June 30, 2026

I’m Charlotte Rutherford, a Community Co-Researcher (CCR).

I work within a joint initiative between Cumbria CVS and the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Cumberland, exploring the factors that influence health outcomes and wider wellbeing within communities across the Cumberland area.

 

The Community Co-Researcher Role

Our role as CCR’s is to bring a community-informed perspective to the project, to support meaningful local engagement, and help build connections between residents, organisations, and researchers so that research remains relevant, grounded, and useful to local communities.

My background in developing peer-led, community-based approaches to health-related issues has shown me just how much knowledge, insight, and experience exists within communities themselves. I’ve seen how powerful that can be when people are given the opportunity to come together around real-life issues that affect them.

That is a big part of what drew me to the CCR role. I am really interested in the idea of community knowledge being recognised as an important and valued part of research and practice, rather than as something secondary to it.

 

The Research Area I’m Exploring

The research area I’ve been delving into focuses on democratic participation and engagement, and I’m hoping to explore the Cumberland Community Panels and the experiences of Co-Opted members in more depth.

To me, they feel like a valuable local example of long-term, place-based community engagement already happening within Cumberland, and an opportunity to better understand how local participation works in practice.

At first glance, democratic participation and health outcomes may not seem obviously connected, but the more I’ve looked into it, the more interesting that relationship has become. When people are less involved in local political processes, their experiences and priorities can become less visible within decision-making.

Over time, this can shape how attention and resources are directed towards the things that affect our everyday lives and wellbeing, such as housing, poverty, employment, community connection, and access to services, often referred to as the wider determinants of health.

It’s still early days, but it’s a topic I feel genuinely enthusiastic about, and I’m really grateful for the opportunity to spend time learning more about it.

 

Getting Started as a CCR

So far it has been a fantastic start, with a warm and welcoming embrace from both Cumbria CVS and the HDRC teams. It has been heartening to see how dedicated they are to ensuring our roles are shaped by us and that our voices are truly heard and amplified.

Meeting my fellow CCRs has been one of the highlights of the experience so far. Some of us have more research experience than others and we all have different backgrounds, but it’s the knowledge, insight, and genuine passion for improving things within our communities across Cumberland which unites us. It has been incredibly inspiring.

 

Looking Ahead

We’ve recently completed the first phase of our training, covering areas such as community research, co-production, research planning, and research methods.
I think I’ve finally managed to get my head around the difference between quantitative and qualitative research, although I’m very grateful there are no tests involved!

From May onwards, we are continuing with further training and spending more time developing our ideas, with the aim of shaping them into fully formed research questions to take into the next phase of the project.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how everyone’s ideas continue to grow and develop over the coming months.

Stay tuned!

 

Community Co-Researchers (CCRs) are hosted by Cumbria CVS and work as part of Cumberland Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) to design and deliver research focused on tackling health inequalities in Cumberland. Cumberland HDRC is part of the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) and hosted by Cumberland Council