Community Engagement

Involving citizens in decisions about their lives.

I’m incredibly interested in ensuring citizens are meaningfully involved in decisions that impact on their life. I’ve been involved in a whole range of projects to engage citizens in having their say about planning policy and the regeneration of their neighbourhoods, to helping inform health service pathway reviews based on patient experiences and supporting participatory budgeting exercises. All of this has been through more formal research methodologies such as focus groups or interviews, but also through workshops, activity days and longer-term engagement.

Past Projects

Neighbourhood Planning Research

Part of my PhD research focused on understanding the experiences of citizens doing neighbourhood planning. Through interactive workshops with citizens and planners, we mapped the process to understand the opportunities and challenges. I also delivered workshops to co-design engagement activities.

Fish Quay Neighbourhood Plan

Co-facilitated one of the first 17 national ‘Frontrunner’ Neighbourhood Plans working extensively with the community. My role was to organise, prepare and deliver workshops, support citizens to engage their community, and provide advice and support.

Planning and Heritage Engagement

I developed and delivered community engagement events to involve citizens in the conservation and regeneration of a local retail centre. Engagement was designed to suit the varying needs of the community ensuring sensitive cultural considerations were taken into account.

NHS Pathway Reviews

I developed and carried out qualitative research to engage patients in how their health services could be changed or improved. Through focus groups, interviews, surveys, workshops and more informal coffee morning discussions, the aim was to gather their experiences to inform NHS pathway reviews for a range of services.

Delivering Engagement Training

I delivered practical engagement training to third sector organisations as part of a Northumbria University programme. The training included an introduction to different methods of engagement as well as considering the need to carefully design approaches and questions.

Employers Network

To facilitate the sharing of experiences and knowledge relating to health in the workplace, I developed an employers network to connect organisations. The network was designed to encourage employers to support one another and develop ideas to provide a healthy work environment for employees.