Working with nine other NIHR organisations and Unfolding Theatre we have created a record of public voices and identified their health and social care priorities.

Over 3,100 people from the North East and North Cumbria have interacted with this innovative project since it was launched in 2020.

About Multiverse Lab

The lab was created to help the public share what matters most to them regarding health and social care. After interacting with a series of features visitors were encouraged to look to the future. They were asked to record a short message and answer the following question:

“What is the health and social care breakthrough you would like to see in your lifetime?”

The Multiverse Lab was launched as an interactive website in 2020 and a pop-up installation in 2021. Over 1,200 people visited the lab as it toured around high streets, community centres and festivals to reach diverse communities. Social media and Zoom socials helped the lab to also reach an audience during the COVID-19 lockdowns with over 1,900 people visiting the website version.

What we heard

The project led to a bank of honest and personal responses from communities about a range of health and care issues. Visitors talked about 92 different issues in total, from common experiences to rare conditions. Poverty and long term conditions were also raised in relation to many of the topics discussed.

The top ten most talked about issues were:

1. Cancer
2. Mental Health
3. Dementia
4. Equality
5. Personalised Treatment and Care
6. Healthy Ageing
7. Social Care
8. Women’s Health
9. Prevention
10. COVID-19

What next?

The project has strengthened our relationships with different community groups and increased our understanding of the barriers to involvement and participation that the public face.

We are ensuring people’s priorities are utilised in our future research. This includes our recent successful application to the NIHR to explore how diagnostics might help to tackle challenges associated with mental health.

The Multiverse Lab was commissioned by a consortium of partners including:

• VOICE
• The National Innovation Centre for Ageing
• Newcastle University
• The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) – involving:
• NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre
• NIHR Newcastle In Vitro Diagnostics Co-operative
• NIHR Newcastle Clinical Research Facility
• NIHR Clinical Research Network Coordinating Centre Cluster (Newcastle)
• NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria

To find out more download the Multiverse Lab Summary Report.