Dr Joanna Crocker, the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre’s Senior Researcher for Patient and Public Involvement has been appointed Chief Scientific Advisor to lead community-engaged research tackling health inequalities in Oxfordshire.
Dr Crocker (pictured right) is one of three Chief Scientific Advisors appointed to the Local Policy Lab, a partnership between the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and Oxfordshire County Council.
She will lead a three-year research programme under the theme ‘Ensuring a healthy standard of living for all’, working closely with policymakers and communities to address health inequalities across the county.
Dr Crocker said: “This role brings together two things I care deeply about: making sure research is shaped by the people it’s meant to help, and tackling unfair, avoidable differences in health.
“The Local Policy Lab offers a real opportunity to connect academic research with local decision-making in a way that’s grounded in community priorities. I’m looking forward to working with partners across the county to build a research agenda that can make a genuine difference.”
The Local Policy Lab was founded in 2024 to bridge the gap between academic research and local policymaking. The alliance brings together Oxford’s two universities and local government to support evidence-based responses to some of Oxfordshire’s most pressing challenges – with a particular focus on the socio-economic factors that shape health, such as housing, employment and access to services.
The Lab’s work is organised around three priority themes aligned with the Marmot framework for reducing health inequalities: delivering a skilled workforce and fair employment, ensuring a healthy standard of living for all, and enabling children and young people to thrive. Each of the newly appointed Chief Scientific Advisors will take responsibility for one of these themes.
The appointment builds on Dr Crocker’s established track record in community-engaged research. Her work focuses on patient, public and community involvement in health research, with a particular interest in how such involvement can help reduce health inequalities.
Dr Crocker has been leading a participatory study with members of the BRC’s Diversity in Research Group and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement team to understand and optimise the impact of involving people from under-represented groups in health research.
She has led work synthesising research priorities identified by James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships – collaborations that bring together service users, carers and professionals to shape research agendas – and developed an interactive tool to help explore cross-cutting themes across these partnerships.
She recently held an OPEN Fellowship partnering with Oxfordshire County Council to support the development of the Oxfordshire Community Research Network, looking at how communities, policymakers and academic organisations successfully engage in local research partnerships to address health inequalities. Dr Crocker has also supported Refugee Resource to conduct peer research as part of the University’s Science Together programme.