The Youth, Affective Polarisation and Trust (YAPT) project examines how young people experience political differences in an increasingly digital public sphere, and how engagement with political content on social media relates to affective polarisation, social and institutional trust, and political and social behaviour.

This 3 year long project is a transnational research programme spanning India, Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It combines youth-centred qualitative and participatory research with social media analytics and computational approaches, including Large Language Model (LLM)-assisted analysis, to connect young people’s lived experiences with wider patterns of online political discourse.

PDAG leads the implementation of the Indian chapter of the project supporting with research and engagement, and bringing a public policy and political economy lens to youth political participation, online polarisation, institutional trust and democratic participation.

Working across two phases, PDAG's research team engaged with 120 young individuals aged 18-24 and from diverse caste, class, gender, religion and political outlook across Delhi, through FGDs and participatory activities. In the second phase, Mini-Publics will be held with 25 young individuals from diverse backgrounds and having different viewpoints to deliberate on a shared public issue.

YAPT is designed to move from research to deliberation to policy engagement. In India, findings from qualitative research, social media analysis and Mini-Public will inform policy-oriented outputs and engagement with policymakers, public institutions, civil society and young people. Through this process, the project seeks to identify practical entry points for addressing polarisation, strengthening social and institutional trust, and supporting more inclusive and constructive democratic participation.