Setting research priorities with community members

Tower Hamlets Council was awarded funding to set up NIHR Health Determinant Research Collaboration (HDRC) Tower Hamlets in 2022. The HDRC is a partnership between the council, Queen Mary University, University of East London, London Metropolitan University and Tower Hamlets Council for Voluntary Service. It aims to: 

• build and embed a research culture across the council  

• bring together local policymakers, partners, universities, and the voluntary and community sector to identify and build evidence where it is needed the most 

• involve local people in building evidence and shaping policy 

Over the last 6 months, the HDRC have developed an approach to work alongside residents, universities, local voluntary organisations and council staff to identify research priorities that respond directly to local needs.  

The process began with a rapid review of local evidence, structured using Barton & Grant’s (2006) model of local neighbourhood health determinants. This is a model that builds on Dahlgren and Whitehead’s 1991 diagram that shows the relationship between health and the physical/social/ economic environment: 

The HDRC team worked alongside voluntary and community sector partners to engage under-represented communities identified in the rapid review exercise. These included individuals who spoke English as a second language (especially from the Somali and Bengali communities), sex workers, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ communities. To ensure the workshops were accessible, they were all held in community venues, at different times of day. Interpreters were offered for those who did not speak English as their first language and attendees were offered a £50 voucher in recognition of their time. An external facilitator from Nu Know also helped to create an open atmosphere.   

At each workshop, attendees were given a short presentation on the HDRC to ensure research was the focus for the event. They were then invited to explore the long list of potential research themes identified through the rapid review exercise. Through group discussion, attendees were able to identify the gaps in evidence and knowledge they felt most needed to be addressed through research. In the second part of the workshop, attendees were invited to vote on research themes according to importance and impact (using sticky dots). Through this ‘dotmocracy’ process,  four priority themes were identified. The findings from each workshop were summarised for the following session to ensure that each discussion was built upon in subsequent sessions.  

The 4 themes identified were:  

• Opportunities for residents (looking at employment and training opportunities for local residents)  

• Staying physically and mentally healthy (looking at ways in which residents can support themselves and others to be physically and mentally healthy) 

• Crime and safety (looking at ways in which to reduce crime and increase resident safety) 

• Economic security and support (looking at ways to support residents with the cost of living crisis) 

Housing had been identified as a previous priority with residents and was added as an additional theme.  

These themes were then presented at three stakeholder workshops attended by senior council officers, academic researchers, community organisations, and health research professionals from local hospitals alongside residents. At these workshops, discussion focused on which themes are already ‘active’ across the council, where there are gaps in evidence or action, and where research could add the most value to work across the council. Residents (who had attended the previous workshops) shared reflections on how these issues closely intersected, for example, how job insecurity and the rising cost of living affect mental health and access to healthy food. 

The outcome of the 9 workshops was a comprehensive map of priority research themes: 

The HDRC team is now writing up findings from the workshops and will develop this into a research prioritisation framework to guide discussions with partner universities and relevant teams within the council, to present and to discuss how these priorities fit with existing service strategies. They recommend that other local authorities planning similar activities: 

• Think carefully about how to make sessions as accessible as possible by hosting events in community venues, using interpreters, and working closely with local voluntary and community sector organisations to reach under-represented community members

• Initially reach out and invite representatives from all under-served communities before allowing word of mouth recruitment. The workshops were popular and oversubscribed, showing the importance of reaching out to under-served communities first.

• Allow enough time between workshops for reflection

This process has demonstrated that research priorities can be meaningfully co-produced with  local communities. The workshops created space for lived experience to shape decision-making and helped build shared understanding and trust between residents and stakeholders.  

The resulting themes reflect both the challenges residents face, and the opportunities for research to drive change. These themes will guide the next phase of the HDRCs work, informing future research, supporting resident-led research activity, and contributing to a more responsive, community-centred research infrastructure. 

This learning story was prepared with support from NIHR RSS Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by Newcastle University and Partners. With thanks to HDRC Tower Hamlets for providing the content.