18 June 2025. Our community researchers Anita David and Fatma Tuylu attended a community-led research workshop in London earlier this week, organised by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research. This is the third stage training under the Community Participatory Action Research programme.
Funded by NHS England’s School of Public Health, the programme identifies health inequalities experienced by marginalised communities and creates impacts on local or regional policy decisions. Earlier runs of the programme have focused on the impact of COVID-19 and the cost of living.
Community Researcher, Fatma Tuylu noted: “The IVAR workshop in London added another layer of depth by guiding us through stakeholder mapping and helping us define the chance we aim to achieve.”
Community-led research is the key to address the problems facing hard-to-reach communities and to ensure inclusive public policies. As pointed out by Katie Turner, the Director of Research at the Institute For Voluntary Action Research, in her LinkedIn post, community members bring invaluable contributions to research:
these researchers are already embedded within the communities they are working alongside, and so come with the understanding and the relationships…. [They are] able to continue pushing for the changes their research seeks to inform to happen.
In September 2025, Anita and Fatma will present key findings from their community research project to promote insights and share outcomes with a wide range of stakeholders. We look forward to seeing their presentation at this prestigious event!
It was great collaborating on our ideas and planning the next steps. I especially enjoyed the strategic stakeholder mapping, which sets the stage for more successful outcomes.
– Anita David, WBI Researcher and Director of Community Engagement
