Lincolshire Boys' Impact Hub

Elevating the Voices of Young Men

The Centre for Innovation in Fatherhood and Family Research recognises that boyhood and fatherhood are natural bedfellows and that the issues affecting boys and men have potential both to extend and be addressed across the life course. Our boys today are also our fathers of the future. If we get things right for boys in the present, we increase the opportunity to get things right for fathers and for generations to come.

As a core strand of the Centre and part of a nationwide movement that aims to elevate the voices of young men who face the harsh realities of inequality, we are delighted to host the Lincolnshire Boys’ Impact Hub. Led by Nicki Pierce, and comprising a network of local educators and professionals, the hub has been established to ensure that the experiences of marginalised boys across Lincolnshire are acknowledged, amplified, and addressed through innovative educational policies and practices.

The hub focuses on developing a robust, evidence-based understanding of effective approaches for engaging and supporting young men who experience marginalisation in education. Our core aims are to deepen insights into how educational and social systems reinforce and embed gender-based inequality and harm, fostering a richer understanding of young men’s interactions with these structures.

In listening to the voices of young men, the hub has ambitions to create spaces for collaboration both by bringing together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to: 1) critically engage with these issues, 2) equipping educators with the knowledge and tools to better understand the challenges young men face in education and 3) to implement strategies that enhance their outcomes and progression. When professionals advocate for the lived experiences of young men, it becomes more possible to challenge deficit-based narratives and promote a strengths-based approach.