The multi-year Empowering Communities Project aims to build trust between Black communities in the UK and healthcare and research systems. Phase 1, which has recently concluded, worked closely with communities to explore barriers and enablers of trust and to co-create actions for sustainable structural and cultural change.

A number of the resulting recommendations focused on increasing diversity within research, aspiring to increased research led by minoritised groups. These include:

• Targeted, structured grant programmes, including ongoing support
• Leadership development and mentorship programmes
• Improving opportunities for public engagement and visibility, including through community engagement, conferences and media
• Investment in regional, national and international networks and peer-support platforms
• Integrated partnerships between universities, health organisations and community groups for researchers

In this workshop, we will share these research-related recommendations publicly for the first time and create a safe and powerful space for minoritised researchers to explore, challenge, and respond to them. Through facilitated discussion, we will gather perspectives on:

• Whether and how these recommendations might have an impact on researchers
• Where similar approaches have succeeded or failed
• What funders and institutions need to do to make them work
• Which elements participants can use in their own work or contexts

Ultimately, this session aims to place recommendations co-created with Black communities across academia, clinical medicine, and community groups into the hands of the researchers they were created for. The session is designed to support peer-to-peer learning and shared reflection. As a research funder, we are committed to listening carefully to researchers’ experiences before taking action.

Workshop - Empowering Researchers: From Recommendations to Reality

Speakers

Dr Naomi Elster