CEI Strategy

Community Engagement and Involvement (CEI) at GSU

“…the process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well-being of those people”

– US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The key building blocks are:
1. Each Hub employs a CEI Lead (e.g. a research nurse), who has been trained in best practice CEI according to the UNICEF standards and is responsible for recruitment, training and ongoing support of the community representatives
2. The community representatives are well-connected key stakeholders with reach into grassroots communities
3. The Hub CEI Lead and community representatives meet regularly to form the (virtual) CEI steering committee
4. The steering committee allows us to reach those in the community who are most affected by our research and ensurse they are empowered to contribute towards decision-making

All CEI activities are being captured and evaluated by the UK-based CEI Coordinator, who is also responsible for training, monitoring and shared learning.

Ghana PPI Community Engagement

‘The experiences of the patient and community contributors led to changes in the study protocol (TIGER) such as including women in the patient cohort for the trial, and allowed the GSU teams to confirm the relevance and acceptability of this trial.

These conversations also taught the team a lot about perceptions of health in rural communities, allowed the Ghanaian team to establish relationships with community leaders that can be utilised when future studies need input from the public, and has changed the minds of the Ghanaian research team about the importance of involving patients with research.’

Our CEI Case Studies

Our case studies showcase practical application of CEI in LMIC settings with focus on exploring best practice and highlighting challenges and barriers, as well as potential solutions. Learn about the tailored CEI activities.