LSHTM Meeting

On Tuesday 13th May 2025, the Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health (RH-PRU) held its third full-team, in-person meeting at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). The theme of the day was ‘Impact’ — how our research can create meaningful change in reproductive health policy and practice.

The day began with each project team providing updates on their progress (research projects list), with a particular focus on how their work can have impact. This was followed by an insightful session from DHSC and NIHR colleagues including Mario Moroso, Deputy Director for the Policy Research Programme, who presented on the vision for research impact in policymaking. Before lunch, the RH-PRU team participated in a Logic Model session, hosted by Verity Pooke (Unit Manager), mapping out how their activities link to measurable outcomes based on the RH-PRU logic model. This exercise helped clarify how to assess impact and communicate the difference the unit’s work is making.

The afternoon session focused on strengthening collaboration and communication across the RH-PRU. A ‘mystery mission’—secretly planned by Rebecca French (Co-Lead for Contraception, Abortion and (In)fertility theme) and Yoshiko Sakuma (Research Fellow)—took teams to the British Museum, where they explored the histories of reproductive health while working together across institutions. This was followed by a practical session led by the LSHTM Communications team (Sarah Sharp and Sarah Marzouk), offering guidance on using visual imagery, maintaining consistency across the unit’s outputs, and effectively employing storytelling techniques to convey research findings. The final workshop, delivered by the Co-Production Collective (George Halfin), encouraged participants to think creatively about how to communicate research outputs. Through real case studies and group discussions, the session highlighted strategies for engaging diverse audiences and amplifying the impact of our work.

The meeting provided valuable space to reflect, align, and share tools for embedding impact across all areas of RH-PRU’s research. We look forward to building on this momentum at our next in-person meeting, which will take place at the University of Oxford.