The webinar focused on a project where university researchers and peer researchers interviewed voluntary organisation leads, health researchers and public members in south London to gain a better understanding of the key issues around equity and diversity in research, the barriers and enablers in this process, and the actions needed by research networks to support co-production and peer-research methods.
These interviews were part of a wider study exploring how ‘research cafés’ can help to engage racially minoritised communities in health research. A research team, from the ARC and Integrated Care Board South West London, led by researchers from racially minoritised backgrounds, partnered with four voluntary organisations to conduct four research cafés.
Pictured above: Research Cafe session in Kingston in collaboration with Mind in Kingston's Magpie Project.
The webinar was chaired by Dr Josephine Ocloo, senior lecturer at King’s College London and principal investigator for the study. Drawing on her own journey into research, Josephine highlighted persistent inequalities within research structures and argued that peer research offers a meaningful route to change.
We can’t just keep on doing things the same way that we’ve been doing for a long time. We need to do things differently, more equitably and be much more inclusive in the people that are able to be involved in research
Three peer researchers involved in the study shared powerful reflections on their involvement, including their work undertaking interviews, analysing data and shaping findings.
For Chris Pavlakis, taking part was transformative. He said that being a peer researcher helped build more honest and nuanced conversations with interviewees.
I wish to believe that this project contributed to transforming research from a process about the community to one done with or by the community
Abigail Mensah spoke about how accessible, supportive training helped her grow into the peer researcher role.
Sometimes you can think that if you're running your own community group […] you might think you may know everything, but you don't. Because being a peer researcher is a whole different level… it became more of a conversation than an interview, and that’s where the real learning happened
Vita Moltedo described finding her personal voice, overcoming imposter syndrome and developing active listening skills.
Working on our listening skills is paramount […] it can be hard to listen truthfully and openly from beginning to end. The research interviews have been an exercise in this active listening, which is fundamental to good research
After hearing from the peer researchers, Hannah K Dasch, research assistant on the study, shared emerging recommendations from the team’s 31 interviews with researchers, public contributors and voluntary sector leaders.
“One of the things that came up in all the interviews is that we need to be better at recognising the value of the peer-researcher role,” she said. Hannah highlighted three key emergent recommendations to support the development of peer-research methods:
After the presentations there was a lively Q&A with participants raising questions about recruiting peer researchers, offering support during sensitive interviews and measuring diversity. The panel also discussed adapting peer research models for young people.
As ARC South London draws to a close in March 2026, Dr Ocloo said she hoped future structures, such as a potential NIHR Pan‑London ARC, would build on this momentum by embedding equity for university researchers and the public, lived experience and community partnership at the heart of health and care research.
This is one of the projects I’m most proud of. It is going to be utterly amazing when we publish the paper with all our names on it