The Community of Practice webinar series began in 2021–22 as part of the ARC East of England’s Inclusive Involvement in Research theme. This page brings together the full series, showcasing sessions that explore different methods and approaches for inclusive involvement in research.
What is a Community of Practice?
“A group of people who get together to share knowledge and increase their learning around topics that are mutually interesting to them”
What topics are we discussing?
Ways of making research more inclusive.
Who is involved?
A group or around 10-12 people – public involvement contributors, service users, Public Involvement leads, Healthwatch, researchers, PhD students and practitioners.
What happens in these sessions?
The sessions are one hour and 15 minutes. We start with brief introductions. A short introduction of a method is given for around 15 minutes by one or two people. The facilitator then encourages short comments, statements, queries from those listening. The session is carefully facilitated to give everyone an opportunity to contribute either at the time (or afterwards). Someone summarises at the end of the hour. There is time at the end for reflections on how the session went and a written summary is produced (and parts of the recording are made available).
Outputs:
- Produce a suite of different methods, discussing issues such as accessibility, inclusivity, diversity, ethics.
- The Community of Practice will disseminate these discussions within their own work and research to reach others.
- Increase awareness, knowledge and practice of using inclusive methodology
To learn more, please contact Elspeth Mathie at E.J.Mathie@herts.ac.uk.
Our sessions
Session 1: World Café approach:
Elspeth Mathie, Amander Wellings and Graham Rhodes discuss the World Café method.
“if you come with a fixed idea about how you are going to do something, and your audience does not go with it then flexibility is needed” (Amander Wellings)
Note: INVOLVE was established in 1996 and was part of, and funded by, the National Institute for Health Research, to support active public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research. Since 2020 the NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination has responsibility.
Session 2: Walking interviews:
Watch video
Peter Beresford discusses Walking Interviews as an inclusive data collection method.
Session 3: Community Connections – Street Conversations:
Sally Burrows and Clare Hammerton talk about the Community Connections Project and the different methods they used to reach people.
Session 4: Universal Design in Research:
Watch video
Katherine Deane joins us to talk about the importance of Universal Design in Research.
Read Katherine's latest paper here.
Session 5: Co-production - is this an empty ritual?:
Sandeep Singh Saini and Neil Woodbridge discuss co-production in terms of their organisation, Thurrock Lifestyle Solution: The User-led organisation for Thurrock.
They provide practical tips and ways that ensure coproduction values are upheld.
- Click here to download a summary from this session.
- Click here to download the slides from this session.
Session 6: A Public Involvement journey towards a multi-case study using Participatory Action Research:
Su Conquer (from Healthwatch Suffolk) shared her experiences from her professional career and PhD. She has attended a number of our previous community of practices and wanted to discuss her learning about coproduction and the impact it has on design and transformation within integrated care. She shared her practical experience in a short presentation, leaving plenty of time for discussion and comments from those attending.
Session 7: Inclusive practices and approaches in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and some challenges that are encountered:
Alice Wreford gave a presentation reflecting on the lessons learnt from her PhD research. The study looks at the design of interventions aimed at increasing social connections.
- Click here to download a summary from this session.
- Click here to download the slides from this session.
Session 8: Making Public Partnerships fun. The Creative Learning Abilities Partnership (CLAPS):
Amander Wellings and Fred Inglis presented The Creative Learning Abilities Partnership (CLAPS) project and shared their reflections.
Session 9: Community of Practice with Su Conquer and Peter Beresford: Participatory PhDs:
Peter and Su shared their work on Participatory PhDs, leading into discussion around collaborative thinking and writing.
Session 10: Learning from Lived Experience Involvement: MINDS study with Sarah Rae:
Sarah Rae shared her experience of co-leading the Mind Study, which aims to improve discharge planning and outcomes for adults transitioning from inpatient settings to the community.
Session 11: “Swept under the carpet!” Let’s talk about sex, periods and having babies, with Alex Kaley & Kirsty Trimming:
Alex and Kirsty discuss developing inclusive approaches to research priority setting and the research partnership between people with learning disabilities, researchers and those in policy and practice.
Session 12: Inclusive Communication, with Peter Beresford, Colin King and Amander Wellings:
Peter, Amander, & Colin discuss how we can become more inclusive in our communications and enable more people to meaningfully participate in research.
Session 13: Palliative Care with Amanda Farwell:
Amanda discusses how we can enable more people to meaningfully participate in research at the end of their lives and how to ensure it is safe as well as ethical.
Session 14: Lost Mother's Study with Laura Abbott:
Laura discusses the inclusive methods used during research bringing together the perspectives from professionals in social work, health visiting, midwifery, and the criminal justice system.
Session 15: Exploring issues around digital inclusion with Shanice Thomas & Gill Bendedikz:
Shanice and Gill explore digital inclusion, including accessibility, benefits, and risks for people with limited digital experience.
Feedback:
“This is a really accessible and unintimidating way of getting up to speed on any research method for both expert researcher and novice. Certainly helped me.”
Peter Beresford, Co-chair for Shaping our Lives, Visiting Professor at the University of East Anglia and long term mental health service user
“The community of practice sessions about inclusive research methods are brilliant. The mix of people who attend ensures a really interesting discussion each time, and everyone’s perspectives combined influence how people can think about the different topics. I have learnt a lot about more accessible and collaborative ways to collect and share information to improve research.”
Amanda Farwell, PhD student at the University of Essex and ARC EoE
“It’s good to have the opportunity to share research methods with others, to discuss the pros and cons from my perspective - a neurodivergent viewpoint. It’s important to think outside the box to make methods accessible to all.”
Amander Wellings, ARC EoE public involvement contributor
