RAY Network Meeting in Copenhagen 2025

The annual RAY Network Meeting was an official event within the framework of the Danish EU Presidency. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, from September 23 to 25, 2025. The meeting was organized by the RAY Network Coordination (at the Finnish National Agency for Education, EDUFI) and the host Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science.

RAY stands for Research based Analysis of the European Youth programmes (www.researchyouth.net) and is a network with currently 36 national agencies of the European Youth Programs (Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps) and their research partners.

The objectives of the RAY network meeting were to bring together the RAY network partners and create a common space for exchange, to celebrate the achievements, to exchange ideas on communication, dissemination, and advocacy efforts for different target groups at the national and transnational levels.

The event also included a panel discussion on the future of research. The panel brought together Eva Feldmann-Wojtachnia (RAY DE at the C·A·P), Rilke Mahieu (RAY NA JINT, Belgium/Flanders), and Andreas Karsten (RAY transnational research coordination) and was moderated by Prof. Özgehan Senyuva (Middle East Technical University, Ankara).

The panel discussion took place on September 25 in Copenhagen and has been livestreamed on Youtube. It focused on the following questions: What kind of research will be needed in the future for the monitoring of the EU Youth programmes? How will it be done, and by whom? How can it serve youth work practice and policy-making? How will evidence help and improve practice and cross-sectoral collaboration? What role does RAY play in the future program?

"RAY research is not somewhere very apart from what is the real life. I think research is very important for the youth sector, because the world is really changing, many things are under pressure and two things we are researching on – youth and Europe - are sort of second ordinary when it comes to policy. Research can give deeper insight, can be explorative and can show learnings and benefits of the programmes. That can be a bridge to policymakers and other stakeholders."

Eva Feldmann-Wojtachnia, RAY_DE

Watch the discussion on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlxc6hvxg7M

Report of the meeting:
https://www.researchyouth.net/events/ray-network-meeting-2025-23-25-september/