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Public. Policy. Forward.
YOUNG RESEARCHERS PROGRAM (YRP)
YRP is an intensive one-year policy research training and coaching fellowship program designed for recent Cambodian graduates and young professionals.
With a part-time six-month training program followed by six months of mentoring and conducting individual policy research, the YRP aims to empower Cambodian youth to become competent in policy research and analysis such that they can influence and contribute to shaping public policy discourse by serving in government, civil society, tertiary education, research institutions or through other means.
Future Forum convenes two cohorts each year: Cohort I to start their fellowship in January and Cohort II in July. Up to 25 YRFs per cohort are accepted into the program through a highly competitive, nationwide selection process.
Learning Overview (Training)
The young research fellows (YRFs) will be provided with a cycle of premium training and capacity development, organized in a hybrid format, on areas including public policy analysis, policy engagement, academic and creative writing, ideation, and research methods, both qualitative and quantitative.
This training will equip the YRFs with the fundamental skills to undertake in-depth research, think critically, and provide sound analysis.
Learn more about the courses:
Expectations
The Fellowship will kick off with an in-person three-day public policy retreat, after which YRFs are expected to actively participate in hybrid full-day training on Saturdays, as well as satisfactorily fulfill required reflection assignments on an individual basis and attend three group discussion sessions online during weekdays.
Following the conclusion of the six-month training cycle, Fellows will produce an individual policy research proposal for consideration under the Future Forum research grant allocation, with a view to publication in the Journal of Future Cambodia. As well they have the opportunity to publish independent work through a variety of Future Forum publication avenues.
Through the program, fellows learn:
By satisfying the requirements of this program (learning outcomes), fellows will be able to:
1. Demonstrate solid knowledge and skills of commonly used methodological tools in empirical research, particularly in the public policy arena (L1);
2. Appraise the strengths and weaknesses of existing methodological approaches and policy research papers including tools of measurement, empirics, and conditions under which causal inference can be drawn (L2);
3. Gain a mastery of the literature surrounding their topic of interest and how that issue is currently being addressed in contemporary Cambodia (L3);
4. Formulate appropriate research design, develop arguments, undertake data collection, and thus be able to conduct a publishable research project (L4); and
5. Produce high-quality written work related to their research, suitable for both expert audiences and the general public (L5).
This program has been funded by SIDA (Embassy of Sweden Section Office in Phnom Penh), OSF (Open Society Foundations), and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade through The Asia Foundation's Ponlok Chomnes: Data and Dialogue for Development in Cambodia.
