In Partnership: Connecting Communities and Primary Care Research

PI Title: Alisha Newman 

Lead member:  University of Bristol 

Aim

We will test and learn from a new, community-led way of working that helps build and strengthen relationships between people from ethnically diverse communities and primary care researchers. The relationships built through the project will contribute to our goal of making Primary Care research more relevant, accessible, and shaped by the people it’s meant to benefit.

Objectives

1. Establish a project team with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

2. Work together to develop and deliver three community events across Bristol, North Somerset, and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) to:
   • Share findings from the Health Ambassadors’ community conversations on health priorities work.
   • Address identified health information and support gaps by providing health information and signposting and offering basic health checks (e.g., blood pressure, height, weight).
   • Promote opportunities for public involvement in primary care research
   • Create opportunities for conversations between researchers and community members about research participation.
   • Share accessible research results aligned with community interests.

3. Reflect on and share learning from the events to inform future planning.

4. Look at how well the partnership approach works, and whether it could be used
   more widely to make research more inclusive

Approach

We’re taking a team-based, collaborative approach, working closely with community members and organisations to achieve our shared goal.

The Health Ambassador initiative, led by Caafi Health, trains community leaders to connect underrepresented groups with researchers. This helps ensure research is shaped by the people it’s meant to benefit.

This is especially important in the BNSSG area where there are big differences in health between more and less wealthy communities. These inequalities affect ethnically minoritised communities the most, and these groups are also less likely to take part in health research.

Previous CAPC Researcher and Health Ambassador partnerships were short-term and focused on specific research projects. This new approach goes beyond that, creating longer-term, more meaningful relationships with HAs and community members.

We will value people’s lived experiences and create inclusive, welcoming spaces where they can talk about research and access useful information and support identified as priorities by them.

The project team are:

• Six trained Health Ambassadors
• Two Health Ambassador Co-ordinators from Caafi Health and ARC West
• CAPC’s Public Involvement Administrator, and Senior Research Associate for Public Involvement and Engagement (Project lead)

We will agree on everyone’s roles and how we will work together. Meetings will be a mix of full-group and smaller task-focused sessions, held in-person or online depending on what’s best for the team. We will make sure communication is open, be respectful and flexible, to meet individual needs.
The HAs will work in pairs, each focusing on one community event, with support from the wider team. Funding will cover their time, travel, and event costs. Other costs will be covered by existing budgets.

Timeline

• Aug–Sep 2025: Preparatory work, team discussions, networking, and venue identification.
• Oct–Nov 2025: Project launch, event planning and promotion.
• Nov–Dec 2025: Event delivery.
• Dec 2025–Feb 2026: Post-event and project evaluation and write up.
• Mar - Apr 2026: Dissemination of findings and recommendations.

Amount awarded: £5,000