Overview
Research group description
The objective of the Right to Belong (R-to-B) consortium is to create research-based solutions to support decision-making on how to decrease and prevent children’s and youth’s experiences of loneliness and ostracism, i.e. social exclusion, in different environments, such as families, schools, social media and friend groups.
R-to-B utilizes methods such as brain imaging, eye movement tracking and action research, as well as large-scale national and international longitudinal data sets, surveys and register data. The project also includes evaluations of the long-term effects of three large randomized field experiments.
Researchers at the R-to-B consortium are experts in education and development psychology, sociology, child psychiatry and medicine, neuroscience, economics, law and information technology, from the universities of Turku, Helsinki, Jyväskylä and Aalto. Itla children’s foundation and the Finnish National Agency for Education are also consortium’s partners.
The consortium cooperates extensively with children and young people, the state administration and various authorities and organizations, among others. The research is funded by the Strategic Research Council, which operates within the Academy of Finland. R-to-B is part of the YOUNG research program, which focuses on children and young people as members of society and as makers of the future and uses research to find solutions that ensure equal opportunities for all children and young people for a good life and safe growth and development.
The consortium's website, including the research groups from other organisations: https://righttobelong.fi/en/. The director of the consortium is professor Niina Junttila.
