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Youth Panel

Welcome to the RAF Museum Youth Panel page. We are a group of young people aged 16-24 with a range of different interests who come together to encourage youth involvement and perspectives at the RAF Museum London.

Members of our current Youth Panel, pictured on the mezzanine area of Hangar 6 with a display that they curated.

The Youth Panel gives us a way to share what we want from our Museum and gives us the opportunity to contribute to improving the visitor experience for other young people.

If you’re interested in museums, the RAF, or simply making a difference, we would love to have you onboard. We welcome anybody!

Opportunities include:
● Helping the Museum to test new ideas
● Creating and producing exhibitions and displays
● Representing the RAF Museum at events
● Taking over our social media accounts
● Experiencing what goes on in a museum
● Finding out more about the history and role of the RAF and RAF Museum

Members of our current Youth Panel wearing RAF jackets and head-gear standing in Hangar 4 at our London site.

The Youth Panel aims to host 3-6 meetings per year and a week in residence during the summer holidays to take on a project which includes the production of an exhibition display. Meetings are mostly in person but there is also the option to join online.

As a member of the Youth Panel, you will be registered as an RAF Museum volunteer which will enable you to take part in other volunteering opportunities too.

Want to join?

If you’re interested, drop us an email at learning-london@rafmuseum.org with subject ’Youth Panel’.
What do our members say?

EmiliaEmilia : I first joined the RAF Museum Youth Panel in 2017 and the time has flown past! Since then, being part of the Youth Panel has provided so many opportunities for learning how the museum works, becoming involved in testing new ideas, and putting on exhibitions. Setting up our own exhibitions is definitely a highlight of being part of the youth panel.

It involves spending a week working with members of the museum, going through archives, and using our creativity to contribute an exhibition the public can enjoy. Another one of my favourite things was the youth panel Digital Takeover Day where we took over the museum’s social media.

This felt like a big responsibility, with the ability to post reels of us having fun around the museum which thousands of people saw! I’ve met some great people in the youth panel and its always fun to work together. I would 10/10 recommend joining to anyone considering it, and if you’re unsure, hopefully the fact we get free pizza at all our meetings will convince you 🙂

ZoeZoe : The Youth Panel is a great asset to both its members and the Museum and being part of the Youth Panel has been an invaluable experience!

From an academic standpoint, being a part of the Youth Panel has been greatly helpful and provided me with a unique experience of already having professional experience of a museum while completing an undergraduate degree in History.

Having spent time researching in the archives for our summer exhibition I was able to familiarise myself with how archives work and how to best utilise the time spent there. This meant that when it came to researching for my dissertation, I was already comfortable researching in archives while many of classmates were only experiencing archives for the first time.

Personally, my time in the archives sparked a realisation of how much I enjoyed archives and led to me volunteering in my university archive for two years and am now interested in pursuing a career in archives and record management.

Employers have been impressed also by the dedication shown towards the Youth Panel. The time spent on various exhibits, meetings and volunteer days like the Digital Take Over Day have shown employers how I’m able to commit myself to a task and put in the time and effort to see the rewards, such as creating an exhibit. Having recently booked time off to attend the upcoming Digital Take Over Day my current employer noted how it shows how well rounded my character is as a result of the Youth Panel that we all want to help and attend as many Youth Panel related events as we can.

There’s a great sense of pride and enjoyment among the Youth Panel as well when we come together to create exhibits and meet, we’re a little community and have made friendships with people we otherwise would not have met. I really enjoy being part of the Youth Panel.

Upcoming Meeting Dates

Next Youth Panel Meeting: TBC

Our Displays - Content / images of past and present exhibitions

Each year we develop a display on a different topic which can be seen on the mezzanine in Hangar 6.

Below you can see the topics that we have exhibited:

Digital Takeover Day

Each year the RAF Museum Youth Panel takes over the RAF Museum social media channels for a day. Here are some of our posts from 'Kids in Museums Takeover Day' :

Kids in Museum's Digital Take Over Day 2024 - images shows members of our Youth Panel dressed in uniforms standing underneath our Lancaster Bomber Member of our Youth Panel in normal clothing standing underneath Lancaster Bomber S for Sugar A member of our Youth Panel standing underneath our Heinkel with their arms raised up
Members of our Youth Panel sat on oversized RAF Museum branded deckchairs going 'Ta da!' Members of our Youth Panel, dressed in Second World War RAF uniforms giving a class in London's Second World War Classroom Members of our Youth Panel waving good bye outside the exit into Hangar 1 at the end of a Kids in Museums day.