REACH County Durham, a partnership between Durham County Council Public Health, Durham Community Action and Durham University, secured £10,000 through the NIHR Public and Community Partnerships Award to launch a new creative health research project.
The aims of the project are to:
- Make involvement in research accessible, relevant, and meaningful
- Strengthen partnerships across the community, academic, and public sectors
- Influence public health priorities based on lived experience
- Create a sustainable model for community involvement in research (priority setting) to support future NIHR and other funding applications.
The project will connect with 18-35 year olds in Tow Law, County Durham, using accessible, family‑friendly methods of community research. Our approach is to overcome multiple participation barriers, including a lack of childcare, time, literacy, digital access, trust and confidence.
Fortnightly creative workshops will run from June 2026 to March 2027, delivered collaboratively between REACH partners, Tow Law Community Association and local organisations and will help generate new evidence to inform our decision-making going forward.
If you are interested in finding out more about this project, please contact Rio Floreza, Community Involvement Lead: e-mail: publichealth@durham.gov.uk