Katrina Messiha led co-working sessions at our October 2023 Barcelona meeting, on part of her PhD research on “Enriching the Evidence Base of Co-creation in Public Health with Methodological Principles of Critical Realism”. These sessions aimed to connect critical realism (a meta-theory) with practical application, deepening the understanding of critical realism’s role. The sessions included a knowledge transfer phase where Katrina presented one of her PhD studies and a collaborative segment with several participating researchers, focused on applying the acquired knowledge.
Participating researchers engaged with and provided feedback on Katrina’s research findings within real-world contexts, specifically in multisectoral work package projects 3-6. Discussions explored the intersection of critical realism methodological principles and co-creation in public health. In this vein, participating researchers drew parallels between said principles and their co-creation projects in various public health contexts. The sessions served as a favourable and insightful platform for both knowledge exchange and collective brainstorming.