28 Nov 2025
Celebrating the book launch of ‘Public Involvement and Community Engagement in Applied Health and Social Care Research'
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Celebrating the launch of Public Involvement and Community Engagement in Applied Health and Social Care Research
On Thursday (27 November) we were at Recovery College Collective (ReCoCo) in Newcastle for the launch of a new book which explores the evolving landscape of Public Involvement and Community Engagement in research through the eyes of those directly involved in it.
‘Public Involvement and Community Engagement in Applied Health and Social Care Research: Critical Perspectives and Innovative Practice’ is a carefully curated collection, exploring public involvement and community involvement (PICE) in research from a wide range of perspectives. It includes powerful reflections and insights from researchers, professional groups, marginalised communities, and people with lived experience.
Contributing authors were at the launch to talk about what meaningful public involvement and community engagement looks like in the real world, reflecting on the challenges as well as the successes.
Guests heard from Dr Emma Adams from Newcastle University, who discussed the importance of safety, transparency, flexibility, and ongoing reflection when co-producing research with people experiencing homelessness.
Dr Greta Brunskill, former Wellbeing Research Partnerships Co-ordinator at Vonne, talked about the journey of co-developing a regional approach to community engagement in health and care research in the North East and North Cumbria, to create more opportunities for seldom heard groups and communities to be active partners in health and care research.
Dr Ian Robson from Northumbria University shared an inspirational talk on what we mean by ‘creativity’ in PICE, and got us thinking about how creative methods – in many forms – can be used to enable and enhance meaningful public involvement.
Finally, guests heard from Dr Claire Smiles from Newcastle University and Donna Kay a Community Activist from the Recovering Justice Women’s Project, who co-authored a chapter on collaborating to explore the reproductive health and social care needs of women who use drugs. Claire discussed the importance of nurturing, developing and maintaining authentic relationships and trust when co-producing sensitive research. Donna spoke about the importance of creating safe spaces where people feel listened-to heard, and reflected on how her involvement in research had been an empowering experience on a personal level.
The collection’s lead editor Dr Will McGovern from Northumbria University, said: “It has been a huge privilege to be involved in the development of this collection with contributions from a group of truly fantastic people from across our region, who approached this challenge with bravery and honesty.
“By sharing our experiences and examples of work in practice, we hope we have created a collection that will ultimately enhance the quality and impact of health and social care research through meaningful Public Involvement and Community Engagement.”
Pictured: The editorial team with some of the book’s contributors at the launch.