The Angelou Centre, which supports black and minoritised women and Haref Connected Voice, which connects ethnically marginalized communities and organisations to reduce health inequalities, attended the event run by Newcastle Clinical Research Facility and the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre, at the Clinical Ageing Research Unit on Friday 7 June 2024.
The group visited the GAIT lab, where they were given an introduction to movement analysis and how the same technology is used to make Cristiano Ronaldo’s FIFA Series figure more lifelike and is used in films such as the Incredible Hulk. They also visited the Electroencephalography (EEG) lab, which measures brain waves, for a demonstration and heard short talks about the BioResource Centre in Newcastle and plans for the creation of a Health Innovation Neighbourhood on the former Newcastle General Hospital site where the Clinical Ageing Research Unit is based.
The event closed with lots of ideas from the group about what worked well, what didn’t and how we can make the event bigger and better for 2025.
Judith McGuinness, Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Manager at the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre said:
“We are based in the West End of Newcastle which has a wonderfully diverse community, and we want to open our doors to learn what we can do better to engage underserved communities in health research. “It was great to hear how the group felt they had learned a lot about health research, with one participant reflecting on her own experience of having an MRI, the challenges of that and how EEG could be used in some cases instead of an MRI. I learnt a lot and am looking forward to building closer relationships with the group so we can work together to build on the pilot event demonstrating how health research works, why we want people to get involved and the ways they can do that”.
“We are based in the West End of Newcastle which has a wonderfully diverse community, and we want to open our doors to learn what we can do better to engage underserved communities in health research.
“It was great to hear how the group felt they had learned a lot about health research, with one participant reflecting on her own experience of having an MRI, the challenges of that and how EEG could be used in some cases instead of an MRI. I learnt a lot and am looking forward to building closer relationships with the group so we can work together to build on the pilot event demonstrating how health research works, why we want people to get involved and the ways they can do that”.
There are a number of ways people can get involved in health research. Please visit our website to find out more.