General
The growing complexity of global health challenges requires approaches that transcend disciplines and traditional hierarchies of knowledge. Co-creation and participatory research are increasingly recognised as essential for generating contextually grounded, equitable and sustainable solutions. The symposium, “Co-creation in Global Public Health: Insights from Theory and Practice”, brings together academics and practitioners to explore how co-creation can address global public health challenges, including persistent health inequities. It covers diverse issues across international contexts, ranging from dementia and adolescent health to LGBTQI+ stigma and cardiometabolic disparities among migrants and ethnic minorities.
The symposium aims to move beyond superficial or tokenistic stakeholder engagement in research by critically examining power dynamics, contextual factors and methodological tensions in collaborative research. Through theoretical insights and empirical examples from varied cultural and institutional settings, it advances co-creation as both a mindset and methodological approach capable of transforming global public health research and its translation into practice.
Program
This symposium examines the role of co-creation and participatory research in addressing complex global health challenges, including dementia, adolescent health, stigma and discrimination affecting LGBTQI+ communities as well as the unequal burden of cardiometabolic disease among migrants and ethnic minority populations. Focusing on power dynamics, contextual responsiveness and methodological tensions, it draws on empirical work across diverse settings to explore how co-creation can support more equitable and effective public health research and interventions. By foregrounding voices often excluded from biomedical agenda-setting, the symposium seeks to challenge dominant paradigms and advance inclusive, stakeholder-engaged approaches to health equity.
- Welcome & Introduction to Co-creation in global public health: From method toward mindset — Dr Teatske Altenburg
- Co-creation as an approach in global public health research: theoretical roots and underpinning principles — Katrina Messiha
- From paper to practice, and back again: methodological considerations for fostering empowerment, transparency and power-sharing during interdisciplinary collaborations — Dr Nessa Millet
- Comparative reflections on co-design with adolescents in Finland and the Netherlands — Claudia Dictus
- The power of creative approaches for co-creation and invitation to view the exhibition — Dr Natalie Evans and Dr Saskia Duijs
- Adapting methodologies to conduct participatory action research with marginalised communities and health activism in Colombia — Laura Martínez Apráez
- Co-creating cardiovascular health equity: lessons from African migrant communities in Europe — Muhau M Mungamba
- Interactive workshop on ethical dilemmas and the ‘messiness’ of co-design with people with dementia — Tanja de Rijke
- Fishbowl discussion on thematic guideposts — facilitated by Dr Mariëtte Hoogsteder