New opportunity to join the Contraception Project Stakeholder Group, part of the NIHR UCL Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health

The Contraception Project is part of the work of the new National Institute of Health & Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health, a £3 million research investment over 3 years from January 2024. The purpose of the Unit is to produce high-quality research evidence to inform policy about health, care, and public health systems for reproductive health. The Unit work closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and other government departments. As a team they strive to improve the support and care provided to communities, and individuals' experiences, of reproductive health.

Co-Production Collective is supporting the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health, and the Contraception Project to work in a co-produced way which includes the creation of this stakeholder group.

By reproductive health we mean the physical, mental and social well-being relating to the reproductive system, including a safe and satisfying sex life and reproductive rights (for example, issues relating to menstruation / periods, menopause, contraception and abortion, fertility, etc.).

Across the Contraception Project, we have two main types of involvement:

1. Four co-producers – individuals with lived experience of the study topics who will work regularly with the team to inform and interpret study activities.
2. Stakeholder Group – individuals with lived and learnt experience who will advise on the project in meetings at key junctures.

This blog is advertising the second role– the Stakeholder Group. We have already advertised for our co-producer roles, and those who have applied for these roles but were unsuccessful will also be considered for a Stakeholder Group, unless they opted out of being considered for other roles.

About the Contraception Project

Data suggests that the number of people using all types of contraception has reduced over the last 10 years, and particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Contraception and hormonal medications can offer benefits in being able to protect from pregnancy and manage symptoms like heavy bleeding or painful periods that come with some gynaecological conditions, such as endometriosis. However, users also report drawbacks from negative side-effect experiences that can impact their wider lives.  

To understand what might be driving these declining trends and current priorities for individuals making contraceptive decisions, the Unit is researching attitudes towards and experiences of contraception of women and people assigned female at birth in the UK. We are interested in how these attitudes and experiences may impact women’s decision-making about using or not using any method of contraception and how individuals balance competing preferences and priorities in their decisions. In addition to this, the Unit is also researching whether online health information and content about contraception (through social media channels such as Instagram and TikTok) influences attitudes towards contraception and women’s decision-making about methods, use, or non-use.

This project will run from February 2025 to September 2026, and will include a review of existing evidence, a statistical analysis of existing survey data, and collection of data from social media sources and interview discussions.

You can find more information about the project on the Policy Research Unit website.

About the role

We are recruiting a multidisciplinary Stakeholder Group to work with us throughout the project formed of 8-10 individuals with lived and learnt experience to attend stakeholder meetings at key junctures across the project, alongside Unit team members and other lived experience Project team members. This group will act as an overarching advisory group to the project. This role is different to the Project Team member role that you may have seen advertised recently.

Your input to this project will help shape our research design, interpret findings, and develop recommendations based on the varied lived and learnt experience of the group. With this work, we want to deepen our understanding of what is driving decision-making for young women in the UK who are making decisions about use of contraception or hormonal medication to prevent pregnancy or manage gynaecological conditions. Ultimately, we hope to provide policy makers with research that will improve access to evidence-based information and tailored support to help individuals balance their preferences and priorities and achieve their desired outcomes from their contraceptive and hormonal medication choices.

Responsibilities include:

• Overseeing the project work and providing suggestions around interpreting findings to contribute to a greater understanding of attitudes towards and experiences towards contraception and how they affect decision-making.
• Sharing your varied knowledge and experience to help shape the direction and conclusions of the project.
• Attending four stakeholder meetings, held roughly quarterly, to bring lived and learnt experience to the discussions and review preparation resources distributed by the team.

Commitment

This project will run from February 2025 to September 2026, so ideally you will have the desire and capacity to contribute over this period. Group members will be asked to attend 4 online meetings of 2 hours duration throughout the project. These meetings will also be attended by other Unit team members and our lived experience team members. These meetings are planned to follow the below structure, with flexibility based on how the project develops, and exact dates will be decided via doodle poll once the group is selected:

1) Project kick off (May 2025)

This meeting will introduce the group to the project and to each other, set out the aims and workplan of the project, and receive input from our stakeholders and lived experience members on key areas of interest for our qualitative research questions.

