddersfield (2014)
• PhD: ‘An ethnographic exploration of a support service for sex workers’ – University of Huddersfield (2019)

Current and recent research projects

• YRAP-led research (upcoming)
• Sound of Silence - participatory research with young people focused on domestic abuse (SafeLives)
• Verge of Harm[ing] – exploring young people’s use of harmful behaviours in their dating/romantic relationships (SafeLives)
• Evaluation of the ‘Responding Well’ programme of training for professionals (SafeLives)
• Evaluation of the Restart programme – temporary accommodation for perpetrators of domestic abuse (SafeLives)

Recent publications and reports

• Darley, D., Blundell, P, Cherry, L., Wong, J.O., Wilson, A.M, Vaughan, S., Vandenberghe, K., Taylor, B., Scott, K., Ridgeway, T., Parker, S., Olson, S., Oakley, L., Newman, A., Murray, E., Hughes, D., Hasan, N., Harrison, J., Hall, M., Guido-Bayliss, L., Edah, R., Eichsteller, G., Dougan, L., Burke, B., Boucher, S., Maestri-Banks, A. and other members of the Breaking the Boundaries Collective. (2024). Breaking the Boundaries Collective – A Manifesto for Relationship-based Practice. Ethics and Social Welfare, 18:1. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2024.2317618
• Taylor, B., Balachandran, M., Beat, E., Castagnetti, A., May, R., Steadman-South, S., & Waller, K. (2023). Sound of silence: A journey of co-creation in youth-led responses to domestic abuse [PDF]. SafeLives.
• Meechem, S., Smith, Z., & Taylor, B. (2023). Verge of Harming; Exploring Abuse in Young People’s Relationships and Support for Young People who Harm [PDF]. Safelives.
• McGregor, K., Taylor, B. & Oakley, L. Power, Participation, Payment and Platform: Ethical and Methodological Issues in Recruitment in Qualitative Domestic Abuse Research. Journal of Family Violence. 38, 1029–1041 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00590-y
• Meechem, S., Smith, Z., & Taylor, B. (2022). Verge of Harm[ing]; Understanding abuse in young people’s relationships [PDF]. SafeLives.
• Oakley, L., Fenge, L., & Taylor, B. (2022) ‘I call it the hero complex’ – Critical considerations of power and privilege and seeking to be an agent of change in qualitative researchers’ experiences, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 19:3, 587-610, DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2020.1718813
• Fenge, L. A., Oakley, L., Taylor, B., & Beer, S. (2019). The Impact of Sensitive Research on the Researcher: Preparedness and Positionality. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919893161

Contact details

Bethan.taylor@beds.ac.uk