The University of Manchester’s Digital Futures platform, in collaboration with the Christabel Pankhurst Institute, hosts a seminar series with speakers from different disciplines who have done exemplary work on understanding, identifying, or addressing digital health equities.

Seminars are online and happen bi-monthly on the 2nd Wednesday of the month from 1-2pm. You can find information and recordings from previous talks below, and information on upcoming events on the digital health equities seminars page.

December 2024 | Working in partnership with underserved communities to understand and address digital health inequities

Speakers

Caroline Sanders, Kelly Howels, Mat Amp, Stephanie Gillibrand, and Dan Bleksley

Summary

In this seminar, Caroline and colleagues talk about experiences of undertaking research in partnership with underserved communities to explore different aspects of digital health inequities. They discuss the role of participatory approaches to doing such research and key considerations for successful partnership working between university researchers and community-based researchers within voluntary sector.

They present examples from two studies focused on experiences of marginalised and underserved communities. One study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic to explore the impact of organisational and technology changes on access to healthcare for people experiencing homelessness. A second study explored perspectives on health data sharing for multiple purposes (including research and direct care) amongst marginalised communities.

They also talk about initiatives in Greater Manchester to support greater partnership working between Voluntary Community Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) sector, research organisations and healthcare providers.

Speakers’ bios

Caroline Sanders is Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Manchester. She has expertise in qualitative methods and research focusing on health and care experiences, especially for marginalised and underserved communities.

Kelly Howells is Research Fellow within the NIHR Greater Manchester Patient Safety Research Collaboration and the NIHR School for Primary Care Research at the University of Manchester. She is a sociologist with expertise in qualitative research methods and has a focus on patient safety, health inequalities and experiences of marginalised and underserved communities.

Mat Amp is a Project Officer at homelessness charity Groundswell where he has led and worked on multiple projects including a number focused on the impact of COVID-19 on people experiencing homelessness. He has expertise in community reporting and supporting volunteers to share their experiences in order to influence decision-makers. He is also deputy editor for the Pavement magazine.

Stephanie Gillibrand is Research Fellow within the Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research at the University of Manchester, where she undertakes qualitative and mixed-methods research with a focus on health inequalities, access to and experiences of healthcare services for marginalised and under-served groups; experiences of marginalisation and social inequalities. She is part of the NIHR funded REVAL rapid service evaluation team where she undertakes evaluation of health policy, pilot programmes and interventions.

Dan Bleksley is Research Manager at homelessness charity Groundswell and has a background in homelessness outreach and support work. He works across many projects and partnerships and is passionate about involving people with lived experience in every stage of research. Dan is particularly interested in understanding and tackling the stigma around mental health and drug dependency that affects people experiencing homelessness, a subject he explored in his master’s degree research.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Working in partnership with underserved communities to understand and address digital health inequities.

November 2024 | An introduction to algorithmic fairness

Speakers

Matthew Sperrin & Jose Benitez-Aurioles

Summary

Fairness can be defined as ‘the absence of any prejudice or favoritism toward an individual or a group based on their inherent or acquired characteristics’. The role of fairness in the development and implementation of statistical and machine learning algorithms has now been studied for some years, with origins in insurance pricing and recidivism.

In healthcare (as is often the case!) things become more complex, and determining whether an algorithm is ‘fair’ or not becomes a difficult and nuanced question. In this talk webegin by explaining some of the common ways that algorithmic fairness is assessed, and some of the challenges with them, with examples. Jose then gives a focused example of some latest work in understanding algorithmic fairness from the perspective of the benefit that an algorithm bestows on individuals or (protected) groups.

Speaker bios

Matthew Sperrin is a senior lecturer in health data science at the University of Manchester. He is a statistician by background with a PhD from Lancaster University. His main current research interest concerns the role of causal inference in supporting prediction. One application of this is in understanding the role of fairness in prediction models.

Jose Benitez-Aurioles is a PhD student in the University of Manchester, working in clinical prediction models. His work is focused on developing methodological approaches to make these models more in line with health equity principles, with applications to current UK lung cancer screening efforts and type-2 diabetes prognosis.

Watch the recording on YouTube: An introduction to algorithmic fairness.

October 2024 | Key strategies for promoting digital inclusion and their adoption in practice

Speaker

Sarah Wilson

Summary

The WHO Bellagio eHealth Evaluation Group recognised the need to mitigate digital exclusion, and organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) require evidence that health inequities and digital inclusion are considered when designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating digital health technologies.

