Public lecture "The right to stay, the right to prosper? Alternative futures for rural youth in Europe"

On 15 April, from 12:15 to 13:45, Francisco Simões (PhD) (an Associate Researcher at and Full Member of the Centre for Social Research and Intervention (University Institute of Lisbon), and the Chair of the European Rural Youth Observatory (2024–2026) will give a public lecture „The right to stay, the right to prosper? Alternative futures for rural youth in Europe“. The lecture will take place at Lossi 36-207 and in Zoom.

Rural areas in Europe are facing major demographic shifts, primarily due to ageing populations and the outmigration of youth seeking education and job opportunities in urban centres. In response to this, rural youth have become increasingly important in both policy and research agendas. This talk aims to provide some insights into how rural youth envision their futures across multiple relevant domains. This overall exploration will combine knowledge points stemming from recent research endeavours that Francisco Simões have led. These include the latest conclusions from a report on rural youth transitions from the Youth Partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe, the most relevant conclusions from the Future Youth Information for Rural areas project (https://euryo.org/fyir/) and other ongoing knowledge dissemination initiatives from the European Rural Youth Observatory (https://www.euryo.org/web/). Based on these sources, this presentation will deliver a comprehensive and up-to-date framework of the major trends affecting rural youth mobility, employment, education, and social participation.

Francisco Simões (PhD) is an Associate Researcher at and Full Member of the Centre for Social Research and Intervention (University Institute of Lisbon), and the Chair of the European Rural Youth Observatory (2024–2026). His work focuses on a psychosocial analysis of the school-to-work transition, namely social inclusion, well-being, and access to education and decent jobs for vulnerable young people, such as those Not in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET). For the past 5 years, he has collaborated with international entities such as the European Commission, the OECD, and the Council of Europe on project evaluation and knowledge transfer for public policy. He was the coordinator or Principal Investigator of several international projects such as OVER-SEES, VET excellence leadership for the twin transition in European Islands (2025–2029), COST Innovators Grant Future Youth Information for Rural Areas (2024–2025) or the COST Rural NEET Youth Network Action (2019–2024), all funded by the European Commission.

Project "Cooperation between universities to promote doctoral studies" (2021-2027.4.04.24-0003) is co-funded by the European Union.