Research Engagement Network Project - NHS funded

Research Engagement Network Project – NHS funded

Crawley Community Action is an active member of the Sussex Research Engagement Network (REN).  The network was created in 2023  with the aim of exploring how communities, community researchers and health and care researchers can work together to tackle inequalities and improve research inclusion.  Community research involves working with people who have lived experience of the subject being studied. It brings unique insights and a deeper understanding, which in turn captures information that otherwise would not have been available.

The first REN project created a regional network of fifteen community researchers from marginalised  backgrounds, including people from racially minoritised/global majority and migrant communities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQ+) communities; and disabled and neurodivergent individuals.  The capacity of community researchers was built through development training and qualitative interviewing experience. The community researchers interviewed forty-two minoritised people from the above communities in geographical areas of deprivation, gaining in-depth knowledge of how to improve participation in health and care services and research.

As part of this, REN member Diversity Resource International developed a set of materials to support organisations working in health and care research. These resources outline best practices for building effective and successful relationships with community researchers.

You will find the following resources: 

1. Guidelines to Work with Community Researchers: a guide for organisations and institutions working with (or looking to work with) community researchers, compiling best practices and recommendations.
2. Presentation Pack: a PowerPoint template for community researchers to use when presenting their work. This comes with a set of useful notes and a link to edit it online on Canva..
3. References and Further Reading: a list of resources for additional information and supportive documents.
4. Glossary: while all documents are written in plain English, we have included a glossary to clarify key terms used across them.
5. Flyers: two promotional flyers about REN’s work.

All materials are free to use. They’re available for view and download through this link: REN Dissemination Materials