Involving consumers and community members in your research projects bridges the gap between research and practice, and ensures your projects address the needs and priorities of the community or the beneficiaries of your research.
Health Translation SA advocates for the importance of partnering with the community on research projects. We provide a central support for South Australian researchers and health professionals to establish new partnerships with community members.
Community members have valuable contributions to make to research, and as the ultimate funders and beneficiaries of health and medical research, they have an ethical right to be involved.
Additionally, many funding bodies are now requesting demonstration of meaningful engagement or partnership with community members on research funding proposals.
Research projects are enriched through partnering with the community in many ways:
Every research project, team and budget are unique. As such, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to working with members of the community. Some ways you may partner include:
Health Translation SA’s Community Interest Register is a state-wide service for our research partners. Staff who work at our partner organisations can submit opportunities for members of the community to partner on their projects.
The register is a database of community members who are interested in being involved in health and medical research and may have:
To circulate an expression of interest, research teams complete the Community Engagement Request form detailing the opportunity. An expression of interest will be emailed to members on the Community Interest Register. Community Members who are interested in partnering on your project will contact the nominated person on your team.
HTSA offers introductory in-house presentations and training on how to partner with the community on research projects.
For tailored advice or to discuss the best approach for working with the community, you can request a meeting with HTSA.
Staff who work at HTSA’s Partner Organisations, and who work with the community on research projects, can apply to join the CCI Action Group. The purpose of the Action Group is to increase the active involvement of consumers and community members in health and medical research in SA, and to build state-wide capacity amongst the research community and within our partner organisations.
Health Translation SA facilitates the CCI Online Forum for those who work collaboratively with community members (or are interested in doing so). The forum enables individuals to post questions or seek resolution to issues they have, taking advantage of collective expertise. Once you have joined the CCI Online Forum, you can post, join in on the conversation, or simply learn from the online discussion. The forum is hosted on MS Teams.
Join the CCI Online Forum or contact Sarah Eley if you are having issues joining the Teams channel.
HTSA’s CCI Toolkit provides community members and researchers with practical resources to support community partnership in health and medical research projects.
HTSA’s CCI Toolkit provides community members and researchers with practical resources to support community partnership in health and medical research projects.
Simply select ‘For Community’ or ‘For Researchers’ to access the relevant resources.