NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB’s research and evaluation team has received funding from NHS England’s  Accelerated Access Collaborative initiative to enhance the diversity of those taking part in research in Great Yarmouth and Waveney (GY&W).

This funding is in place until March 2023 and will be used to develop a network to support research engagement in the diverse local coastal communities in GY&W, which are currently facing high rates of preventable illness.

This project will be delivered through the ICB working in partnership with our VCSE partners at Norfolk Community Foundation and Suffolk Community Foundation as well as the NIHR Clinical Research Network East of England, academic colleagues at UEA, Research and Development teams at James Paget NHS Foundation Trust and East Coast Community Health Care, local authority and primary care colleagues.

We will work with VCSE partners through existing community-based projects to have conversations about research and prepare our communities about opportunities to take part in research. For example this could mean being recruited into a study or contributing to the design and development of a research study.

By talking to our communities, we can find out out what people already know about research and what they would like to learn more about. We want to hear about any barriers they might face in taking part, for example if travelling to an appointment would be difficult, or if information needs to be translated into different languages. We will use this information to make sure that research studies are designed in a way which makes taking part as easy as possible.

This project will take research opportunities to the right groups of people, widening the groups of people who take part in studies and are involved in the design of research projects. We know that different groups may respond differently to treatments or interventions, so it is important that research studies are designed with these differences in mind and that those taking part in research studies are from a broad range of groups. This will ensure that the results from research studies can benefit our diverse populations.