17 November 2025 | Katie Porter, Project Coordinator at PEDRI
On 24 September 2025, PEDRI hosted an online roundtable bringing together data researchers, engagement practitioners, inclusion experts, and public partners to explore how we can strengthen Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in public involvement and engagement (PIE) in data research and statistics.
It was an honest and inspiring discussion about what’s working, what’s missing, and where we need to focus next to make data research more inclusive and equitable.
Why does this conversation matter?
As data plays an ever-greater role in shaping decisions about public services, health and society, it’s vital that research reflects the diversity of the people it affects. Yet many communities remain underrepresented in both datasets and PIE.
This isn’t to say there hasn’t been progress. But EDI efforts often remain isolated because of limited resources, inconsistent support and few opportunities for shared learning. The roundtable was designed to further this conversation: to bring people together, surface common challenges and explore practical ways to embed inclusion across data research and statistics.
What happened at the roundtable?
A clear message came through: whilst there is a lot of great work happening, there are still challenges that stop EDI in PIE from reaching its full potential. We need better support, more collaboration, and stronger connections between researchers and the communities we aim to serve.
From the conversations, a few key themes stood out:
- Grow PEDRI’s Resources Hub: Participants highlighted the need for training and guidance to help data managers, providers and researchers feel confident in embedding inclusive and culturally competent practices in their processes and activities. Our Resources Hub is already an established space for sharing good practice, so we’ll work on growing this further, offering practical tools and examples to help put EDI principles into action.
- Broaden engagement: We need to better understand who’s missing from conversations about data research and explore how to better reach these communities. Some communities remain underrepresented or unengaged. There is also a lack of focus on intersectionality, so the way different aspects of identity (such as ethnicity, gender, and disability) overlap to shape people’s experiences.
- Create spaces for ongoing conversation: The roundtable showed the value of bringing people together to share ideas and experiences. PEDRI will maintain this convening role where we’ll create spaces for people to talk honestly about challenges, learn from each other, and explore how to make real progress.
- Connect research and communities: Public involvement shouldn’t be a one-off consultation – it should be embedded throughout the research journey. To support this, we’re exploring tools to link researchers with community organisations and PIE groups.
- Reduce burden on communities: Many communities are being approached to engage with research repeatedly. That’s not sustainable or fair. We’ll work with partners to explore system-level approaches to engagement, i.e. ways of working that make it easier for people to be involved without feeling overburdened.
- Set shared priorities: To drive sector-wide progress, we need clear, collective priorities. We will work with partner organisations to identify where we can collaborate and focus our efforts.
Resources to support you
If you’d like to dive deeper into EDI within the context of PIE and data research, here are some valuable resources:
- Summary report of the EDI Roundtable [Report]: Explore insights and discussions from the roundtable.
- Effectively engaging minority ethnic communities in data research [Video]: In this webinar, experts from the Centre for Ethnic Health Research share practical principles for building trust and fostering effective engagement with minority ethnic communities.
- Leading with empathy [Video]: Find out more from Amy Hodgkinson (Learning and Development Lead, PEDRI) and Leila Neshat Mokadem (CEO, Equity Lighthouse) as they discuss trauma-informed approaches to public engagement in data research.
- Prioritising equity in public engagement in data research [Video]: Hear from Julian Harrison, an expert in equality, diversity, and community cohesion, on applying Equality Impact Assessment principles to ensure equitable involvement at any scale.
- Equity in public engagement in data research [Blog]: A thought-provoking blog capturing reflections from Julian’s webinar and contributions from other speakers.
- Exploring public attitudes to health data research across the UK [Report]: This review, led by Health Data Research UK, brings together existing literature on how the public perceives the collection and use of health data. It also offers valuable insights into what we mean by ‘underserved’ audiences in the context of public engagement with health data research.
- PEDRI Good Practice Standards for PIE in data research [Guidance]: A resources list wouldn’t be complete without mention of our seven Standards to help you work well with the public, one of which is EDI.
Looking ahead
The roundtable was a great reminder of what’s possible when we come together to share ideas and listen to different perspectives. These insights will help guide PEDRI’s future work and strengthen collaboration across the sector.
We’re excited to build on these conversations and turn ideas into practical actions that make data research and statistics more inclusive, more diverse and more connected to the people that it’s designed to benefit.
If you’re interested in being part of future discussions like this or want to share your experiences, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at contact@pedri.org.uk. Let’s keep the conversation going.
