Research & Development

In October 2023, Young Somerset supported a Research & Development phase of Parallel Wilds in the United Kingdom. This provided the opportunity to see the excellent and vital work Young Somerset achieve with youth in wilderness areas, in their existing partnership with Exmoor National Park in South-West England.

This was followed by presentations in Northern England to National Parks in the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors, Lake District, and Peak District, to gain a sense of how UK National Parks operate in tandem with youth and education. This also has allowed exploration of future opportunities to work together into 2024.

2023 Young Somerset project, ‘The Stream of Freedom’, won the Group Category of the Creative Freedom Award: https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/creativefreedom

In December 2023, Kiri Wood from Yorkshire Dales National Park was in Australia and given a tour of Outdoor School Bogong by Principal, Roger Blackwell. She engaged with our native species, a monitor lizard and family of sugar gliders.