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Herts YPAG

Who are we?

  • We’re a group of children and young people aged 10-18(ish) who live in Hertfordshire.
  • We learn about research and work with researchers to help them plan and do research about children and young people’s health, care, family lives and the communities we live in.
  • We meet about every 6-8 weeks in the evenings after school/college (online) or on Saturdays at the University of Hertfordshire.
  • We also have fun and eat pizza🍕 (when we meet in person!)

Watch the film we made to learn more about the group 📽

⭐Interested in joining Herts YPAG? We’re currently looking for new members: https://generationr.org.uk/joinhertsypag/

You can contact us at: ypag@herts.ac.uk. We’re also on Twitter/X and Instagram @HertsYPAG

 

The Herts YPAG team

Group Facilitators

Lauren Denyer

Helen Abnett 

Louca-Mai Brady

Sonya Prime (Group Administrator)

 

What we do

In our meetings, researchers from the university and other organizations come to work with the group, where we do things like:

  • Comment on research ideas and their relevance to children and young people’s experiences and lives
  • Review project documents and advise on how to make them young people-friendly
  • Test out research methods
  • Feedback on emerging findings/initial analysis
  • Help develop research summaries and other reporting and dissemination
  • Test websites and apps
  • Help plan how best to involve children and young people in research projects

We have worked with lots of different researchers including projects on mental health, food and drink, the ways your environment and where you live can shape who you are, dealing with loss and bereavement, and work with the NIHR Bioresource and Genomics England.

As well as giving researchers advice on how to make their research children and young people-friendly, in our meetings we also:

  • Learn about how research is done and different research topics
  • Share ideas about what we think should be researched
  • Get involved in doing research
  • Write blog posts and publications and present at conferences
  • Have fun!

Researchers - get in touch!

‘I found it really helpful to speak with the YPAG right at the start of developing a research proposal. They handled a sensitive subject very well, and provided some useful insights into how young people seek support, which I will build into my work.’

If you’re a researcher interested in working with the group:

  • Contact us to discuss your project and how the group could be involved at ypag@herts.ac.uk or by filling in this web form.
  • We will then send you more information and work with you to plan and deliver your session(s)
  • After the meeting you will be asked to give feedback on how working with the YPAG has informed your research. This is really important as it demonstrates the impact of young people’s role in the design and delivery of research.

Latest from Hertfordshire YPAG

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GOSH YPAG and UCL Division of Psychiatry: Children and Young People’s Mental Health Module, UCL MSc in Mental Health Sciences: A Sustained Youth Involvement Model

Working together teaching postgraduate students how to carry out research with young people since February 2020! Read on to for a combined Blog from three of this year’s GOSH YPAG member attendees as they reflect on their annual visit in February 2026 to work with over 30 students Thank you to Aleena Lu’Lu, Betty and […]

The Excellent Evaluators Brilliant Blogpost

Written by: Benita, Jacob, Zuyi, Lauren and Helen Background to the YPAG Evaluation The Herts YPAG started in March 2022 and is made up of a group of young people living in Hertfordshire who are aged 10-18 years old. Since April 2025, the YPAG Excellent Evaluators team have been conducting an evaluation of the Herts […]

Our 3rd Birthday! – blogpost by Stela

As usual, we started off our in-person meeting  with some ice-breakers and introductions, including writing our name tags and drawing a little picture of something we enjoyed. One of the funny ones in my opinion was cheese! Sheila’s hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) Research First, Sheila talked to us about hEDS and how it affects people […]