The story of the ‘Shaping the Conversation’ project
Often health research projects originate with researchers, and research organisations set the priorities for health research. This results in health research being done to, rather than in collaboration with under-served communities. Consequently, these communities may be less likely to participate in research because it doesn’t reflect the issues they are affected by or care about.
How the project started…
The Raising Voices in Research partners (Action Hampshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB, University Hospital Southampton, University of Winchester) developed ‘Shaping the Conversation’, a project to address this issue and empower VCSEs to share and develop their health research priorities.
How the project developed
The project ran from April – October 2024 and was funded by NIHR Clinical Research Network Wessex via their Small Grants Scheme working with communities under-served by research. We recruited 12 VCSE organisations and provided them with a grant to deliver a workshop with 10 of their community members. The purpose of this workshop was to explore what health research these community members would like to see delivered. An organisation representative summarised these discussions in a Feedback Form, providing the top 3 research priorities identified by their group.
The University of Winchester reviewed the 34 research questions shared by the VCSEs and grouped them into three themes:
- Person-centered mental health interventions
- Culture, stigma, and health
- Health inequalities
Researchers and research organisation representatives with expertise/interest in these three areas were then invited to attend a sandpit event with the participating VCSE organisations, who brought with them one member of their community. Overall, there were 52 attendees. The purpose of the sandpit event was to build a shared understanding of what research questions matter, as well as to build momentum for collaborative research projects which could make a meaningful difference to local communities.
What was the outcome of the project?
Five research priorities were developed into ideas and taken forward from this event by partnerships of VCSE representatives, community members, and researchers. These research topics are:
- What support do communities need to implement community-based solutions
- Better supporting people at the intersectionality between neurodiversity and LGBTQ+
- Healthy eating and nutrition related behaviours
- AI culture and language in health settings
- Young people and peer support
These groups are currently developing their ideas further and assessing the opportunities available for project funding.
The sandpit event was a great success with 100% of VCSE survey participants agreeing that it helped them to develop research ideas with and for their communities, that they were more confident to share the research priorities with others, and that they felt listened to and heard.
“It was interesting to talk through ideas and hear everyone's perspective” – VCSE Participant
Moreover, 100% of researcher survey participants agreed that they have a greater understanding of the research that matters to communities and a better understanding of how to connect with communities to collaborate on research.
“The opportunity to be part of a lively and invigorating conversation, meeting representatives from a diversity of organisations and sharing ideas.” – Researcher Participant
A research priorities database
The Shaping the Conversation team has developed a VCSE research priorities database containing all the research interests and ideas that VCSE organisations have identified and developed through the project. The VCSE priorities database will become a key resource in terms of designing research ideas and setting research priorities across the region as we can use it to connect interested VCSE organisations and researchers. To find out more about the database, join our Research Collaborative by clicking here.
And finally, a big thank you to…
We want to say a HUGE thank you to all the VCSE organisations that took part:
- Recapture Life
- Sight for Wight
- St Deny's Activity Group
- Winchester GoLD
- Portsmouth City of Sanctuary
- Portsmouth Pride
- NVR South Parent Practitioners
- Mountbatten Hospice
- Autek CIC
- The Society of St James
- Cross-Culture Hub CIC
- Vision 4 Youth
And to all the researchers and research organisation representatives too! Thanks also goes to the funder, NIHR Clinical Research Network Wessex Small Grants Scheme, for making this project possible.
We look forward to building on the work delivered as part of Shaping the Conversation during the next phase of our Raising Voices in Research programme.
