The COVID-19 outbreak, its differential impact on people around the world and the initial public health response raises more than ever the importance of involving those most affected in decision-making on appropriate action in differing contexts based on local knowledge.

While much research focus is on finding a vaccine, there is an urgent need to explore the pandemic’s effect on the health and livelihoods of the marginalised and the vulnerable in society in a way that does not further marginalise those very people.

Participatory Health Research offers a way forward that is consistent with the calls for social justice and community support in the aftermath. 

​We are concerned that in the rush for certainty and solution the lure of a command and control top down approach to research will prevail to the detriment of a longer term recovery that is based on rich local knowledge and consistent with cultural context.

Looking for something new to do in isolation? Registration is now open for our online blended learning module…
 
BM6022 - Introduction to Participatory Health Research (3 ECTS)
 
This module provides an introductory overview to involving patients, providers, decision makers, communities or any other members of the public in health research. It offers an overview of the scholarship and practice of PR and introduces current issues.
 
This Level 9 module (Masters and PhD) is open to:

• University of Limerick graduate students for 3 credits
• All European graduate students for 3 ECTS credits (register through your home institution – and contact me)
• Anyone else for professional interest or development (CPD certificate available upon request) (contact me)

 

• The module runs online from 4-31 May, 2020, with one live virtual meeting on 18 May from 11.00-13.00 (UTC+0)
• The module is structured-asynchronous, meaning that you don’t need to be online together, but need to complete each week’s content and interactions by the end of that week.
  • We take a problem-based learning (PBL) approach, where most of the learning experience comes from you interacting with each other in the online forum in order to share questions and answers and complete work together

 
UL Students: Please register through your department/school
Everyone else: If you are interested in participating in the module, please contact me as soon as possible!
 
We can accommodate 24 participants (priority to UL students)
 
Hope you can join us!

Jon Salsberg, PhD
Email: jon.salsberg@ul.ie 
Senior Lecturer in Primary Healthcare – Public & Patient Involvement
Graduate Entry Medical School | Scoil Leighis Iontrála Iarchéime
University of Limerick | Ollscoil Luimnigh
Limerick, Ireland | Eire
Adjunct Professor, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Canada
Twitter @jsalsb | HRI Profile | GEMS Profile | ORCID ID  
 jon.salsberg@ul.ie 

COVID-19 is dramatically affecting the lives of people all around the world.  The effects are greatest among communities with the least resources.  Participatory Health Research can provide important knowledge about these effects while also proposing ways of lessening the impact of the pandemic.  We want to publicize the PHR projects taking place around the world focused on COVID-19. 

​Please click on the button below to send us the following information to be published on the ICPHR website: Name of project, names of the research team, location of the project, a short description of the project, and a link or email address for more information.

Position Paper #3: Impact in PHR has been published on the website under Position Papers. A short summary of the position paper is also available for download. 

Acknowledgements from the paper: 
"The writing of this paper began at the first International Scientific Meeting on the Impact of Participatory Health Research organized by the International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research (ICPHR), the German Network for Participatory Health Research (PartNet), the Institute of Population and Public Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Community-Based Research Canada (CBRC).

The conference took place in June 2015 at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) in Bielefeld, Germany. Experts in PHR from eleven countries met to launch an international discussion on what impact means in the participatory research process, how to maximize the impact of the research, and how to observe and document what impact has occurred.

​At the Annual Working Meetings of the ICPHR in Malmo (2016), Limerick (2017) and finally Edmonton (2018) participants added their thoughts, ideas and comments. The Editorial Group would also like to acknowledge the helpful discussions and early comments provided by members of the UK Participatory Research Network who attended the Manchester 2015 meeting."

ICPHR members in Ireland and Atlantic Canada (Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) may be interested in the Dobbin Atlantic Scholarship Opportunity. 

Please see the call for applications here. 

Applications are due: Sunday, November 24th, 2019