Hello! I’m delighted to be sharing this first blog as VCSE Health & Wellbeing Research Partnerships Co-ordinator for the North East and North Cumbria. It’s a bit of a long job title, but in a nutshell my role is all about helping to bring VCSE and research organisations together for research around health and wellbeing. I started this new role at VONNE just four weeks ago, but already feel part of the team and excited about the opportunities ahead.
I really enjoy building relationships and working and learning with others around health and wellbeing, and see good research as a key part of striving for better health for everyone. Through my experience I’ve learnt about how important and impactful involving the right people in research can be - good research needs expertise from real life experience, as well as expertise in research.
My interest in involving people in research grew in my previous role on a project focused on dementia care. A key part of my role was involving people living with dementia, family carers and professionals involved in dementia care in the project. It was fantastic to see how their perspectives shaped the project over time and kept the research connected with real life experiences.
I’ve spent my first weeks in this role getting to know the VONNE team and learning a lot about the VCSE sector and research in the region. I’ve also met with the steering group in place to help guide this new role and begun drafting a plan for the work I’ll be doing based on our early discussions. My role is the first of its kind to support partnerships between researchers and the VCSE sector, so I’m hopeful this plan will help keep me on track!
In the coming weeks I’m looking forward to meeting people from organisations across the region who might be interested in connecting for research. If you would like to know more or have an initial chat, please get in touch! You can reach me by email greta.brunskill@vonne.org.uk or leave a message on 0191 233 2000 and I will speak to you soon.