NIHR PRU in Reproductive Health 2026 Away Day

The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Reproductive Health met up at the University of Birmingham, one of our collaborators, on Monday 11th May, for our first away day of 2026. The focus of the day was interdisciplinary working and what that means in practice.  

Dr Simon Scott, Associate Professor in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Birmingham spoke about how often people think that approaching a problem through our assigned disciplines is seen as interdisciplinary working. However, the true nature of interdisciplinary work requires us to all be responsible for challenging and questioning the approaches taken from each discipline to address a problem and thinking carefully about how to integrate these approaches. 

The talk enabled us to reflect as to what extent our current projects at the PRU have an interdisciplinary approach and whether this way of consciously working can improve our research and its impact.  

Given our unique focus on bringing co production to all elements of research and outputs at the PRU the second half of the morning focussed on how art can help people talk about their experiences and build understanding and dialogue.   

Dr Juliet Gilbert, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of African Studies & Anthropology at the University of Birmingham discussed the fattening rooms - a practice that takes place in a specific part of Nigeria. The purpose of the fattening room was to prepare girls for marriage and is seen as part of the process of entering womanhood.  

We had the opportunity to look at replica models that depict women leaving the fattening rooms. The models were created by men which sparked a conversation about how the stories are told of women’s experience in the fattening room, who gets to tell these stories and why that matters.  

We will continue to reflect on these conversations and how we can put our learning into practice in the PRU especially considering the Renewed Women’s Health Strategy with its plans to centralise the lived experiences, stories and priorities of women themselves to promote agency and choice.