Warwick Meeting

On Wednesday 6^th November, the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health (RH-PRU) met for their second full-team in-person meeting at the University of Warwick. The theme of the day was ‘inclusion’, which was the selected focus as ‘addressing inequalities’ is a key cross-cutting theme of the unit.

The morning featured updates from project team members Beck (Models of Care Co-lead), Lois (Unit Administrator), and Yoshiko (Research Fellow), who each provided insights into our three ongoing projects, with an emphasis on their inclusion aspect. This was followed by a dynamic session on defining reproductive health, led by Beck, Lois, and Verity (Unit Manager), which addressed the scope of reproductive health in policy and our research, aiming to identify any challenges and the next steps we would like to take as a unit.

After a skill-mapping exercise, attendees enjoyed a networking lunch. Post-lunch sessions included an engaging session on "Conscious Inclusion", led by Emma Cann from the University of Warwick, exploring inclusion from both an organisational and societal perspective. Abi A (Co-lead for PPIE/Co-production Theme and Health Inequalities Theme) and Rose (Research Fellow) then led a discussion on inclusive sampling methods, providing team members with an opportunity to share any examples of prior experiences when recruiting research participants and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) representatives from diverse populations.

The day concluded with Verity guiding the team through a logic model workshop to begin identifying the key outcomes, outputs and impacts that we want to see as a unit. The event underscored our shared commitment to inclusion and collaboration, setting a solid foundation for future efforts in our research in reproductive health. The team look forward to meeting again (in person) at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine next year.