The UW Youth Advisory Board (or UW-YAB) is a group of curious and motivated teens (ages 13-17) from Western Washington working with UW researchers to explore their relationships with the technologies they use in their day to day lives.
Youth Advisors work closely with researchers (faculty, graduate students, undergraduates) from the Information School, Psychology and Computer Science Engineering (CSE) on long-term projects exploring teen technology use and design. In the past, teen advisors in the UW-YAB worked on:
- Research projects exploring youth relationships with social media, AI, and other technologies
- Re-imagining high school curriculums regarding social media, computer science education, etc.
- Co-design methods to help develop a game episode that teaches middle and high school students to think critically about generative AI
- Evaluating research tools and analyzing data
- And more!
Sign ups for the 2025/2025 UW-YAB cohort have now closed.
Thank you to everyone who applied!
For further questions, please contact roteml@uw.edu
Projects & Updates
October, 2025 The UW-YAB is proud to release our first ever research memo!
Our UW-YAB 2025 summer cohort worked hard to analyze insights from students, teachers and parents around Washington state about school phone ban policies, and are weighing in on how we can move forward as we tackle this nationwide dilemma.
Why should you care? Because youth insights are essential if we are to create policies that honor and support young people’s technology use both in and out of school.
Read the memo here to find out more, and share among colleagues to spread their voice!
April 2025 The UW-YAB 2024/2025 cohort members presented their work at the Information School’s annual research showcase. Our poster featured some of our ongoing work that we’ve done throughout the year, and won several prizes throughout the night.
FAQs:
What is the time commitment required to join UW-YAB?
The UW-YAB team will meet virtually once every two weeks for 2 hours throughout the year. To be a full participant, you must be able to attend 10 the 15 meetings (dates will be posted in advance).
How long does the UW-YAB last?
Members of the UW-YAB may join the group as early as their Freshman year of High School (9th grade) and stay in the group until they finish their Senior Year (12th grade) if they wish. We welcome returning members from prior cohorts!
What’s in it for me when I join UW-YAB?
Joining the UW-YAB means meeting and working with other students and researchers who are excited to help answer some of the most burning questions researchers have about technology (like social media, AI, and more) that affect us everyday. This experience aims to grant teens with:
- Experience in social science research,
- Networking and exposure opportunities with researchers and like-minded peers who are excited about research,
- Research skills, like question formation and data analysis,
- An opportunity to learn about different research career options and paths, and
- A way to contribute your voice as a teen in a meaningful way to projects that shape the interactions young people have with varying technologies, and communicate those out to the world (last year, for example, the UW-YAB presented their work at the Information School Showcase).
Who can I talk to if I have more questions?
If you have any more questions, please reach out to roteml@uw.edu for additional information.
UW-YAB Alumni
