Research shaped by public voices
Public engagement is embedded via Public Scrutiny Panels and Citizens’ Juries to ensure the inclusion of marginalised groups and diverse voices and the practical realities that shape the impact of policies and interventions.
Public Scrutiny Panels
We have four public scrutiny panels, set up by Equalise members from the University of Strathclyde with the support of our community partners:
- The Work public scrutiny panel in Glasgow.
- The Unpaid Care public scrutiny panel in Trafford, run by the Carers Trust.
- The Young People’s public scrutiny panel in Bradford, engaging young people (16 –25) with research across all the Equalise themes.
- The Childcare public scrutiny panel, held online and bringing together people from across the UK.
Research on health inequities can only make a difference when it’s shaped by those who experiences challenges first-hand. That’s why we are working closely with four community panels.
Panels meet approximately 2-3 times a year until the winter of 2029 in community spaces or using virtual meeting platforms. Each panel brings together 10-12 participants with different lived experiences and backgrounds who joined voluntarily and are paid for their time at meetings and relevant expenses.
Our panels bring together people with different life experiences whose insights guide our approach, challenge our thinking, and make sure our work reflects voices from the community.
Public scrutiny panels will be contributing to the research and its outputs across the duration of the project. We consider them an opportunity for capacity building in research engagement and impact both for Equalise researchers and lived experience experts and we will be sharing our learning from this experience through Equalise outputs.
Citizens’ Juries
We will be running three citizens juries over the course of the Equalise work.
A citizens’ jury is a deliberative process in which a diverse group of citizens is brought together to learn about, discuss, and make recommendations on complex policy issues through informed and facilitated deliberation.
The juries will be made up of 18-20 people, selected to represent a ‘mini-public’. Each jury will focus on a distinct Equalise theme.
They will propose policy action that jurors believe, based on their reasoned discussion of available evidence, is likely to achieve optimal societal outcomes, including reducing inequalities.
They will meet for three days. They will hear our questions, experts on the topic, and policy experts.
Then the jury will have time to deliberate on the topic and arrive at a series of recommendations for policy makers. These will be presented to policy makers at the end of the jury.
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