U-LEAD, a participatory research and skills-building programme, brings together unaccompanied minors, young adult refugees and migrants, Italian high school students, and members of the EUI community to ask: What rights matter most to us, and how can we protect them?
Jointly developed by the Migration Policy Centre at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and UNICEF’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, U-LEAD is more than a community engagement project. It is a living embodiment of the EUI’s institutional values—co-creation, reflexivity, and commitment to the public good—and a model of how research institutions can help shape a more inclusive, equitable society.
At the heart of U-LEAD is a carefully designed support structure that pairs each youth team with two mentors: a Youth Coach, who brings lived experience and deep cultural knowledge, and a Research Coach, who provides academic guidance and facilitation. This dual-coaching model ensures that the programme is not only grounded in evidence but also responsive to the emotional, social, and political realities of participants.
“The programme was shaped through months of consultations with over 50 stakeholders in Florence—reception centres, NGOs, and local authorities,” explains Andrew Geddes, Director of the Migration Policy Centre and one of the programme’s co-developers. “That grounding ensures that the programme is locally relevant while drawing on global standards and rights frameworks.”
U-LEAD is structured around the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and participants are guided through a process of identifying key rights they care about—from education to protection, to participation in decision-making. They then work together to investigate how these rights are experienced—or denied—in their everyday lives. Through this process, young people develop both academic and practical skills: data collection, teamwork, advocacy, and public speaking.
For the EUI, U-LEAD represents more than outreach. It embodies the aspirations outlined in the 2024 Vision Statement: to serve as a European university that does not just study society from a distance, but helps shape it alongside those most affected. It affirms that youth are not only the subject of migration and integration policies—they are experts in their own lives and capable co-creators of knowledge.
The first edition of the programme, launched on 29 May, concludes today after a weeklong intensive programme at the Robert Schuman Centre's Villa Schifanoia. Participants will present their findings and receive certificates in a closing ceremony at Caffe Verone with remarks by Erik Jones, Director of the Robert Schuman Centre, together with Assessore Serena Spinelli (Regione Toscana), and Assessore Nicola Pauleusu (Comune di Firenze).