National Centre for Creative Health

South Yorkshire Creative Health Conference at The Point in Doncaster. Copyright: Creative Health Boards Project, James Mulkeen, 2025.

Mobilising Community Assets

Who we are?

‘Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities’ is a research programme, in partnership with the National Centre for Creative Health, led by University College London’s Culture-Nature-Health Research Group.

Our research projects promote people-powered change, by amplifying lived experience voices. Together, we are exploring how collaborative community, cultural and nature-based activities can improve health inequalities in the UK.

It is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), including Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Medical Research Council (MRC).

The programme is funded across three phases from 2021 to 2027.

News & Blogs

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Outputs

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The Mobilising programme is funded across three phases from 2021 to 2027.

In Phase one, 12 projects ran throughout 2022 focusing on how to scale up small, local approaches for addressing health inequalities.

In Phase two, 16 projects running in 2023, established cross-partner consortiums, incorporating academic, community and health system organisations.

In Phase three, 12 projects (2024-2027) are tackling entrenched and long-standing health inequalities in the UK’s poorest communities by exploring how health systems can collaborate more effectively with communities.

Find out more about our projects here.

About

Research Team

Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities Research Team includes: Helen Chatterjee (UCL); Alex Coulter (NCCH); Catherine Gilmore (UCL) - Mélys Codo covering Maternity Leave ; Kiz Manley (UCL); Rabya Mughal (UCL); Linda Thomson (UCL); Jane Hearst (NCCH). Find out more about the Research Team >>

Lived Experience

We are working with Danny Sherwood, Celeste Burr-Herrera and Chelsea Mac Donnchadha from Co-create, who are guiding the programme's approach to gathering and sharing learning about lived experience within the MCA programme.

More information

Keep up-to-date with the MCA Programme:

Sign up to the Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities Programme Newsletter HERE >> You can find an example of our newsletter here >>
Follow us on Bluesky, LinkedIn, and X.
Listen to the MCA Podcast >>

Mobilising Community Assets

Who we are?

News & Blogs

Refugees, Migrants & Asylum Seekers as ‘New Citizens’: Home, Identity & Belonging in increasingly fractured circumstances

Why conversations about ‘lived experience’ matter

What do we mean by ‘lived experience’?

Ketamine misuse in Blackpool: A Creative Health approach

Charting Our Journey: Developing a Theory of Change for the Abundance Project - MCA

Celebrating a Year of Achievements with Arts4Us

Reflections from the Inaugural South Yorkshire Creative Health Conference

Creative Community Engagement: Taking a Closer Look at Creative & Participatory Methods in Community-Based Research

Unleashing the Power of Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities

Creating Change: Evolving creative health approaches across West Yorkshire

Creating Knowledge Together – MCA Lived Experience Advisory Group contributes to essay collection

Resetting the relationship between community organisations & the government- lessons from MCA

An Exploration of the Role of Lived Experience in Researching Creative Health Research

An Introduction to Mobilising Community Assets Phase 2 Projects: on a mission to reduce health inequalities across the UK

Mobilising Community Assets Response to Government’s Consultation

Connecting, learning, growing: Bringing together Mobilising Phase 3 projects for our first in-person event

Mobilising Community Assets - Phase 3 Projects Announced

Announcement: NCCH to lead the charge to tackle and reduce health inequalities in the UK

Nature-based social prescribing: possibilities, pitfalls and partnerships in the North East and North Cumbria

Outputs

Community Assets and the 10-Year Health Plan Webinar: Event Summary

Healthy Environments & Healthy Societies: Mobilising Creative Assets for a Healthier Planet & Healthier Communities

The role for creative health associates: exploring the fundamental impact of creative health practitioners

Teamwork makes the dream work: reflecting on Mobilising Phase 1’s achievements, successes and challenges

It takes a community – and its assets! – to reduce health inequalities: key findings from Mobilising Phase 1 and 2

Effects of Community Assets on Major Health Conditions in England: A Data Analytic Approach

Each one teach one: insights on community-based research from 16 community-university partnerships

Mobilising Community Assets – Phase 1 Case Study Synthesis: Insights & Learnings

All in this together?: Community COVID, or how community assets can redress health inequities

Barriers and enablers of integrated care in the UK: a rapid evidence review

The little engine that could: how community-based cultural engagement bolstered local communities through the Covid 19 pandemic

From moment to momentum: learning from the Covid crisis to mobilise community assets to reduce health inequalities

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