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Learning Opportunities
We will share any details of learning opportunities here when they are available.
Evaluation training resources
We have drawn together a list of recommended resources to support evaluation.
Discover our recommended evaluation training resources
Current events
Introduction to the photovoice method workshop
New County Hall, Truro. Tuesday 8th December at 1-4.30pm
This workshop will explore the foundations of Photovoice as a:
powerful participatory research
and evaluation method.
This session will guide you through its core components. You will also get hands-on experience. Participants will receive a topic question in advance and be asked to bring those images to this session. Following the theory behind the Photovoice method, we will then interactively focus on how to:
analyse visual data
and develop strong storytelling practices.
For the workshop, please:
Bring a profile picture with you.
Using smartphone or small digital camera - photograph the stages of your journey to New County Hall. (No photographing whilst driving please!)
To book a space on the workshop email us at hdrc-training@cornwall.gov.uk
N.B. A Photovoice exhibition will be on display in the Long Gallery at New County Hall 23 November to 13 Deember 2026. This is a great opportunity to see the Photovoice method in action. You will be able to explore examples of participant-led visual storytelling.
The training will be held in person at New County Hall, Truro. Address: County Hall, Treyew Road, Highertown. TR1 3AY. We are about a 15 minute walk from Truro train station, with nearby bus stops at Sainsbury’s Treyew Road and County Arms.
HDRC Cornwall conference
The next HDRC Cornwall conference will be held in 2027. Please watch this space for more information. If you would like to know what happened at our last event, please read our blog on the annual conference.
Discussion Series
Wondering how you could apply research in your work?
Then join our Discussion Series. A chance to hear about how research can be used in different settings, and to chat with others to share knowledge, gain ideas and expand your network.
Read our event poster to learn more
Journal Club
Despite the name, Journal Clubs are not about getting together to write diary entries. (Sorry Bridget Jones!)
They're actually a space to read and discuss research articles chosen by the people who attend. We discuss strengths and weaknesses of the study and consider what the results mean for day-to-day practice. We currently run monthly Journal Club meetings focusing on wider determinants of health. Email us at hdrc@cornwall.gov.uk if you’d like to attend.
Recent events
Surfacing the Meaning of Research
We aim to provide a strong foundation from which to build and grow the HDRC collaboratively.
“Surfacing the Meaning of Research” was an event aimed at everyone who is interested in being part of, or benefiting from, engaging with the HDRC.
The session aimed to:
surface our diverse understandings of research, and
its importance for creating a shared appreciation of what research means.
Whilst we can all get on board with fixing health determinants including:
food
housing
debt
employment, etc
we often have different views of how this should be done.
That’s where research comes in:
how do we plan
conduct, and
use research
in a way that helps us to understand health determinants, their impacts and how to improve them?
This session was for everyone interested in the HDRC, not just those who regularly generate or use research.
The understanding surfaced during the session will also lead into our HDRC work examining skills and priorities for the HDRC.
Introducing realist evaluation and synthesis
Introduction to realist evaluation and synthesis, with Dr Becky Hardwick, Senior Research Fellow, NIHR South West Peninsula Applied Research Collaborative, Faculty of Health, University of Plymouth
Have you ever noticed that even evidence-based public health initiatives only work sometimes, in some places, but not in others and not for everyone?
Have you ever come up with your own ideas as to why it does or doesn’t work here, with these people, in these settings?
Are you interested in learning about an approach to evaluation which goes beyond straightforward measures of effectiveness, to explaining how that effectiveness might be caused?
From did it work, to why did it work, how, for whom and in what circumstances?
This introductory workshop was held on Monday 2nd June 2025.
Aim of the workshop
The aim of the workshops was to develop capacity for evaluation practice and research use.
Over 1 hour, participants learnt about ‘realist evaluation’ and how to use it in practice.