After 9 months of work, I am pleased to finally be able to present my research project on the views of Cypriot youth towards the Cyprus Problem, through the University of Warwick Undergraduate Research Support Scheme (URSS). The views of Cypriot youth remain an under-researched and often neglected demographic when it comes to both the Cyprus Problem and Cypriot politics – I wanted to explore further. When I first started planning this study, my main aim was not just to understand their viewpoints but to discover the genuine reasoning behind them. Is the Cyprus Problem an issue that young Cypriots think about often? Why is it that so many Cypriots from across the two communities still refuse to engage, or even acknowledge, each other? Why, after 50 years, does the puzzle that is the Cyprus Problem remain unresolved? These were just some of the questions that I felt finally deserved detailed discussion through a series of focus groups and interviews.
After the challenge of recruitment and physically conducting the fieldwork, the result was a total of 98,000 words of qualitative data with 32 individual topics discussed. This study was unique from any of the previous research on Cypriot youth with a level of depth on the key issues that has rarely been seen. Equally, there is a particularly strong focus on the opinions and personal experiences of participants. There are several interesting findings and recommendations on an array of topics including education reform, improving the effectiveness of NGOs and what a solution should involve and look like. Inevitably, some issues seemingly had easier answers than others.
You can read the full 57-page paper here: https://lnkd.in/dZpYZf3p
A special thank you to my participants, who were central to this study: they shared their experiences, stories, opinions and emotions in some often very frank and passionate discussions. This project would also not have been possible without the help of my supervisor Dr Neophytos Loizides (admittedly, this project became more complicated compared to what I had originally planned, so his support was invaluable), and the Warwick Institute of Engagement who provided full funding and opportunities to publicise my research. I look forward to my new challenge: sharing my research with various stakeholders in the New Year.
