What is Community Engagement?
Community engagement (CE) seeks to build meaningful partnerships between researchers and communities affected by research. This helps to give communities a voice in decisions about research and helps to make research more responsive to their needs. When done well, CE leads to researchers, communities, and other partners sharing important knowledge, information, and resources.
WRAIR/EIDB Community Engagement
WRAIR has a long history of support for CE through its international research network. In October 2020, WRAIR launched a new CE project in Silver Spring, MD, under the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch. Its first CE effort in the Washington, D.C. area, WRAIR's effort aims to connect with local communities most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Building mutual trust and understanding with these communities will give them a voice in WRAIR’s COVID-19 research and will improve its quality.
Community Engagement Goals
Goal 1: Improve community knowledge of WRAIR/EIDB COVID-19 research and its impacts.
Goal 2: Improve WRAIR/EIDB researcher knowledge of community needs and values, with focus on groups impacted by COVID-19.
Goal 3: Involve community in design and conduct of WRAIR/EIDB COVID-19 research.
Goal 4: Improve overall trust in clinical research, with focus on COVID-19 research.
Goal 5: Support recruitment of diverse groups in WRAIR/EIDB COVID-19 research.