Researching Young Lives VI

This year we will continue the debate about how young people function in the face of overlapping crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis, inflation, rising housing costs and other economic challenges. These crises deepen existing inequalities and affect the experiences and outlooks of young people living in contemporary Poland.

We posit that crises have become normalized—or even familiar—in successive generations and cohorts of young Poles. We want to show how — and whether at all — the crisis narrative operates across different areas of young people’s lives: from housing, education and the labour market, through forming relationships and parenthood, to citizenship. We invite proposals on various aspects of growing up and entering adulthood, including, among others:

• young people and generations in the labour market: new and recurring experiences, tensions and intergenerational capital;
• housing situations of young people in different life circumstances;
• young people in education: continuity and generational change in school and higher education experiences;
• young people in intra- and intergenerational relationships: intimacy, friendship, family, parenthood, support;
• young people and migration: experiences of leaving;
• the new landscape of Poland as a country hosting young migrants;
• young people and intersectional identities: age, gender, disability, neurodiversity, sexuality, class, ethnicity;
• young people and citizenship: social movements, political engagement, civic adulthood, youth resistance and agency, generational tensions in public discourse.

Abstracts (250–300 words) should be submitted via the application form by 31 March 2026. Notification of accepted abstracts will be sent by 15 April 2026.

Participation in the conference is free to ensure the widest possible inclusivity. It is possible to cover participation costs (travel, accommodation) for participants in difficult professional or life situations; requesting such support will be possible in the conference form. More information can be found at the conference website. We warmly invite participation and hope to meet in Warsaw in May 2026! Please feel free to continue sharing information about the conference!