Global Youth Mental Health Research Fellowship
Lived Experience Webinar Series
A global webinar series bringing together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and people with lived experience to advance youth mental health research through meaningful partnerships, shared learning, and knowledge exchange.
Register for Upcoming Webinar →About the Webinar Series
Overview
The Lived Experience Webinar Series is part of the Global Youth Mental Health Research Fellowship. The series aims to create a platform where researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and people with lived experience can come together to share knowledge and learn from one another.
Through expert presentations and lived experience perspectives, the webinars explore how meaningful engagement can strengthen youth mental health research, implementation, communication, and policy. The series is open to anyone interested in global youth mental health.
Series formatFour live webinars, self-paced learning, applied exercises, and a Capstone Project and Showcase.
DeliveryLive sessions through Zoom, with recordings and supporting learning materials.
Why Attend?
What You Will Gain
Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Learn from international experts and people with lived experience.
- Understand practical approaches to lived experience engagement.
- Explore real-world examples from mental health research and practice.
- Recognise the difference between meaningful participation and tokenistic involvement.
- Develop skills for research, communication, leadership, and systems engagement.
- Connect with a global network of researchers and practitioners.
- Access free learning resources and webinar recordings.
- Apply learning through practical exercises and the Capstone Project.
Upcoming Webinar
Next Webinar
Lived Experience as Expertise: Roles, Ethics and Power
Date & TimeTo be announced soon.
About the Webinar
Lived experience brings valuable knowledge that can strengthen mental health research, services, and policy. However, meaningful engagement requires more than inviting people to share personal stories.
This webinar will explore why lived experience should be recognised as a form of expertise and how it can contribute alongside academic and clinical knowledge.
Participants will examine the different roles people with lived experience can take across the research lifecycle. The session will also explore power imbalances, tokenism, ethical engagement, safeguarding, personal boundaries, and the support required for safe and meaningful participation.
Learning Objectives
- Explain why lived experience should be recognised as expertise in mental health research.
- Identify different lived experience roles across the research lifecycle.
- Recognise signs of tokenistic and meaningful engagement.
- Understand common power imbalances in research and decision-making.
- Reflect on personal boundaries, support needs, and areas of contribution.
- Understand consent, confidentiality, safeguarding, and the right to withdraw.
Webinar Library
The Webinar Library will serve as a growing repository of completed webinars. Recordings, presentation slides, and additional learning resources can be added after each session.
Webinar 1
Lived Experience as Expertise: Roles, Ethics and Power
Date: To be announced
An introduction to lived experience as expertise in mental health research, including roles, meaningful participation, tokenism, ethics, safeguarding, power, and personal boundaries.
Watch Recording Additional ResourcesWebinar 2
Co-Design and Participation in Research
Date: To be announced
An exploration of consultation, collaboration, and co-production, and where lived experience contributors can influence the research lifecycle.
Watch Recording Additional ResourcesWebinar 3
Communication, Narrative and Influence
Date: To be announced
A practical session on communicating with different audiences while protecting authorship, consent, editorial control, and personal boundaries.
Watch Recording Additional ResourcesWebinar 4
Leadership and Systems Engagement
Date: To be announced
An examination of how mental health systems operate, where lived experience can influence policy and governance, and how visibility differs from genuine influence.
Watch Recording Additional ResourcesWebinar Resources
Learning Resources
This section provides additional materials shared throughout the webinar series.
- Webinar recordings.
- Reading materials and practical guides.
- Relevant Fellowship learning modules.
Capstone Project and Showcase
Apply Your Learning
The Capstone Project allows fellows to apply learning from all four webinars and produce a practical contribution to the mental health field. Projects will take approximately four to six weeks.
A The Research Reshape
Review and redesign a published mental health study from a lived experience perspective.
B The Public Engagement Piece
Develop a blog, opinion article, video, podcast, or social media campaign.
C The Policy Submission
Prepare a real or simulated submission for a mental health policy or consultation process.
D The Peer Resource
Create a guide, toolkit, explainer, workshop resource, podcast, or annotated reading list.
E The Field Intervention
Design and test a small intervention addressing a gap in lived experience involvement.
Meet Our Speakers
Featured Speakers
Meet the facilitators, researchers, practitioners, and lived experience contributors supporting the webinar series.
Ms. Grace Gatera
Lived Experience Expert
Ms. Niharka Maggo
Lived Experience Expert
Dr. Syed Usman Hamdani
Fellowship Director
Global Institute of Human Development (GIHD), Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Pakistan
Stay Connected
Never Miss a Webinar
Stay informed about upcoming webinars, new recordings, learning resources, Capstone activities, and updates from the Global Youth Mental Health Research Fellowship.
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Contact the Webinar Team
For questions regarding the webinar series, registration, accessibility requirements, or technical support, please contact:
Email: opportunities@gihd.edu.pk
Fellowship website: Visit the Fellowship Website