I am an Academic Librarian with over 25 years’ experience in Libraries in Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and the UK. Since arriving back to the UK in August 2020, I have been involved with the Maternity Voices Partnership in my role as Maternity Diversity Champion in the Bay area. My involvement with ethnic minority communities, hearing their maternity experiences and making a positive impact towards better communication and an awareness of what needs improving has led me to my role as a Public Adviser with ARC-NWC.

Another area that paved the way for me to reach this position with the ARC has been my volunteering with RAIS Lancaster after the funding for the Maternity Diversity Champion had stopped. This type of work made me understand the needs of Refugees and Asylum Seekers coming into the UK for a better life, and helping them navigate through the system to achieve that and beyond. My grandparents and parents sought refuge from Palestine to Lebanon in 1948, so I have a special emotional bond to people with such needs, our Seldom Heard Voices.

Excitedly, my life journey seems to be taking me yet again towards an area I did not know much about or was even aware of. In October 2021 I started as a Public Adviser with ARC-NWC, advising PhD students with their research projects, involving myself in projects such as The Library of Lived Experiences, focusing on mental health and health inequalities in the region. There are many areas and projects to work on and the great thing is that you could choose the projects that seem to call you.

Health research and the amazing and diverse work involved in it for a Public Adviser highlights the importance of the public to have a voice and contribute and co-produce research. To be part of that makes me feel heard and valued.

In January 2022 I have been selected as a Public Adviser co-lead for the MIDAS cross-cutting theme, to contribute by using my career experience as a Librarian and by being a service user of health services myself, to help lead co-production and public involvement through methodological support for research in health, wellbeing and social care. To be working along experienced researchers and institutions who are helping shape health policies and involved research is an enriching experience. From working on a ‘glossary of lay person’s terms’ to summarizing a RaCES document, just to count a few, there is no time for boredom. And the journey continues…

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