Developing a co-production community of practice
An NIHR ARC West project
Co-production in research is a way of working where everyone involved has equal power and influence. People involved can include members of the public, people from community groups, health professionals and both community and university-based researchers.
Ideally, co-production is about involving people at every stage in a project and enabling them to be part of decision-making. It’s seen as a way of improving the relevance, usefulness and quality of research. It can help develop research projects with groups of people who don’t normally engage with traditional studies.
It’s therefore becoming more and more popular. But as it’s an emerging field there isn’t an established community of practice to develop skills, share best practices and ways of working.
Project aims
We want to bring community and university-based researchers together into a co-production community of practice. As part of this, we will develop training and support materials for community researchers working with universities.
The community will help build capacity and a supportive network for people working in co-production, wherever they’re based.
We are working with Nilaari Agency, Barton Hill Activity Club and Caafi Health on this project.
What we hope to achieve
We hope the community of practice will enable university-based researchers to build equitable and productive partnerships with community organisations, and community-based researchers to access more training, development opportunities and support.
Enhancing and supporting relationships between community and university-based researchers could help to diversify the research workforce. It could help promote inclusive, respectful and mutually beneficial research practices.
It should also help those in community researcher roles to develop their career, including through well-established pathways for academic study.
A community of practice in this area could help the health and care system reduce health inequalities and diversify the range of groups who participate in research.
Lead collaborators
- Professor Sabi Redwood
- Dr Michelle Farr
- Mari-Rose Kennedy
- Dr Andy Gibson
- Dr Helen Watts
- Sarah Donald
- Helen Thomas-Hughes, University of Bristol
- Anna Pease, University of Bristol
- Jean Smith, Nilaari Agency
- Beverley Forbes, Nilaari Agency
- Samira Musse, Barton Hill Activity Club
- Salma Aideed, Caafi Health
