Dear scientists: community ambassadors’ perspectives on community-engaged research
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
There has been growing recognition of the importance of engaging communities in environmental health research. Among the various methods of community-engaged research, one approach is to work with community ambassadors – people who are active and well connected in their communities – to facilitate scientists’ interactions with community members. Drawing on our own experiences as community ambassadors in the WellHome Study, an investigation of indoor air quality in West London, UK, we offer 3 key insights to scientists interested in this model of community-engaged research. We argue, first, that community ambassadors can help scientists build trust and engage research participants. Second, we note the value of fully integrating community ambassadors into a project team and present suggestions for how this may be accomplished. Third, we underscore the importance of remunerating community ambassadors and the need for careful reflection on the amount and form of compensation. While much has been written about the advantages and challenges of community-engaged research, this commentary brings the voice of community members to the fore of these discussions. It highlights how the community ambassador model can bring mutual benefits, furthering research goals while also providing a meaningful experience for community members.
Date Issued
2025-11-11
Date Acceptance
2025-09-13
Citation
Environmental Health Insights, 2025, 19, pp.1-4
ISSN
1178-6302
Publisher
SAGE Publishing
Start Page
1
End Page
4
Journal / Book Title
Environmental Health Insights
Volume
19
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
License URL
Identifier
10.1177/11786302251383263
Subjects
community engagement
research co-production
community ambassadors
air quality
environmental health
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-11-11