This roundtable provides a safe space to explore how theology can enhance community wellbeing while also learning from the experiences of students, communities, and VCFSE partners.
Together, advocates and participants will examine faith-inspired approaches to social prescribing care models and consider how theological education and research could become more responsive, collaborative, and impactful in addressing shared social realities.
Practical Theology...with Kenneth Wade, Advocate, Faith Research Network
https://youtu.be/pSul2D_rE_Y
The Academic, Community, and Research Implementation Programme (ACRIP), supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), has established the Faith Research Unit (FRU), which is hosted by Christ Redeemer College.
Faith Research Unit
The Faith Research Unit serves as a central hub and anchor institution. It provides the organisational framework and delivery system for communication, data collection and analysis, transformational leadership, resource management, reverse research, knowledge mobilisation, training, toolkits, and impact measurement.
Faith Research Network
The Faith Research Network (FRN) is the public-facing body of the Faith Research Unit. Its partnership approach in the VCFE sector connects research, advocacy, and lived experience to all stakeholders, ensuring that community insights inform policy and practice for collective impact.
Faith Research Advocates
The Advocates (Trusted Messengers) represent a wide range of faith-based organisations from diverse traditions. They lead local Research Hubs in collaboration with faith leaders, educators, youth, communities, and VCFSE organisations.
Their work focuses on reverse research, root cause surveys, lived experience case studies, and knowledge mobilisation to strengthen self-care and community-supported management of long-term conditions.
Advocates are selected for the Senate Body based on their understanding of translational research, demonstrated experience working with clinical researchers, and project management skills across health, social care, housing, public health, and VCFE sectors.
Faith Research Hubs
The Faith Research Hubs (FRH) are neighbourhood-based initiatives hosted in places of worship, community halls, and by VCFSE organisations. They support action learning, community dialogue, mentoring, and training, while promoting faith-informed social prescribing models.
The Hubs facilitate focus groups and community dialogues, conduct reverse research surveys, coordinate projects, and advance faith-informed social prescribing care models. They also promote wellbeing and serve as centres for training and mentoring young researchers and community leaders.
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/
