As part of our commitment to participatory research, we want to provide an informal space for third sector and community-led organisations to access research support. This will be a space where you can ask experienced researchers questions about research, evaluation and impact monitoring, as well explore opportunities for the Centre for Health Policy (CHP) to support your community-led research ideas, over a cup of tea.

In 2026, we will launch our new Research Cafes, alongside a series of short explainer videos on research and evaluation on the CHP website. These will focus on supporting conversations with community and third sector organisations about how to access support for research and evaluation, including via CHP members. Information about when and where our research cafes will run will be sent to all CHP members. If you aren’t yet a member, or are just interested in coming along to our cafes when they launch, please email Lisa Garnham (lisa.garnham@strath.ac.uk) and we can add you to our mailing list.

We were inspired to create this support network following the Influencing Policy with Participatory workshop with third sector organisations in Glasgow in March 2025, where we discussed the benefits and challenges of engaging in participatory research for policy audiences.