In her talk, Sarah talks about key strategies that have been used to promote digital inclusivity, as well as the facilitators and barriers to implementing and adopting these in practice based on underserved groups’ experiences and perspectives.

Speaker bio

Sarah Wilson is a Research Assistant at the School of Pharmacy, Newcastle University and Doctoral Student at the Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University.

She has collaborated on international and national consortiums conducting qualitative research with vulnerable groups (including those with cognitive impairments, dementia, and underserved groups) and various stakeholders, building a strong network of trustworthy relationships with these groups. She also has experience conducting PPI focus groups to gain valuable public insight across various aspects of her research.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Key strategies for promoting digital inclusion and their adoption in practice.

September 2024 | Demystifying user-centred design in healthcare

Speaker

Tim Brazier

Summary

In this seminar, Tim shares lessons and insights from the design-thinking approach they use at Thrive by Design. He breaks down the different stages of user-centred design, explain how to apply different techniques, and how to adapt them to various contexts.

By doing this, Tim hopes to demystify user-centred, inclusive co-design and make it something that more researchers and others working in healthcare will consider incorporating in their practice.

Speaker bio

Tim is Managing Director of Thrive by Design, an in-house NHS design team focussed on improving people’s access and experience of digitally enabled healthcare. He has 10 years’ experience in co-designing digital systems, platforms and people pathways across health and community sectors.

Tim’s work on re-designing community spaces through the NHS Widening Digital Participation programme saw Nailsea Town Council transform their services and be runner up in the ‘Digital Council of the Year Digi 100 Awards’. His previous roles include being Head of Service Design at social change charity Good Things Foundation.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Demystifying user-centred design in healthcare.

July 2024 | Approaches to build trust in health research among Muslims

Speakers

Imam Mohammed Mahin Saiyed and Mustafa Ali

Summary 

In this talk, Mahin and Mustafa talked about their work with Imams and Muslim community members to understand the determinants of community’s trust in health research and technologies. They also talked about potential approaches through which community’s trust in health research can be built, which may translate into widening participation from these communities.

Speaker bios

Saiyed Mohammed Mahin is an Imam serving in one of the biggest mosques in London. He received his early Islamic education from Jamia Al Karam and went to the distinguished Al Azhar university in Egypt to complete his studies.

Mustafa Ali is a research associate based at the Centre for Health Informatics. His work focuses on understanding and addressing digital health inequities faced by individuals and groups living in the UK, particularly South Asians. As part of this work, he also works with local community leaders to develop approaches to engage with communities in a more equitable manner to promote participation from these communities in health research.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Approaches to build trust in health research among Muslims.

June 2024 | Towards a decolonial agenda for digital health in Sub-Saharan Africa

Speaker

Professor Sharifah Sekalala 

Summary

The talk focuses on the idea that the unbridled enthusiasm for digital health and AI in Sub Saharan Africa is disguising new forms of coloniality. In order to ensure that low and middle income countries get the deepest benefits from digital health, they will need a decolonial agenda that centres the needs and interests of people from the global south.

Speaker bio

Professor Sharifah Sekalala was conferred to the Fellowship of the Academy in spring 2024. She is Professor of Global Health Law at the University of Warwick and her deeply interdisciplinary work sits at the intersection of international law, public policy and global health.

Sharifah’s research addresses complex and pressing issues around health crises in Sub-Saharan Africa, international financing institutions and the socio-legal impact of new innovations in health, such as digital health. Sharifah is currently the Principal Investigator on a 1.4 million Euro Wellcome-Trust-funded project on digital health apps in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Towards a decolonial agenda for digital health in Sub-Saharan Africa.

May 2024 | Desperately seeking intersectionality in digital health disparities research

Speaker

Laiba Husain

Summary

In her presentation, Laiba talks about how digital health solutions often fail to acknowledge how digital health disparities emerge and play out both within and across categories of disadvantages; how theories of multiple disadvantage in digital health research and innovation provide a helpful lens to think about this; and how developing personas to reflect the lived experiences and challenges disadvantaged groups face when navigating digital healthcare services may help capture intersecting dimensions of disadvantage and address digital disparities in these groups.

Speaker bio

Laiba Husain is a third-year DPhil student at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences whose work focuses on the shift to video consultations and its implications on digital health disparities. Her study is funded by THIS Institute and investigates how video consultations shape the experience of digital healthcare for disadvantaged patients in the UK.

