Thought leadership articles

Read deep dives on our areas of expertise from young people — drawing on their lived experiences, YLab’s methodologies, and reflections on projects learnings.

Three people are in the foreground, sitting down with their backs to the camera, partaking in a workshop. In the background are several other people, also seated and involved in the workshop.
A group of young people are engaged in a workshop and conversing with each other in a room with blue and green curtains.

Employment Can Be More Than Just a Job

What if we dreamed big and designed employment to bring out young people's passion, skills, and ideas - increasing their connection to community, professional networks and enabling continuous learning opportunities in the process? Driven by a purposeful ‘why’, employment-focused social enterprises can have the power to address unemployment challenges by doing things differently.

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Three young people with arms around each other chatting and smiling. There is a colourful wall painted with a mural in the background.

Test, Adapt, Repeat: How to co-design online

5 Lessons learnt from the YLab Co-design challenge: With social isolation measures in place, our usual face to face workshops had to be adjusted. So, butcher’s paper, sharpies and a gratuitous amount of post-it notes were substituted for completely virtual spaces. From the many lessons learnt from this process, here were 5 insights that will help anyone looking to facilitate online

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A group of nine First Nations people sitting outside listening to each other speak at the Wollotuka Institute in Newcastle. There is a building in the distance and the area has red dirt with native grasses and gum trees.

Reconciliation – Making space and acknowledging privilege

The world is currently looking for a new way forward. First Nations communities across Australia and the globe hold many of the answers, and many Australians are beginning to adopt some of these cultural systems and ways of being like never before. 

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Four women partaking in a workshop are kneeled over sheets of paper on the ground. They're reading the text on the paper and adding their own post-it notes to the sheets.

The role of resilience in times of crisis

COVID-19 is testing people to the depths of their capabilities. We are seeing how people across the world respond when pushed to seemingly impossible limits. From frontline health workers, people caring for themselves and loved ones in unprecedented circumstances, and government and businesses making decisions which involve trillions of dollars and will impact the livelihood of billions. 

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