Realising the power of Academic-Voluntary Sector Partnerships to Integrated Care Research

Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise organisations (VCSEs) bring valuable knowledge of local health and care needs and have skills in engaging underserved communities. This makes them ideal partners for integrated health and care researchers. Yet, they are often excluded from research. This paper reflects on the benefits and challenges of VCSE-researcher collaborations and shares examples from Australia and the UK of how these have been overcome in practice. We explore how integrated care researchers can work with VCSEs to empower the voice of lived experience, bring greater inclusivity in research methodologies and deliver meaningful findings within local and diverse contexts.