Marking Milestones in October: Monthly Team Update

October looks set to be a monumental month as we turn one and launch a new project! Read on to find out more...

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Where else could this update start but our birthday? Co-Production Collective is a whole year old on 22 October! And what a year it’s been. We have been around a little longer than that, of course, but 2020 saw us launch and embrace our new co-produced identity for the first time. It also saw the publication of Our Direction 2020-2022, setting out who we are, why we’re here, and the work we hope to do.

It’s not a birthday without a party! So we hope you’ll join us for a little celebration at 1pm on Friday 22 October – you can register here (please feel free to get in touch if you’d like any help doing so). Bring yourself, bring your lunch, bring a friend, and together we’ll look back at the past year and look forward to the year to come.

If that wasn’t enough excitement for one month, we’ve thrown in a whole new co-creation project too! We’re about to kick-off the development of Co-Production Collective’s online community area, alongside our friends and website gurus Big Lemon. More information about how you can get involved will be posted here very soon….

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What’s going on elsewhere?

In other news, October will be packed with the usual mix of external project delivery and internal development, with a Co-Pro Cuppa thrown in for good measure. We’ll be continuing our work with partners including Camden Council, National Voices and UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, while continuing to work on the last round of co-creation for our payment policy. We had originally hoped to share this with you in September, but it’s taking a bit longer than anticipated. This is largely because we want to make sure we’re putting in place the best possible system to safeguard co-producers, especially those in receipt of benefits, whilst at the same time adhering to legal requirements. We’re getting there, though, and will hopefully have a draft ready to share with you in the coming weeks.

Finally, there are a couple of events we've got our eye on. The team at Claremont are hosting a Behaviour Change Briefing about all things co-design on Tuesday 19 October at 11.30am - you can sign up on their Eventbrite page. Meanwhile, if you’re reading this before 2pm on Tuesday 5 October, then you might be able to catch Niccola and Mandy at Improving Inclusion in Health & Care Research: the System Level. This is the second in a series of events run by the Health Foundation, The King’s Fund, The Nuffield Trust and Health Services Research UK, and will focus on putting patients and the public at the heart of research. The event is currently fully booked, but you can register your interest and be added to the waiting list, with places being released when available.  

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Get involved

Whether you want to share your Co-Production Collective highlights from the last year, explore an idea or ask a question, we always love to hear from you! You can get in touch by emailing us at coproduction@ucl.ac.uk