THE PROBLEM
Co-creation emerges as a promising strategy to address complex problems (such as the obesity epidemic) which are particularly resistant to resolution. The use of co-creation in many fields has grown exponentially in recent years and it is now expected, and often demanded, by funders, governments and policymakers to democratise and accelerate the impact of research. However, currently, there is 1) a lack of capacity for co-creation within research and practice workforces; 2) a lack of robust methodology to underpin co-creation practice; and 3) a lack of digital technology to facilitate co-creation.
IMPORTANCE
Society and European citizens are increasingly confronted with more complex problems in public health, climate change, biodiversity loss, growing inequalities, urban planning and threats to democracy which seem to resist traditional deterministic approaches. These problems have a high societal impact and financial burden. Health Cascade provides a rigorous and trustworthy methodology for co-creation, a new generation of highly trained young scientists, and a cascading training programme to build capacity throughout Europe. The methodology, capacity, training and technology developed in the network will empower actors across Europe to tackle complex problems in different sectors and develop effective solutions. Health Cascade has decreased the likelihood of harm and resource wastage. There are already numerous reports of co-creation having detrimental effects and uncharted potential unintended consequences, from poorly evidenced and poorly conducted co-creation. There is a real danger that this will ultimately lead to growing distrust towards co-creation from the public, policymakers and other stakeholders and, more importantly, that poorly conducted co-creation might put the public at risk.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of Health CASCADE was to foster the next generation of highly-trained research leaders in all aspects of evidence-based co-creation methodology to tackle the complexity of modern global health problems. Through a programme of training-by-research projects and tailored training events, Health CASCADE achieved the following objectives:
1) Trained the next generation of research leaders.
2) Advanced co-creation into a rigorous scientific methodology with evidence-based methods, practices and supportive technologies.
3) Developed a shared European cascading training system for evidence-based co-creation
