The Research Ready Surrey (RRS) project – which was a partnership between Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership, National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Surrey Community Action and Surrey VCSE Alliance – came to an end in May.
The project was part of a national NHS England programme called Research Engagement Network Development (REND) created to support Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to increase diversity in research participation.
From November 2023 to April 2024, our aims were to learn about research awareness and capability across the VCSE organisations in Surrey via interviews and a survey. 83 VCSE organisations responded to our online survey which revealed that 89% of VSCE organisations would like to use research to increase community engagement, while 83% would like to use research to inform programme/service improvements. Over 70% would like to use research to increase fundraising.
Over the course of four months, the team have:
Attended 25 events
Carried out 16 interviews for case studies
Interacted with 3000 people
Directed 500 people to studies and registries.
The RRS team are developing a prototype dashboard that aims to create better connectivity between researchers, the VCSE community, universities, local authorities and research-active professionals.
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