After graduating with a Bachelors in Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience from the University of Michigan (USA), Laiba came to the UK as a Fulbright Scholar where she completed a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Birmingham. Her wider interests include interdisciplinary and participatory approaches to research, social & health inequalities and empowerment of marginalised communities.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Desperately seeking intersectionality in digital health disparities research.

April 2024 | Inclusivity in technology trials

Speakers

Leanna Goodwin & Hannah Frost 

Summary

Speakers discuss how they are addressing issues of equality, diversity and inclusion in technology focused clinical research with a working example.

Speaker bios

Leanna Goodwin is a Research Practitioner in the digital Experimental Cancer Medicine Team based at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, UK. Leanna works in this patient-facing role on Technology Clinical Trials, which seek to collaborate with patients and healthcare professionals to develop innovative care pathways.

Hannah Frost is a Clinical Research Scientist, specialising in technology clinical trials, working in the digital Experimental Cancer Medicine Team at CRUK Manchester Institute Cancer Biomarker Centre, UK. Hannah develops clinical technology trial protocols alongside cancer patients and carers, from initial concept to data analysis, to help make trials more accessible.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Inclusivity in technology trials.

March 2024 | Drawing from sociological and other disciplinary literature for digital health equity translational pedagogy

Speaker

Dr Mahima Kalla

Summary

This seminar was hosted In collaboration with the International Centre for Translational Digital Health, featuring Dr Mahima Kalla from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Mahima delivered a talk on “Drawing from sociological and other disciplinary literature for digital health equity translational pedagogy”.  

She shared how CDTH incorporates multi-disciplinary knowledge to deliver translational pedagogy for digital health equity to professionals across Australia, and now internationally.

Speaker bio

Dr Mahima Kalla is a Research Fellow within the University of Melbourne’s Digital Health Validitron. She is an inter-disciplinary professional with a background in engineering and management consulting.

As a digital health researcher, she focuses on the translation of patients’, carers’ and professionals’ lived experience and tacit knowledge into the co-design, development, and implementation of digital health solutions.

She has a particular interest in digital health equity, and social / digital determinants of health. Dr Kalla is an emerging national expert in qualitative research methodologies, including both traditional and non-traditional paradigms.

While digital health technologies show promise for improving the quality and safety of patient care and health outcomes, inadequate consideration of equity and accessibility issues have the potential to exacerbate extant health disparities. Poorly designed and/or implemented digital health technologies can worsen health outcomes of socially marginalised populations.

The Centre for Digital Transformation of Health (CDTH, University of Melbourne) has created a digital health equity workshop series to enable multi-disciplinary professionals (e.g. clinicians, researchers, technology developers, students etc.) develop more equitable digital health solutions.

This workshop comprises a series of curated activities which draw inter-disciplinary theory-driven and applied knowledge from domains such as health sociology and design among others.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Drawing from sociological and other disciplinary literature for digital health equity translational pedagogy.

February 2024 | Co-design of جِین (Gene): a genetics app to improve genetics understanding with the British Pakistani community

Speaker

Professor Ang Davies, The University of Manchester

Summary

Professor Ang Davies discusses the co-design of an app with British Pakistanis to improve genetics literacy.

Close-relative or consanguineous marriages are common in this community and there is an associated increased risk of recessive genetic disorders. Discussion of genetics with families and the provision of educational materials can help to aid decision making both pre-marriage and if a family has a history of genetics. There is a paucity of educational resources to communicate genetics to this community and those available have not been co-designed with the community.

In this talk, Ang presents their team’s journey of agile co-design and their approach to working with the community.

Speaker bio

Ang is a Professor of Clinical Bioinformatics and Healthcare Science Education in the School of Health Sciences at The University of Manchester. Ang has been working nationally with Health Education England (HEE) and has developed the knowledge and skills of healthcare professionals in genomic medicine and clinical bioinformatics, all of whom are now critical to the delivery of NHS England’s Genomic Medicine Services.

Ang is also appointed by the School of Health Sciences as Director of Digital Transformation in Healthcare Education. In this role, Ang is working with colleagues at NHS England and Manchester to ensure that current and future healthcare professionals are equipped to deal with digital transformation in their workplaces.

Watch the recording on YouTube: Co-design of جِین (Gene): a genetics app to improve genetics understanding with the British Pakistani community.

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