February 2, 2022
February is upon us already and, just like the violets, projects, ideas and connections are beginning to bloom.
We started the month, as ever, with a Co-Pro Cuppa. It was a packed session full of people from all walks of life exploring co-production for the first time and looking for community. Championing co-production can be a lonely and challenging role, especially if you’re fighting against traditional ways of working and tight timelines. But we shared experiences and talked through our difficulties together, coming away feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. The importance of learning, including through failure, came through very strongly, as did the value of working alongside each other as one team. Ed described this beautifully as “a voyage of shared discovery”, with Pat adding a useful reminder – “if we all get lost, we’re lost together”. As Charl shared afterwards:
"We had some really great discussions in our breakout room today (I made so many notes!) and always come away from the sessions feeling reinvigorated - feeling very grateful for the community!"
If you want to come along for the journey with us, visit our events page to get yourself signed up for one of our monthly Co-Pro Cuppas – the next is on Tuesday 1 March.
Learning is definitely the theme of the month, as Lizzie will be joining the National Voices team to launch the Voices for Improvement project next Wednesday 9 March. She’s been working as a learning partner to help develop this project, which aims to improve health and social care through offering those with lived experience the opportunity to provide coaching and mentoring to those in senior positions in health and care. You can find out more in Lizzie’s blog and sign up to the online event itself on Eventbrite.
Working alongside National Voices is just one example of the partnerships Co-Production Collective is developing across research, policy and services. Lizzie will also be continuing her co-evaluation project this month, alongside two community researchers from Camden Council. Together they’re exploring the impact of the Family Changemakers project which brought together local parents and students to co-design a manifesto for improving the help provided to families across the borough.
Elsewhere, we’re involved in a project investigating how the research and innovation system can collaborate with communities to support them to access or produce knowledge, run by the Institute of Community Studies at The Young Foundation. They’re hosting their first peer research conference, Hive, on 23-24 March and are currently looking for submissions – find out more and register your interest.
Within UCL itself we’re having lots of conversations with those who work in lots of different areas, including policy engagement and on a range of research issues, to champion co-production. You’ll hopefully have seen that UCL are currently consulting on their strategic priorities for the next five years, and that we’ve put together a summary and feedback form so you can share your thoughts too. This specifically focuses on four key themes which UCL are proposing to invest in, so we’re keen to make sure your voices are heard as these priorities are shaped. As we know very well, we can bring about real and meaningful change when those with lived and learnt experience work together.
The consultation deadline has been extended, so you now have until 13 February to share your ideas and priorities with us. You can find out how to do this, as well as access all the relevant documents, in our blog. This particular activity is just one aspect of the consultation, so we’ll continue to keep you involved as things develop across the next couple of months.
As ever, we love hearing from you so please feel free to get in touch with your questions, ideas or comments. You can contact us via email, at coproduction@ucl.ac.uk, or on Twitter – follow us there and make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter to keep up to date with the latest opportunities, learning and events.
Interested in finding out more or exploring how we could work together?
Co-Produce with us