Speakers announced for equality in health research webinar

Health researchers have been urged to meet the challenge of introducing a new framework to improve diversity in study data because it “can make a real difference to research on the ground”.

That is according to Equality and Diversity Consultant Julian Harrison who is speaking at a webinar taking place on Thursday, December 14, focusing on how to go about making an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) in research a reality.

It is part of the ‘Equality in Research Matters’ campaign launched by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) East Midlands and Centre for Ethnic Health Research to promote inclusivity in health and social care research.

The NIHR will soon be requiring researchers to carry out an EqIA for every study and this online seminar will build on a previous seminar on why Equality Impact Assessments are needed on all research activity.

Julian will be talking about how EqIAs can help an organisation not only to meet legal duties, but to become more accountable, more inclusive, more credible and more community orientated.

As well as covering the leadership and a supportive structure for an EqIA process, Julian will also talk about the work Centre for Ethnic Health Research has done to firmly embed the approach in NIHR ARC East Midlands.

He said: “This Seminar will help people to think about what is needed to put in place an Equality Impact Assessment system of their own. It is a challenging process, but also a logical one, and can make a real difference to research on the ground.”

Christine Smith, PPI Lead for NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber and a freelance PPI consultant, will also be presenting at the online meeting covering how public partnerships, including engagement and involvement, are a mechanism for increasing equality, diversity and inclusion. The need to adapt and the new perspective EqIAs can provide will also be covered in the talk.

She said: “I hope that people will be reassured and feel more confident that they can give EqIAs a go.”

Professor Marion Walker MBE, ARC East Midlands Collaboration Lead and Chair of the EDI Committee will chair the online meeting.

An EqIA is an approach designed to improve equality analysis, practice and outcomes. It helps determine and understand how what we do may affect people differently. While it is a key part of the evidence that is needed to demonstrate compliance with the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the most important outcome of this process is showing how individual research studies make a real difference to the lives of people from all communities.

To register for the online seminar titled ‘Making Equality Impact Assessments in Research a Reality’, which will run between 1pm and 3pm, click here.