Jawad Mustafa

“I took part in the summer 2019 research program at YCR. I decided so because I was really impressed by the organisation’s ideology which was to instill in youth, the passion to conduct research on diverse topics. The organisation was able to implement this ideology to a great extent and this was seen especially when all the participants gathered to share their research. This way, not only was i able to explore the research area assigned to me but, I learned about a wide range of topics in a brief amount of time.While there are energy draining factors in our lives and countless distractions, such organisations are needed to bring together all those who want to make an impact but are just in need of a little push, encouragement, and proper guidance.”

Ahmed Mughni

“Youth Centre for Research’s Summer Program 2019 was a novel attempt to bring change through student-lead research on very important issues of the developing world. The mixture of volunteers and the selection of research topics was perfectly well-balanced. Overall, from all the stages of planning to evaluation were efficiently handled by YCR. It was an honor for me to be an advisor for the volunteers – and in the process know the brilliant ideas which stem in today’s youth. Such programs give us hope that through research in the most relevant areas, we can happily be a part of an equal and just world. Good luck to Youth Centre for Research for their upcoming endeavors!“

Tashifa Aziz

“YCR is a great initiative to engage young people in research and it is a great opportunity for us to learn and implement research skills. My name is Tashifa Aziz and I am a final year BS Social Sciences student at IBA. I applied for YCR because I personally believed in this cause and I wanted to use my education and skills for something purposeful.

Through this program, I found out that there is so much more for me to learn. Along with research skills, I learned efficient group work, time management, working around deadlines and a lot of interpersonal skills. I got to learn so much from my team and our Supervisor, Nazneen from Bangladesh, was very helpful and she encouraged us to think and work through the challenges we faced. The skills that I learned from YCR were very helpful for my later projects as well and it really helped me with my final year thesis.

I am proud to say that I was among the firsts to be part of YCR and  I hope this program will be successful in achieving its goals.”

Arooma Naqvi

“I’m a Junior at Habib University, majoring in social development and policy. In the summers of 2019, I worked as a Young Researcher at the Youth Centre for Research (YCR) for a period of 6 weeks under the thematic area of Sustainable Energy & Development. During this time I worked on a research paper that evaluated the inclusion of sustainability within the higher education curriculum in Pakistani universities. With this internship, I was able to further refine my research skills since the research paper required us to utilize both qualitative and quantitative methods. Moreover, as an aspiring policy developer with an interest in sustainable urban development, the research project gave a lot of insight into the ground realities of how ‘sustainability’ is viewed in Pakistan.

While most the work was done remotely, the few sessions with my advisor and group mates were an interesting experience and I was able to work on my ‘people’ skills too which I feel have really helped me. Lastly, I, along with my groupmates, also presented our Research in the Public Assembly on ‘Discourse on Sustainability Mindset for Sustainable Development’ held in Habib University in January’20. This opportunity to present my research in front of an audience has really helped me boost my confidence and I’m thankful to YCR for that.“