Reclaiming the lost years: Supporting young adults with severe and multiple disadvantage

The project chimes with many of the concerns of the 'Wellbeing, Health and Communities' pathway, exploring the experiences of marginalised young adults whose needs have been largely overlooked despite growing policy and research attention to (a) multiple and severe disadvantage and (b) youth transitions. It adopts an interdisciplinary approach to understand how access to support impacts upon health and wellbeing. It recognises the social determinants (i.e. social and economic conditions) which shape individual experiences and result in some groups being more vulnerable to poor health and wellbeing. Whilst the project is principally focused on young adults, it will recognise the role of factors other than age including socio-demographic factors (e.g.gender, ethnic origin and sexual orientation), social factors (e.g. whether a young adult is in employment, education or training or has access to secure and appropriate housing) and access to informal (e.g. from family and friends) and formal (e.g. fromstatutory and voluntary services) support.

The project is inherently interdisciplinary, reflecting the academic backgrounds of the internal supervisors which span criminology, law, politics and sociology. It is located within youth studies, an interdisciplinary field which brings together academics from across the humanities and social sciences. The project's focus on different forms of disadvantage - homelessness, addiction, mental (ill) health and reoffending - necessitates engagement with diverse fields (housing and addiction studies, health sciences, criminology and criminal justice) which are in themselves
interdisciplinary.