The role of research teams in the empowerment of young researchers

Abstract

Youth empowerment in research groups is a subject with little scientific evidence. To contribute to this end, a single statistical-descriptive case study is carried out to analyse whether HEBE Project favours the empowerment of its young researchers. A questionnaire focusing on the factors inherent to empowerment in the academic field (expectations, training, support, etc.) and a rubric to assess the project's contribution to the development of empowerment dimensions such as self-esteem, responsibility, and efficiency are applied. The results show that the diversity of the team, as well as the democratic and participative work of this project, promote the empowerment and academic-professional development of its young researchers. Finally, current barriers and challenges related to social commitment, gender equality, personal well-being, and job insecurity are identified.