Doing research as a summer job – My Angered

During the summer of 2011, the pilot project worked with the Center for Urban Studies, Hammarkullen, to test offering young people summer jobs in which they would help in generating knowledge about urban development. This project was inspired by the Municipality of Malmö and Malmö University, which had been running a similar project for several years. We were too late to incorporate this project into the regular municipal program for summer jobs for youth, so the young people’s salaries were funded by the city district administration of Anegerd and the Western Götaland Region. The two social workers who carried out the project were funded by the Center for Urban Studies and the pilot project. Six young people worked for three weeks with their supervisors to generate knowledge about the city.

They learned different methods of pursuing a dialogue with residents – methods typically used by researchers – and tested their knowledge by conducting interviews in the area. One result of this work was a still photo film with inserted quotations, entitled Mitt Anegered (My Angered). As the title implies, the film concerns how the young people who were interviewed view their neighborhood and their city. The Center for Urban Studies hopes to establish ‘Research as a summer job’ as an annual opportunity for youth in Angered. In the future, the centre also hope to link this to other educational and research projects at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg.