9 January 2026
In this blog, members of the Developing a co-production community of practice project reflect on how they built trust and developed their relationships.
When we started working together, we didn’t know each other and this was our first time working as a team. One team member summarised what we were working towards:
“My aim was to support the development of something that doesn’t just study communities from the outside but is built with and by the community … to shape the narrative, ask the right questions, and create meaningful, culturally relevant solutions.”
We identified 4 themes which helped our work succeed.
“The level of trust and respect that we garnered allowed each of us to speak openly and to be our authentic selves. Any misgivings or concerns were raised [freely] and without judgement. Team members were very supportive and encouraging of each other which made things progress in a positive and meaningful way.”
Trust involves ‘doing what you said you would do when you said you would do it’. In this time poor project, with tight deadlines, we were successful. This reinforced the trusting relationships and demonstrated it was a safe and supportive space.
One colleague noted that “while inclusivity is important, this sometimes made it harder for us to move forward as quickly as we might have liked”. Tackling difficulties became a shared endeavour with support from both community and university colleagues.
We kept our focus on a common goal and mutual respect and worked to our strengths, in both knowledge and experience, without favour. We maintained a flat structure, with some inevitable off-line decisions where university-based colleagues expedited issues required by reporting constraints, lack of availability and time to consult.
Working together productively and without conflict was essential with such tight timescales. “This way of working was vital because we invested a lot of time and energy into the project, leading to a very successful outcome that exceeded my expectations”, reflected one colleague.
As one academic researcher noted:
“Having the community-based members of the team join us [was] a really positive step and they […] really helped shape the direction of the project for the better, made it more holistic.”
From zine making workshops at the start, we used artistic techniques throughout. We discouraged too many written words and encouraged interaction by working in small groups or pairs to create outputs.
One colleague highlighted the strength and benefits of this approach:
“Working creatively and interactively is, by far, what helps think outside the box… Creativity excites me … it brings the work to life and helps me connect more deeply with the people and purpose behind it.”
Another colleague noted, it made the work “more enjoyable leading to better productivity and the desire to give more.” Later in the project, we experienced that “sharing research findings creatively [was] so empowering for research participants”. There was a feeling that “we learnt more than we would have done in formal discussions.”
We held a sharing event in January 2025. We gathered in a Bristol city-centre location to showcase successful and creative co-production research projects:
Over 40 people attended from university, NHS and community organisations. This event put us on the map and raised our profile considerably.
Enabling a safe and supportive space for open conversations was a core benefit, with outcomes beyond the project timeline. Engaging colleagues from different sectors “didn’t feel intimidating, it felt comfortable and seamless”. We all learnt from each other and grew as a team, both professionally and personally, which was integral to the overall success of the sharing event.
In the longer term, one colleague reflected: ”I am hoping that a big outcome from this work will be to have helped connect … people doing this sort of work, so that we can work more collaboratively moving forward.“
Together we have already produced a video about co-production from a community perspective. We have piloted co-production practitioners’ forums on equitable power sharing, sharing research findings and language use. We’re developing and revising resources to support all those involved in co-production, including self-directed training to support university researchers to be more ‘community-ready’.
Many connections led to evolving outcomes, but tracking these is beyond this project’s scope. The work has shown how university and community connections need to be built on and deepened. We’re proposing a new co-production strategy group is set up. For meaningful impact, the work needs to continue.
Challenges? Yes, time was in short supply. Inclusivity at times was inhibited by university procedures. Meeting and activity attendance could be variable resulting in slow progress, the need to repeat information and frustration for those who attended consistently.
Did this shared experience change us? One team member reflects: “My level of confidence and knowledge grew as a result of being part of our team and this process”. Another felt compassion had played an important part in managing some difficult personal episodes.
At our sharing event, we asked the team for an inspiring quotation to encapsulate the project:
‘If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’
African proverb‘Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success’
Edward Everet Hale