Award-winning research: Haref and community research partners receive Dialogue and Change Award

Vicki Harris holds the certificate in front of an NIHR banner that reads Our vision is to achieve better, fairer health and care at all ages and in all places

Connected Voice Haref is delighted to have been presented with a Dialogue and Change award for our 12 month research project on health messaging in the age of Covid-19. This award really belongs to our 11 community partners who shaped and changed the research to make it the success it was.

Empowered to do the research and do the connecting

Community partner

There was team spirit, the collaborative nature was good. I felt valued

Community partner

Haref received funding from NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC) to deliver this research, which looked at ways of getting health information to people who need it most and who have the greatest difficulty accessing it. This included information on important aspects of health, such as how to use the NHS and avoid illness. The project involved 11 community partners, who live and/or work in the west end of Newcastle, and the rest of the research group from Haref, Riverside Community Health Project and Newcastle University.

As part of the funding process our project was asked to submit an application for a new Dialogue and Change Award to help evaluate the impact of Public Involvement and Community Engagement across NIHR-funded activities. The application process was run by Investing in Children and involved a series of visits and conversations with the community partners. These conversations provided evidence that as part of our research we had dialogue with our community partners leading to change in how we delivered our work.

We designed the research questions, even the research title. Everything really, everything was done by us

Community partner

I felt taken seriously.  I could see changes [as a result of discussions]

Community partner

You cannot build trust in one day.  Research is part of the puzzle

Community partner

Investing in Children produced a report based on the evidence they gathered and the community partners were invited to check the report and approve its recommendations. As a result of this process, and thanks to the endorsement by our partners, the Dialogue and Change Award was presented to us at the NIHR event on 5 October 2022.

We would like to thank all our community partners and everyone they interviewed for their involvement in our research and for the huge part they played in getting this award.

Service Area

Haref