2) Initial findings from systematic review and secondary data analysis (July /August2025)

This meeting will allow the team to present findings from our initial research phase, interpret those findings together, decide on areas of analytic focus, determine gaps to be researched in qualitative work and review our protocol for qualitative data collection and our social media study.

3) Findings from social media analysis (December 2025)

This meeting will consist of contributions to help interpret our findings from an analysis of social media information, guide recommendations informed by stakeholders and lived experience members, and guide our sampling strategy and discussion points for qualitative interviews.

4) Findings from qualitative interviews and making recommendations (May 2026)

This meeting will conclude the stakeholder group by helping interpret our qualitative interview findings and focus on guiding policy recommendations and conclusions resulting from the full project. We will also work together to make recommendations for public facing materials regarding contraception and hormonal medications.

Prior to meetings, we will send an agenda and any preparation materials that will help guide and inform our discussions.

In between meetings, you will receive monthly project updates via email.

We may ask members to review documents on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis outside of meeting times, however this is not compulsory and can be shared amongst group members.

About you

Individuals based in the UK and from a wide range of relevant organisations, groups, and backgrounds are invited to join. In order to bring together a diverse range of members with lived and learnt experience, we welcome individuals to apply to join this stakeholder group if they identify with one or more of the following:

• Individuals involved with organisations that seek to provide information or services related to contraception, hormonal medications, or gynaecological issues in general, as well as those who research and plan policy in this area;
• Are a young person (aged 18-35) with living or lived experience of managing gynaecological conditions (e.g. endometriosis, PCOS - Polycystic ovary syndrome, fibroids, heavy menstrual bleeding or pain, etc.) with contraception or other hormonal medications;
• Individuals with clinical or primary care experience in this area;
• Are a young person (aged 18-35) with living or lived experience of using (or deciding not to use) contraception to avoid pregnancy;
• Individuals who create online content containing health information, particularly concerning contraception, hormonal medication, and menstrual health;
• Individuals who can contribute to a group with differing and mixed opinions on hormonal and non-hormonal contraception.

In order to allow for contributions from a wide range of individuals to the unit, we ask that you not apply if you are already involved in a different project for the Reproductive Health Policy Research Unit or if you are part of the independent advisory group.

What we offer

Joining our team as a co-producer has the following benefits:

• Remuneration (£25 per hour) for meetings, preparation and research task involvement*. We can also offer to cover the following costs if agreed in advance:
  • Travel (if meetings are in person)
  • £5 per 2-hour meeting to cover internet costs
  • Carer and childcare costs
  • Other access requirements

You will also be supported by Co-Production Collective staff members (in advance and during meetings), to ensure that everyone can participate fully in the meetings.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore actively encourage applications from global majority candidates who are underrepresented in our community and at UCL, including but not exclusive to non-graduates; disabled, D/deaf and neurodivergent people; LGBTQ+ people; and people from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities. We also welcome applicants from a range of educational backgrounds and therefore do not require a minimum formal qualification for this role.

Further details and how to express an interest

To express your interest, please complete our online expression of interest form by 12noon (UK time) on Monday 14 April 2025.

This form has a range of tick box questions and free text answers so we can understand more about your attitudes, experiences and why you think you would be a good fit for the role. There are no wrong answers; the form is designed to help us recruit a group with varied opinions.

We will be in touch as soon as possible after the 14 April 2025 deadline. If you need assistance submitting your application, or have any queries about the role, please contact us on coproduction@ucl.ac.uk

* This rate is different to that of the updated Co-Production Collective Payment Policy 2024 as it is the rate that was applied for when funding application budgets were submitted.

Photo credit: Canva

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