The Co-pro Pilots are here! Funding available from the UCL Centre for Co-production in Health Research

Today we (you, me and everyone else who wants to be involved!), are launching the UCL Centre for Co-production in Health Research Pilots. Exciting times!

Doubly exciting because today is the start of National Co-production Week ‘Nothing about us without us’ brought to you by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).

As you may already have heard, we are not your average research Centre. We are aiming to do things DIFFERENTLY! The Centre is currently being developed with funding from the Wellcome Trust. Once launched, it will support genuine collaboration between communities, researchers and healthcare professionals. Together we will look to address the questions important to us all and develop innovations, products and/or treatments to improve people’s health and wellbeing.

Please read on to find out how you can get involved in the Pilots. You do not need to be a researcher or from a university to get involved.

We started work back in October 2017 with a series of Expert Advice & Ideas sessions, check out Laura’s blog: The adventure begins! (which is about one of these sessions). Rather than launching the Centre based on UCL aims and objectives, we are working to co-produce the development as a project team. The team is made up of an ever-evolving group of collaborators (aka Co-producers) – people from the local community, patients, carers, researchers and healthcare professionals. Everyone brings their own skills and experience to the table, we share power and together make a dynamite team!

We aim to focus on quality of life and people’s views of the best way to maximise it rather than statistics or morbidity. We want to challenge the traditional funding model that asks researchers (whether from the community or a university model) to make decisions about research design, expected outcomes and results before starting to work with patients, public and the community. We appreciate this is a departure from the status quo, which is why we are all here to support each other; it is a learning experience for everyone involved!

As a team we’ve been busy since October. Debbie from Engage Visually has done an amazing graphic illustration (included as a image above or downloadable below) that really brings the work since then to life, please feel free to have a nosey! If you would like me to talk you through the artwork this is no problem just give me (Niccola) a call.

So… what are the Pilots all about?

Well, we’ve reached a stage in the Centre’s development where we’re looking to identify Pilot projects to test and refine our approach. We are looking for collaborators (organisations or individuals), to join us and be at the cutting edge of this way of approaching health and social care research.

These Pilots (see the Pilot Information documents below for details) will help us to:

• Identify how the Centre will strengthen and improve health research design and delivery
• Bring the Centre to life by starting to build resources, toolkits and a visual identity
• Decide upon future ways of working in terms of both the processes which underpin our operations and the training in co-production we offer all involved
  

  Traffic cone with an ‘under construction’ sign and hard hat hanging on it (Photo credit: The SPL Group)

Interested in getting involved?

Great! Please have a look at the Pilot Information documents below and get in touch with Niccola by midnight on 12 August 2018 to be involved in the Pilots (or by midnight on 22 July 2018*, with an email expressing interest, for the Prep for Pilots work). That really isn’t very far away so please get onto it quick!

And… don’t forget to promote this opportunity with anyone that you think would be interested and who shares the values and vision of the Centre (you can find out more about this in the FAQs document listed below).

Thank you! Looking forward to chatting soon!

Pilot information documents

• Document 1: Pilots Launch Letter – as a PDF – as a Word docx
• Document 2: Pilot Collaborators FAQs – as a PDF – as a Word docx
• Document 3: Pilot Application Form (Pilot 1 only) – as a PDF – as a Word docx

Debbie’s graphic illustration of the Centre development work to date – as a PDF

In addition, we are looking for a consultants, organisations or collaborations of individuals/organisations to support the Centre in delivering Pilots 3, 4 and evaluation set-up. Please have a read and respond to the following Invitation to Tender documents if you would like to be considered.

• Evaluation strategy & framework development – as a PDF
• Training programme & Resource development – as a PDF

Not interested in working on a Pilot project but still want to help or just be kept up to date?

This is no problem at all! Please contact me (Niccola) – we would love to involve you or your organisation in whatever way works for you!

 

*Blog and documentation updated 04/07/18 as this deadline for Prep for Pilots work only was missing previously – if this change causes you any problems please get in touch with Niccola.