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Photograph of the tops of purple lavender in focus with a bee flying towards one of the stems in a lavender field with the background lavender out of focus. Photo credit: Cole Keister from Unsplash

June team update - Summertime is here

June 12, 2023

The sun is shining, and we have been as busy as bees spreading the word about co-production. In this update we introduce you to new team members, share what we have been up to and invite you to get involved in a number of our projects.

What happened at the second of our strategy meetings and how you can get involved in what’s next?

We hosted the second our sessions to where we worked on co-producing our new strategy which will be the successor to ‘Our Direction’ which was designed for the first two years of our operation. You are welcome to have a read our blog about the first session. It has become clear as part of these discussions in relation to Our Direction that as a result of the community growing and evolving, we should revisit our values to check if they are still fit for purpose. We will be holding a ‘Co-creating our values’ session on Thursday 27 July 13:00-15:00 (UK time). You can find out more and sign up to join us via our Eventbrite page.

New team members

Welcome to Aleem and Krisztina who have joined us initially for a couple of months to support the team and the community and help co-ordinate our projects.

Measuring success

Co-producers Lynn, Lisa, Tony, Rob, Gareth and Prisha joined Niccola, Vanessa and Aleem to work on the ‘Measuring what success looks like in co-production’ project. They held a kick off meeting and have now started to scope out the project. Watch this space for more information coming soon!

Ethics – A roundtable event

In collaboration with the UCL Public Engagement team we have been looking at issues surrounding research ethics when working in partnership with people outside of the University system. We hope to publish a guidance document on this issue, as well as a project report capturing the conversations we’ve had. The project team are holding a roundtable on Thursday 29 June at 10.00 UK time. This is a chance to discuss national issues surrounding ethical behaviour and research ethics. You find out more and sign up to join us via Eventbrite.

Other things we have been up to:

  • Nicc, Chloe and Anthony held the latest session with the UCL Mental Health Sciences PhD students focussing on people, power and relationships.
  • Nicc and Laura spoke at an event hosted by British Sociological Association for Early Career Researchers who are who are currently co-producing research or planning to do so.
  • George went to the New Local Conference ‘Stronger Things’ which brought together people and organisations who are helping to the lead the way in the community power movement.
  • Sarah, Sajid and Nicc ran the third of six sessions in partnership with Collaborate and Ideas Alliance for a training programme for commissioners called ‘Commissioning with Communities.’
  • Al and George went to the launch of SEEN a Barnardos initiative that aims to create systemic change by challenging structural inequalities that impede opportunities for a fair and equitable future for children and young people of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage to fulfil their full potential.
  • We launched the key findings and recommendations from our end of year survey and outlined our commitments from this and how you get involved, please read our blog to find out more.  

Coming up

  • Cecily, Priya and Nicc will be facilitating a session for the Association of Directors of Public Health London about co-production and anti-racism.
  • Nicc will be speaking at the Healthcare Text Analytics Conference (HealTAC) on 15 June about the HIPS research project – Integrating hospital outpatient letters into the healthcare data space. The project (which is funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) aims to develop a framework and computer algorithm to safely unlock the information in outpatient department letters (which is not always recorded in people’s health records)
  • George will be speaking at an internal staff conference LCCOS (Library, Culture, Collections and Open Science) the UCL department that Co-Production Collective is part of.

Get involved

Join our working group to co-create an inclusive way to recruit to our Allies Group.

We are looking for six people from the community who are not interested in applying to be members of the Allies Group but who would like to help shape an inclusive recruitment process to it to join a new working group to do this. Original deadline to express an interest was 17:00 on Thursday 22 June. This deadline has now been extended to 9am Monday 3 July (UK time).  To find out more and apply please read our blog.

Help shape Co-Production Collective's communications - join our sub group.

In light of all the feedback we have received on our communications throughout the end of year survey we are now looking for five people to take part a communications sub group. The original deadline for applications saw Monday 19 June 9am (UK time). This deadline has now been extended to 9:00 Monday 3 July (UK time) to ensure people who read the newsletter to get the chance to apply for this. Read this blog to find out more.

Looking for co-producers with connections to Croydon

We are currently working on a project with Croydon Council to help shape the way the Council works with residents. If you live, work or study in Croydon currently, or have done in the past we would love to hear from you as we are looking for two co-producers to be part of the team. The project is running from now until February/March 2024 and co-producers will be paid in line with our payment policy. If you’d like to find out more get in touch on coproduction@ucl.ac.uk

Community Reporter Network Conference 11 July

The annual Community Reporter Network Conference is back for its fifth year and is happening in Liverpool on 11 July. This year there will be a focus on the value of lived experience and how this can be used as a tool for creating equitable futures. Attendees will be able to explore how lived experience stories can help to address systemic issues such as racism, ableism and sexism that are currently damaging social progress.

The different sessions in the conference will focus on one or more of the following:

  • Insights: What we know from people’s lived experiences about present-day inequalities and how equitable futures could be achieved
  • Methods: Techniques for working with lived experience as a tool for helping us to think about the future
  • Actions: What practical things we can do now to begin to create a more socially just future for ourselves and our communities

Take a look at the overview video developed by People’s Voice Media for further information.

Please email coprodcution@ucl.ac.uk to express an interest in securing a place - we will select two people randomly to attend. Please note that we will cover people's time and access needs. The original deadline for applications saw Friday 16 June 17:00 (UK time). This deadline has now been extended to midnight on Thursday 29 June (UK time) to ensure people who read the newsletter to get the chance to apply for this.

Not another Co-Production Festival - Last minute opportunity - Tuesday 4 July

Very special last minute opportunity for two people to go to the 'Not another co-production festival' in Birmingham on Tuesday 4 July. So please let us know if you would like to join us at this by midnight on Thursday 29 June by emailing coproduction@ucl.ac.uk and we will draw names out of a hat.

Co-Pro Cuppas

Really lovely to see those of you who could make it at our cuppa last Tuesday evening. We had some rich discussions about a range of topics relating to co-production and lived experience including a lively conversation about the power dynamics that are sometimes experienced by volunteers which was very apt to discuss during National Volunteers week.

Our next Cuppa will take place on 6 July at 12:00 noon UK time during Co-Production Week 2023, the theme this year is ‘Co-production in the real world’. The week is chance to celebrate all things co-production so if you have any projects to share you can do on the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) website and take part in the conversation their or on Twitter via #CoProWeek23. You can sign up to join us for our July and August Cuppas via our events page on the website

Have your say in how data driven research is conducted

The ‘Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI) has created draft standards to support best practice for involvement and engagement in data driven research and statics and would love your feedback. Please use this survey to give your feedback on the standards.

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