Health equity
The Centre for Design Justice
Our dedicated research and community development arm, working to close the gap in outcomes for the communities the system serves least well: From working with UCL to disrupt the status quo in climate justice research, to building inclusive technology for MacMillan or running creative arts projects to build mental wealth amongst asylum communities.
What we focus on
Where inequality is greatest, that's where we work.
Cancer pathways
Understanding and removing the barriers that stop people taking up life-saving screening. Creating inclusive tools to increase health literacy. Running health literacy sessions in community settings. We are working with MacMillan to design inclusive tech from the margins. This work is an example of end-to-end inclusive design! Thank you Isa and MacMillan.
Climate & health
Listening to communities on air quality, heat and the health effects of a changing climate. Collaborating with UCL to explore how new power narratives could serve climate justice conversations. Thank you Ruth for helping us disrupt the narrative. Check out this thought piece on our knowledge hub page: https://peoplestreet-web.netlify.app/reports/our-voice-on-climate-justice-and-spivak/
Financial literacy, data and welfare
Exploring how financial literacy, financial data and access shapes health outcomes and daily life. Working with UCL's brilliant Research Fellow Jo Lam to explore financial data, linkage and research. This work is a true example of an academic sharing power with community researchers. Thank you Jo. Check out our report on welfare reform: https://peoplestreet-web.netlify.app/reports/our-voice-on-welfare-reform/
Health Literacy and subsidiarity
Co-designing health literacy tools with communities. Our vision is for communities to be active agents in their healthcare and not supplicant recipients of public services. We co-produced bowel screening videos to improve uptake and shared our findings at a NIHR Conference in May 2026: https://peoplestreet-web.netlify.app/reports/our-voice-on-bowel-screening/
From insight to impact
Our engagement and research work doesn't sit on a shelf. We translate findings into practical tools, training and recommendations that change how services are designed and delivered, and we share what we learn openly. We also turn the insights into projects that are designed from the bottom-up. In partnership with Audrey & Arif Satar, we piloted Threads in Common (creative mental wealth project). Originally a project developed in Perth, Australia with Indigenous communities and people in prison, the project addressed many of the challenges we experience in the UK amongst asylum communities. The pilot served as an opportunity to test and learn. We have co-designed an approach that works for our context in the UK.
Read our reports →
Researching a health inequality?
Let's explore how community-led evidence could strengthen your work.
Start a conversation