UNESCO has issued a call for papers, seeking opinion pieces by Gen Z young people (people between 18 and 28 who identify as Gen Z) to contribute personal stories, viewpoints, experiences, and artistic creations, as relevant to the subject or specific lenses.
The central question/topic to address is: What motivates and affects the civic and political actions of Gen Z and how?
It is also inviting research papers by young/early career scholars can contribute either as individuals or as leading authors of a broader research group composed of both younger and senior scholars. Priority will be given to those papers that have meaningfully included Gen Z young people as part of the research process.
The papers may include multimodal forms of expression. Apart from written form, contributors may also express through images, drawings, or other types of non-written expression.
The papers will contribute to a UNESCO knowledge project called In the minds of Gen Z, that explores the phenomena and factors informing Generation Z’ s civic and political participation and actions. It is framed with the support of an Expert Group of eight scholars from all regions of the world and will produce knowledge to inform policy and programmes.
Through this call, UNESCO seeks to collect contributions showcasing the many different phenomena and factors that inform Gen Z civic and political actions indifferent parts of the world. The papers selected will feature as part of a global UNESCO study in 2026.
Apply by June 2025. Citizens For queries, please contact: m.kypriotou@unesco.org