Bridging Communities and Primary Care: What Works, What Gets in the Way, and What’s Next

At SAPC’s 54th Annual Scientific Meeting in St Andrews, we led a workshop session exploring how primary care staff, researchers, and VCSE organisations can work together to strengthen inclusive research involvement. Our session drew on learning from the Research Engagement Network (REN) programme, which focused on tackling declining participation in primary care research.

We guided participants through the structural and relational barriers communities face, the role of trusted intermediaries, such as research brokers, and the practical actions that make engagement more accessible and relevant. The conversations were honest, thought-provoking, energetic, and grounded in lived experience.

Participants left with clear, actionable steps they can take in their own settings: building stronger relationships with communities, designing research that reflects local realities, and leveraging VCSE partnerships to bridge gaps in trust, culture, and communication.

If you’re ready to reshape how your organisation involves communities in primary care research, partner with us. THG offers practical support, workshop facilitation, and community rooted approaches that help research land where it matters most.

Sharing What Inclusive Research Engagement Really Looks Like

On 18 June 2026, we joined NHS England’s Learn & Share online event to present the outcomes of a series of communityrooted workshops delivered with the Academy of Primary Care (Hull York Medical School), Flash Company Arts, and our partners in the Humber and North Yorkshire Research Engagement Network (REN).

Across very different communities, we explored what genuinely inclusive research engagement looks like when VCSE organisations are trusted as equal partners. Our sessions surfaced practical insights: how people experience research, what helps them feel safe and respected, and how creative, culturally aware approaches open doors that traditional methods often close.

We shared a model of inclusive engagement built on trust, continuity, and communityled design, showing how research becomes more meaningful when it is shaped with, not just for, the people it aims to serve.

If you want to build research engagement that reaches real communities, and not just the usual voices – connect with us. THG supports organisations to design research involvement that is culturally grounded, relational, and genuinely inclusive.