Manouri Wimalasekera, Steven Blackburn, Risitha Wakishta Arachchi, Chamali Jayasinghe, G. N. Duminda Guruge, Adele Higginbottom, Oshini Sri Jayasinghe, Sameeha Jabir, Vidath Samarakkody, Janani Opatha, Lasith Dissanayake, Kaushalya Jayaweera, Enoka Wickra
Springer
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40900-026-00923-3
This article is a summary of the implementation of community engagement and involvement (CEI) approaches within health research in Sri Lanka. The aim of this article is to document how Sri Lanka, over seven-year period from 2018-2025, Introduced and embedded Community engagement and Involvement, an approach where communities help shape research from the very beginning, rather than simply being studied.
CEI ensures that research stays relevant, meaningful, and useful to the people its mean to benefit, and evidence shows that research improves in quality and impact when the public helps set its direction. While CEI is already well-established in countries like the UK ,US and Canada ,it has often been missing or underdeveloped in lower middle-income countries due to limited resources and institutional support.
The Institute for Research and Development in Health and Social Care Research has worked with the people since its founding in 1977 through initiatives like Sri Lanka’s Twin studies, set out to build formal CEI structures where none had existed before.
The objectives of this initiative were to:
1.Initiate awareness raising and shared understanding of CEI in research.
2.Recruit a critical mass of engaged professionals and informed public members.
3.Establish coordination mechanisms within IRD to sustain CEI activity.
4.Develop culturally adapted training materials and communication to support the involvement of community members as research partners.
5.Extend CEI practice and expertise of CEI through national and international collaborations and shared learning.
The article depicts the idea that meaningful involvement of communities in research can strengthen trust between researchers and the public, improve the Quality of research activities, and support the translation of research findings into practical. The research examines experiences from Sri Lanka to provide insight in to how community engagement can be adaptable into local contexts.
Overall, this article aims to demonstrate how community engagement and involvement can become an important part of health research in Sri Lanaka. By creating stronger connections between researchers and communities the study contributes to developing more impactful research practices that better respond to public health.
