Opportunity for local Voluntary and Community Sector colleagues in the Youth Sector

An opportunity for local Voluntary and Community Sector colleagues in the Youth Sector (both managers and workers on the ground) to join online discussion groups that are focussed on health inequalities and young people. The discussion groups are being organised by the NIHR School for Public Health Research and are inviting colleagues to share their expertise and knowledge about what’s really important to understand about Health Inequalities for children and young people, and provide an opportunity for them to raise key issues and questions that they’d like to have explored further through future research. Further information is provided below. The events are open to colleagues working across all regions. Please circulate this to your local networks.

Please direct any questions about these events to Mary Crowder (Email: m.crowder@sheffield.ac.uk noting working days are Tuesday to Thursday).

Please see information below from Sheffield University researchers about the project:

‘We are a team of researchers from Sheffield and Durham Universities and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) involved in public health research with children and young people (CYP). We have a particular interest in addressing health inequalities and are currently exploring ideas for potential future research projects.

Our research is funded by the NIHR School for Public Health Research (SPHR), which is a partnership between several universities with expertise in public health research. The aim of SPHR is to increase the evidence base for cost-effective public health practice. Policy and practice partners and the public all play an important role in identifying evidence gaps and shaping research priorities.

We would like to hear about your priorities for improving the health and wellbeing for disadvantaged young people: if we did receive funding for a new research project on CYP health inequalities, what would your priorities be? What evidence is needed to help address health inequalities?

Our most recent research looked at young people's understanding and experiences of health inequalities, what makes being healthier easier or harder, and their priorities for change. Our findings highlighted the importance of youth organisations and youth work, both in supporting the health and wellbeing of young people, and as a source of insights into what is needed to tackle health inequalities.

We will use the information you give us to help shape a bid for SPHR future funding. We do not know if our research proposal will be accepted by SPHR and, if unsuccessful, we will explore alternative funding options. This could take many months and there is no guarantee that the research funding will be secured. However, we believe it is important that our research reflects the priorities and current challenges identified by young people and the organisations that work with them and will make every effort to make sure that outcomes from discussions with stakeholders are used to influence research priorities.’

We will be holding 3 online discussion groups from Jan to March 2021.

Thurs 20th Jan 10.00 to 12.00 : https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-inequalities-discussion-group-online-for-sheffield-vcs-sector-tickets-227634369527

 Wed 16th Feb 10.00 to 12.00: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-inequalities-discussion-group-online-for-sheffield-vcs-sector-tickets-227652965147

 Tues 15th March 10.00 to 12.00: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-inequalities-discussion-group-online-for-sheffield-vcs-sector-tickets-227653687307

To book on one of these, please go to the Eventbrite link for whichever of the three dates that suits you.

Please note that whilst the Eventbrite links state ‘for Sheffield VCS sector’ the discussion groups are open to colleagues working across all geographical regions in England so please do disseminate widely.