Online workshops

Workshop 1: 10am-1pm, Thursday 3rd March 2022

Workshop 2: 1-4pm, Thursday 17th March 2022

Focus of the workshops

Co-producing a research project is an approach in which researchers, practitioners and the public work together, sharing power and responsibility from the start to the end of the project, including the generation of knowledge (INVOLVE, 2019). These workshops will provide an opportunity for participants to gain insight into the potential and pitfalls of this approach by taking real world issues or areas of interest and co-creating plans for research. There will also be a focus on learning by doing, with suggestions for how to reflect on and evaluate the co-production process using examples from across the region.

Who should attend?

The workshops will bring together groups of researchers, practitioners and people with lived experience/an interest in health and social care research. We aim to create the opportunity for exchange of ideas between participants from a variety of different perspectives. The maximum number of attendees will be 20-25, using a mixture of full group and breakout groups. You are welcome to join both workshops but this is not essential.

Workshop 1 on Thurs 3rd March: Learning to work together

This workshop will cover: what is co-production; what do we want to find out – choosing a project; who should be involved; designing the project; and what happens next. At the end of the session participants will have plans co-created in the workshops to use and adapt in their own local settings. If people want to continue talking outside of the workshop, we can help facilitate that.

Workshop 2 on Thurs 17th March: Learning by doing: tools for reflection

This workshop will cover: the process- who was involved, why, when and how; negotiating impact- outputs, uses and outcomes; and identifying barriers and facilitators to co-producing research. Participants will learn a number of ways to reflect on and evaluate co-production, and how to apply these to research projects.

The workshops will be facilitated by Nadia Brookes, Vanessa Abrahamson and Amanda Bates from the Centre for Health Service Studies, and Lisa Richardson from the Personal Social Services Research Unit (the Co-production Lab). They are supported by funding awarded to the University of Kent from Research England.