Community Engagement

SHERO: School-based HDRC Experience and Research Opportunity

                                              Shero assembly photo 4 500px

Quick Summary

SHERO is a school-based research programme led by Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Sandwell. It gives young people simple, hands-on experience of health and community research through real-life activities.

The programme wants to inspire young people, aged 11-18, to try research, look at evidence, and learn about public health as useful ways to gain skills and think about future jobs. This project was developed with HDRC researchers, students and university staff to be a short, easy research project for young people’s engagement.

Objectives

SHERO seeks to:

  1. Help young people learn about health and community research.
  2. Give simple, hands-on research activities that link to real research projects.
  3. Help pupils feel more confident, learn new skills, and get curious about using evidence and data to solve problems.
  4. Build stronger links between schools, researchers from the local council, and local communities.

Upcoming Activities

SHERO is being tested with Year 9 students at Windsor Olympus Academy in Sandwell. This trial will run both online and in the school. HDRC staff from the council visited the school to tell the students about the project and HDRC. The visit helped the students choose three main research topics they want to look into. The launch session will take place at the school. Later sessions will be online using MS Teams.

Please contact: Sandwell_HDRC@sandwell.gov.uk to be updated about upcoming SHERO activities.

 

SHERO Resource Pack

A free SHERO Resource pack for HDRC's, educators and youth workers will be available at the end of the pilot project. This resource pack can be used in secondary classes or youth forums and spaces to deliver the SHERO project.

The resource pack will include content for a maximum of 50-minute sessions that can be used individually or in combination to deliver the SHERO online sessions. The resources were developed with input from educators, researchers and young people, to ensure that each topic is both approachable and engaging.

  1. An 8-week SHERO plan
  2. SHERO student workbook
  3. SHERO risk assessment
  4. SHERO staff rota template
  5. HDRC staff delivery guide