We’re very excited to announce that our next Community survey will be launching soon in February 2026. The survey is an important opportunity for our Community to tell us about their experiences of working with the HRA.
Our Community, which includes Research Ethics Committee members, the Confidentiality Advisory Group, and members of the public who are involved in our work, play a vital role in ensuring health and social care research is ethical, safe, and centred on participants. Without their expertise and time, we simply couldn’t do what we do.
Their feedback is very important to us, which is why we now conduct a survey of our Community every two years. This helps us to understand how satisfied the people who make up are community are with their involvement with the HRA and how to improve the way we work with them.
We’ve also been working with our colleagues in the devolved nations to make sure we are asking the right questions. For the first time we’ll be asking social economic questions as well as questions about experiences to get a richer picture of the people who make up our community. We're also asking our community for their feedback on the upcoming digital services changes.
Action plan
Responses from the previous surveys have been instrumental in helping us understand what we can do to improve our Community’s experiences of working with us.
For example, in response to the 2024 survey, we developed a two-year action plan. It was developed by HRA staff and reviewed by the HRA Community Committee and sets out what changes we were going to make in response to what our Community told us.
The action plan was focussed on the following areas:
- engage
- support
- recognise
As we prepare to launch our 2026 survey, we want to share the things we have done as a result of the 2024 action plan.
Speak
You said: Use our voice to help more people understand your work at the HRA and why it matters.
Action: At least 12 stories published on what the HRA does and why it matters over the next 12-months.
We did: We committed to publishing at least 12 stories over 12 months – and we exceeded that. We shared stories highlighting the impact of ethics and confidentiality decisions, and the contribution of Community members across the UK. These were promoted through our website and communication channels to raise their profile and celebrate their impact.
Involve
You said: Involve you in the development of our next strategy, which will run from 2025 to 2028:
Action: HRA Community involved in the development of the next HRA strategy that will be launched in 2025
We did: To support with the development of our new strategy, Boosting research that improves health and grows the economy, Community members were encouraged to respond to our strategy survey and were also part of our strategy development board. Members were also part of the ‘writing group’ that helped develop the final content and members spoke at our strategy online launch event in July.
Accessible
You said: Use information about the demographics of our Community to inform our work going forward to support our current Community and increase the diversity of our community.
Action: Over the next 12-months we will hold a workshop and join networks to meet with individuals, groups and communities that we are not already working with. Informed by these activities, we will identify changes to how we talk about what we do and why it matters and the ways that we work so more people can choose to be involved.
We did: We held a focus group with the black community through the Caribbean and African Health Network and with younger people aged 18-15 through the Greater Manchester Young People Advisory Research Group. We are now working to understand how best to utilise the information we have learned so far about what we can do differently in how we talk about ourselves and what we do to engage with those we don‘t currently reach. This is informing work that we are taking forward under the new HRA strategy to build the profile that we need to achieve our objectives well. To support this work, we are now reaching out wider to umbrella and representative groups who are doing similar community engagement work to make connections, share our work to date and have a presence on relevant groups or panels.
Next steps
The 2026 survey is an opportunity for you to tell us how it feels to be part of the Community. We want to hear what works well, where things could be improved, and how we can better support you.
The responses will help us to identify and celebrate areas of strength across our current ways of working, and the feedback will help inform how we communicate, collaborate, and plan.
The survey is being sent to members of the Community in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and has been developed by colleagues from each nation.
The responses are always anonymous, and any identifiable data will be removed.
After the survey closes, we’ll share with you what we heard, and what we intend to do about it.