This is the first episode of our podcast series, Spotlight on community engagement and involvement (CEI): Leaving no one behind.

Episode 1 introduces the Leave No One Behind agenda and discusses its importance in the context of CEI.

Gary Hickey, NIHR Senior Research Manager for Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement hosts this podcast and is joined by Professor Kara Hanson, Director of Global Health Research Programmes at NIHR and Noni Mumba, Head of Community Engagement at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme.

The guests discuss the importance of CEI in NIHR-funded research and what is meant by leaving no one behind, challenges and examples from their work, and provide tips for leaving no one behind in CEI.

Get to know our speakers

Gary Hickey is a Senior Research Manager at the NIHR and also Chair of the International Patient and Public Involvement Network. He is passionate about promoting and sharing knowledge from across the globe about how to involve the public and communities in research. Gary works with researchers and the public providing advice, guidance and training on patient and public involvement in health and social care research. In addition, he writes, presents and is involved in several podcasts on these issues.

Kara Hanson is Professor of Health System Economics and Dean, Faculty of Public Health and Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She holds degrees in Economics and Political Science (McGill University, Canada); Economics and politics of development (University of Cambridge); and International Health Economics (Harvard University). Her research contributions are in the areas of health financing and the private health sector. She is Director of the UK NIHR Global Health Research Programme.

Noni Mumba is an engagement practitioner with over 10 years expertise in community engagement for global health research. This expertise also includes engaging broadly with specific publics of interest, including local and national policy makers in Kenya. Her role at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) includes development of engagement strategies and innovative approaches for the engagement and involvement of host communities, stakeholders, and policy makers in research planning, conduct, and uptake of findings into policy. She also supports monitoring, evaluation and learning of engagement activities.

Noni is involved in building the capacity of KWTRP engagement staff and researchers on engagement. In the last 5 years, this capacity strengthening has extended beyond KWTRP through webinars, teaching engagements, and collaborative research projects.

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