Co-production

‘Co-production‘, ‘participation’ and ‘involvement‘ are all terms used to describe attempts to re-balance the power dynamic within research.  Involving those who use services or are normally just the subjects of research in its design, execution and analysis can enhance its  acceptability and reach plus the reliability of findings. As well as a right, it offers a re-balancing of the potential ‘them and us‘, power, dynamic within research.

Focus, methodologies and outputs are improved through co-producing research priorities, questions, topics, methods and tools. 

However, terms like ‘co-production’ have become very popular and sadly are not always backed up by sincere collaboration or power sharing. 

Examples of my participation work include:

  • I supported Great Ormond Street and Moorfields Hospitals to recruit and train a group of young patients to carry out qualitative interviews with their peers (2022).
  • I co-wrote new guidance, materials and templates, to help Barnardos train and support children and young people to co-design and carry out research and evaluation (2022)
  • I evaluated the involvement of parents of disabled children in the Cumbria Early Intervention Pilot, including family carers’ recommendations ( 2017-20).
  • My evaluation of the Our Social Networks  project, examined the involvement of people with learning disabilities  (2021).
  • I recruited and trained a group of young people with long-term health conditions to work as advisers to an NHS CCG and the University of East London. The young people developed ideas on improving services for others with similar conditions.
  • For the Lambeth Early Action Partnership, I co-produced evaluation indicators, tools and questions with local parents, to help make these more useful and acceptable (2017-18).
  • I co-produced tools and questions for the evaluation of the Our rights Our Voice, a project to inform disabled children and young people about their health rights, run by the Council of Disabled People (2015-16).  
  • I supported a group of young people to co-produce evaluation methods and tools to assess the impact of a new sex education programme created by the Sex Education Forum. This co-produced toolkit aimed to promote awareness among young people of gender stereotyping and sexual exploitation ( 2013-15)
  • I trained 16 young people to evaluate their local  Princes Trust programmes (2014)
  • Using focus groups with bereaved children, young people and practitioners, I co-produced outcome indicators with the Childhood Bereavement Network (2011).
  • I trained 30 care leavers from across England to develop and conduct primary research on leaving care services in their local area (2006-8)