Best Poster Award Winner at UCL Health of the Public Symposium 2025: Celebrating Innovation in Public Health Research

The MAMAH Study team at the UCL Health of the Public Symposium 2025

We are thrilled to announce that the poster titled “Lessons Learned from Co-Production in Public Health Research: The UK MAMAH Study Involving Underserved Migrant Mothers” was awarded Best Poster at this year’s Health of the Public symposium, organized by UCL. Co-production is a collaborative approach where researchers and community members work together from the outset to ensure the research is relevant and beneficial to those it aims to serve.

The UK MAMAH Study (Migrant Mothers for Maternal Health), a collaboration led by Dr Kerrie Stevenson from UCL, member of the ECHILD team, the University of Oxford, and partners including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and NHS England, showcases a co-production approach to research with underserved migrant women—an often-overlooked population in public health.

In the UK, 1 in 3 births is to a non-UK-born woman. The MAMAH Study focuses on co-producing health research with refugee, asylum-seeking, and other underserved migrant mothers to improve maternal and infant outcomes. In 2022, the team secured a £450,000 NIHR grant to fund their work. Their approach has focused on meaningful engagement with community members from the outset—evident in their implementation of a "Lead Expert by Experience" model that fosters co-creation between researchers and the community.

From their journey, the team learned that training in co-production methods is essential, as many researchers lacked prior experience. Including Lead Experts early helped counter power imbalances, and trust, time, and flexibility are key to successful partnerships.

The study aims to co-produce, consult, and listen at each stage of the research, carefully navigate accessibility and privacy, and secure funding to sustain community involvement.

Congratulations again to the MAMAH Study team on this well-deserved recognition!

For more information about the study, please visit their website: https://mamah.mystrikingly.com

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