The National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA) has recently launched a new platform to support impactful consumer engagement in research. The platform, Voice™ Australia, was originally developed in 2015 by Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, and after success in the UK has expanded globally.
Leading the implementation of the Australian chapter of this platform under the NCHA is Senior Project Officer, Madison O’Connor.
“Voice™ Australia is an online community that enables members of the public who have an interest in health and wellbeing to connect with opportunities to influence research in the areas that matter to them,” explains Ms O’Connor.
The platform offers a digital environment enabling the NCHA and its partners to easily engage and maintain a large and thriving community of people who are interested in leveraging their lived experiences for research and innovation.
“Having this platform available to our researchers will help streamline consumer engagement activities and will improve the standards, results and impact of our research,” adds Ms O’Connor.
“Consumer involvement at all stages of a project is really important; it’s about ensuring that we accurately capture the wants and needs of the people we aim to serve as the NCHA and Peninsula Health.”
“We’ve collaborated with a large number of local and national consumer networks to grow our Voice™ Australia member base, and we have an upcoming community engagement series where we’ll go into local settings and enable those interested to register as members on the spot.”
Sue Harvey, Peninsula Health’s Consumer Experience and Engagement Lead, is excited to support the transition of Voice™ Australia into the Peninsula Health environment.
“There aren’t many platforms like this being used. It will help us reach different groups, including younger people and individuals who work in an online environment. This significantly expands the range of ways we can engage consumers,” says Ms Harvey.
“It also has the potential to foster a community within this space, where like-minded individuals interested in research and healthcare can interact and where we can provide resources to consumers and research leaders on effective consumer engagement, creating best practice consumer engagement through collaboration.”
For more information or to register, please visit: https://voiceaustralia.community/
