In May 2026, Patricie Kyslíková and Salim Murad represented the Czech YOUROPE team at the Midlands Conference in Critical Thought 2026, held at the University of Warwick. Over two conference days, they presented two papers connecting the YOUROPE project with feminist participatory research, arts-based methods, non-linear pedagogy, and work with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Their first presentation, “‘The Room of Many, of One’: Feminism under Surveillance,” focused on the Community-Led Research and Action cycle with young women from České Budějovice and beyond. Patricie presented how CLRA, combined with arts-based methods, can create a space for young people to express experiences connected to gender, body image, social pressure, judgement, and everyday forms of precarity. She also reflected on the limits and challenges of participation, especially when young people face school, work, lack of time, exhaustion, and wider neoliberal pressures that make active involvement more difficult. Salim Murad connected the presentation to broader questions of feminism and collective action in Czechia.
Their second presentation, “What Is the Price of Your Gaze? Disrupting Urban Commodification Through Non-Linear and Place-Based Pedagogy,” showed how non-linear and place-based pedagogical approaches can be used in education and youth work. Salim shared examples from his teaching at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, University of South Bohemia, as well as from his course at the Pedagogical Faculty at Charles University. Together, Patricie and Salim showed how they work with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds by moving learning outside traditional classrooms and using streets, public spaces, mapping, observation, discussion, and creative methods as tools for critical reflection.
The conference also continued their involvement in recent years in academic and practice-based debates on participation, critical pedagogy, and creative methods. For the Czech YOUROPE team, MCCT 2026 was not only an opportunity to present their work, but also a space to engage in dialogue, receive feedback, build new partnerships, and explore future collaborations.
