By Dr Clare French, Dr Aaron Lim, Dr Carmel McGrath, Sayambrita Mukherjee, Fariha Tasnim, Tesfa Sewunet Alamneh
Why is this topic important?
About 1 in 6 people in England and Wales are migrants (people who were born outside of the UK). However, the health needs of migrants are often poorly understood.
In the UK, long-term infections like hepatitis B and C, HIV, and tuberculosis are more common among migrants than in those born in the UK. Tackling these infections is vital to address unfair and avoidable differences in health that can be experienced by migrant communities.
In this blog, we describe a migrant health project funded by the HPRU EBS Public Involvement Dragon’s Den.
What did we set out to do?
We aimed to create a new plan for research that will help improve the health of migrant communities. To make sure our research focuses on what really matters to migrant communities, we felt it was important to involve them right from the start.
We wanted to hear from a diverse group of migrants about their experiences with healthcare for infectious diseases. This includes things like getting vaccinated, being tested or screened, and getting treatment.
How did we do it?
We ran “World Café” sessions with members of the public. These are informal group discussions that help to explore research ideas with people from different backgrounds.
Recruiting for the World Cafés
Local Health Ambassador Sayambrita Mukherjee recruited 17 migrants—8 women and 9 men—from 11 low- and middle-income countries to join the World Café sessions. Health Ambassadors, in partnership with Caafi Health, support diverse communities to engage in health and care research. Sayambrita used her strong community links to bring people together.
World Café Format
We held four sessions: two for men and two for women, co-led by Sayambrita and researchers. All took place in accessible and community spaces which we decorated with bunting, café-style music, and provided refreshments to create a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere.
Each session began with a warm welcome and icebreaker, where participants shared their favourite food while passing an object around the room.
Discussions focused on three key topics:
- Vaccination
- Screening/testing for long-term infections (HIV, TB, hepatitis B/C)
- Access to care and treatment in the UK
The second session built on ideas from the first. Artist Camille Aubry attended and created visual minutes of the discussions.
What went well and what we learned
We gained valuable experience co-facilitating World Cafés with a diverse public group, boosting our confidence and deepening our understanding of public involvement.
Participants were open and insightful, sharing ideas on how to better support migrants in accessing healthcare for infectious diseases. Suggestions included:
- Community ‘information champions’
- Creative approaches like working with artists
- Youth-led knowledge sharing
- Multilingual and accessible materials
- Social media outreach
Artist Camille Aubry captured the discussions in a single frame as visual minutes. This really helped to reflect the discussion in a creative and engaging way. Sharing the draft with participants allowed for feedback and ensured accuracy. The group appreciated this opportunity and it encouraged multiple ways of communication, considering some people are more visual learners.
Fariha, a non-native English speaker, highlighted the need for more visual aids during future sessions to support people’s understanding of disease and vaccine names. Visuals can help participants with language barriers follow along more easily, and they can also search later in their own language using the visuals as a reference
Finally, the welcoming setup—friendly space, refreshments, and inclusive atmosphere—was much appreciated and put people at ease.
What is the impact of this work?
The public brought a diverse range of insights, experiences and ideas to the World Cafés which allowed us to identify key topics for further research.
Although the aim of the World Cafés was to hear from the participants, they left the cafés having also learnt new things. Listening to each other, their experiences, obstacles and what might have worked for them, the World Cafés created a space for people from different ethnicities to come together to share ideas on a common topic. A sense of partnership came across as a space was provided to also listen to the migrant community’s struggles with broader health and medical issues.
Participant reflections
People valued the chance to contribute and learn. Feedback included:
“Getting to participate in making a ‘change’”
“So many ideas to explore and help the community”
“Knowing this topic is being tackled”
“I would love to attend more such programmes and I will miss this next week”
“The session was a very insightful experience in public health research. Everything made sense and was easy to understand. I felt that my input was valued, and I gained a lot of knowledge both from the session itself and from hearing other participants’ views.
“It’s a great opportunity to be involved in meaningful conversations and contribute to research that can have a real impact on communities.”
What’s next?
We (the researchers, Health Ambassador, and public contributors) are preparing an academic paper reporting on the World Cafés.
We are also preparing an application for further funding to enable us to take forward some migrant health research based on the topics discussed in the World Cafés. All who attended our workshops will be offered the opportunity to work with us on this application should they wish to.
Final reflections
Dragon’s Den provided us with a brilliant opportunity to engage with migrant communities in the very early stages of research. It has enabled us to build relationships between researchers, Health Ambassadors and migrant communities, meaning that the insights of migrant groups can help shape future research on migrant health.
This blog was written by a team of researchers (Clare French, Aaron Lim, and Carmel McGrath), a Health Ambassador (Sayambrita Mukherjee) and two public contributors (Fariha Tasnim and Tesfa Sewunet Alamneh).
