Co-developing health equity focused dissertation projects with the Newham Centre for Health and Care Equity
Find out more about staff and students working in partnership with the Newham Centre for Health and Care Equity to tackle health inequity
Co-authors:
- Aisha Ahmed (MSc Global Public Health & Policy)
- Sanika Kharwadkar (MSc Global Public Health & Policy)
- Dr Andreas Papamichail (Senior Lecturer, Centre for Public Health & Policy)
- Dr Fiona Samuels (Reader, Centre for Public Health & Policy)
Co-developing health equity focused dissertation projects with the Newham Centre for Health and Care Equity
The MSc in Global Public Health & Policy, based in the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, has a strong focus on health equity; students (and staff) grapple with structural barriers to access equitable healthcare and systemic causes of ill-health in both local and global context.
In the summer of 2024, we established a partnership with the Newham Centre for Health and Care Equity, in our neighbouring borough, to co-produce ideas for MSc dissertation projects that respond directly to some of the Centre’s priorities. A range of topics suggested by the Centre were developed into research projects for five of our students on:
- barriers and facilitators to vaccine uptake
- barriers to breastfeeding following hospital discharge
- community-specific health communication channels
- analysis of ultra-processed food in secondary schools in Newham, and
- overcoming challenges faced by women with gestational diabetes.
With the help of a Small Grant from the Centre for Public Engagement, the five students were able to carry out primary data collection and remunerate their participants for their time and expertise. Below, Aisha and Sanika (two of the students) and Andreas (who supervised one of the projects) reflect on their experience of the projects and their benefits.
Reflections from the students: Hands on experience tackling health inequity
“Taking part in this research project was an inspiring and rewarding experience. As students, we especially valued the collaborative nature of the work, having the chance to learn directly from professionals working in public health, with each of us contributing our own perspectives on relevant, complex issues.
For some of us, this project was the first time collecting primary data and working with public health practitioners and the communities of Newham. It was a hugely rewarding experience to work together and overcome challenges in recruiting and conducting interviews. Collaborating with the Newham Health and Care Equity team to interview Newham residents allowed us to hear the views of the community, which was invaluable for our projects. We hope that our projects have contributed to raising awareness about the health inequities in Newham, playing a role in wider efforts to reduce health inequalities.
Beyond the valuable skills and confidence that we have developed, this project also strengthened our interest in public health research and our commitment to tackling health inequalities. We are excited to build on this experience as we continue through our careers and fully support and recommend future collaborations between the Council and University to mutually benefit both students and local health partners.”
Reflections from staff: Steep but worthwhile learning curves
“Working with ‘real world’ partners like the Newham Health and Care Equity team on dissertation projects comes with a certain level of responsibility; working in local government to improve health equity is challenging with many constraints, not least funding and time-related, and we were conscious that these dissertation projects be a help rather than a hindrance to their work.
Students were clear from the start that applying for these projects meant a commitment to going above and beyond their dissertation requirements, as they were committing to managing the relationship with their supervisor from Newham, liaising with community partners and conducting interviews with them, and presenting findings and recommendations in the most useful format for Newham. The learning curve was steep, but the final projects and presentations of findings to Newham (pictured below is our end-of-project presentation session) vindicated their hard work.
From a staff perspective, managing the relationship with Newham and supervising these projects also required commitments above and beyond more standard dissertation projects, but as we look to work with our students to develop their interests in researching and promoting health equity these partnership projects – enabled by the CPE grant – are invaluable.
We hope the first five students to complete a dissertation in partnership with Newham are inspired to continue working on health equity, and that our new cohort of students will take up the mantle as we start a new round of projects for this academic year."
This project was supported by a CPE Small Grant. Find out more about the Small Grants scheme.