Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize winner, was recognized for her contribution to girls’ rights for education at the age of 17. Greta Thunberg sailed across the Atlantic Ocean at the age of 15 to attend the United Nations Climate Summit. At 15 years old, Jack Andraka created a new way to diagnose pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancers in the world. At the age of 14, William Kamkwamba saved his town from famine by constructing a windmill to provide water and electricity. With their lives and future directly impacted by the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, young people around the world joined the effort to create transformation in social, economic, and environmental spheres. In the academic community, however, principal investigator-driven research efforts that are focused on the lives of youth are missing a critical piece of insight – the youth. Youth participation is an untapped resource in research development and process; from beginning to end. We want to inspire youths and increase their engagement in research production as their contributions are invaluable for designing studies that meet their realities and produce findings that can transform their own lives.

        With this inaugural issue of the International Journal of Youth-Led Research (JYLR), Youth Research Vox (YRV) is launching a collaboration with youths around the world to lead and conduct research that can improve their lives, communities, and countries. In partnership with researchers, policymakers, practitioners in the field, and content experts, YRV will support youths to articulate, explore, develop, and investigate research questions, and test hypothesis to address policies, practices, and problems in their communities and countries. 

        Our goal is to advance the use of research to improve the lives of young people by providing authentic opportunities for youth to be involved in the research development process. We want to empower youths as researchers to identify topics and problems of interest; conduct research; translate their results; and amplify findings in new ways, so that youth and communities around the world can benefit from it. JYLR aims to increase the usefulness, relevancy, and impact of research about youth through their engagement, not just as subjects and participants, but as leading contributors with critical insights into the problems that impact their lives.