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Short Abstract

A youth-led citizen science project in the Dutch Peel Region explored how farmers perceive synergies between nature-inclusive and technological farming, showing how participatory co-design can transform 'hard-to-reach' youth into co-creators of sustainability transitions.

Abstract

While youth are often described as a 'hard-to-reach' group in citizen science, this case study from the Dutch Peel Region reverses that logic. A group of secondary school students collaborated with local farmers to investigate perceptions of synergies between nature-inclusive and technological farming. Instead of being the target of engagement, the young participants acted as co-designers and co-investigators throughout the research process.

Through a youth-led mixed-methods design integrating co-created survey instruments and qualitative inquiry, the project examined how local farming traditions, innovation pressures, and intergenerational histories shape attitudes toward sustainable transitions. Framed by Self-Determination Theory, Diffusion of Innovation, and Sustainability Transition perspectives, the study highlights how youth leadership in knowledge production reshapes understandings of motivation, identity, and context in processes of change.

The project illustrates how youth-led inquiry can bridge social and epistemic divides between farmers, policymakers, and scientists. In doing so, it redefines 'reaching' not as outreach but as the creation of shared spaces for inquiry and governance. The case demonstrates that meaningful inclusion arises when participation is reconfigured to position young people and other typically peripheral actors as equal partners in defining research agendas, interpreting findings, and translating outcomes into locally relevant action.

By foregrounding co-design and intergenerational collaboration, this contribution offers a practical and conceptual pathway for making citizen science more equitable, transformative, and responsive to the realities of rural sustainability transitions.