Aron’s story: how I transform health research in Wales as a student

Aron Evans is 16 years old and based in north Cardiff. Since January 2021, he has helped researchers to plan the studies they want to carry out in Wales as a member of a youth group who discuss issues around upcoming health studies with researchers.

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“I found out about the ALPHA group because I wanted to do some volunteering to help with my university application as I’m studying for my A Levels at the moment. I did some research on the Volunteering Wales website and this seemed a bit different. I liked the idea of learning a bit more about health and how research is done.

“When I joined the group, I didn’t know what to expect and I was a bit confused about what role I could play. I thought research was just done by researchers and other people couldn’t get involved. But it’s really straightforward. We just meet online once a month and chat with the researchers about their work.

“One meeting that sticks out to me is when we talked about a study on parents hitting their kids. It’s not against the law for parents in Wales to smack their kids, which surprised me. We were asked to give the researchers some feedback from a younger perspective on bringing in a new law to stop it. I said if it’s illegal, parents will think twice before doing it.

“When one of us raises a good point, the researchers really do consider it. They’ll ask us what we think could be done to make the study better and how the study could reach more people. It becomes a conversation and the health topics are genuinely interesting.

“I think it’s a good thing for everyone involved. Each of us gets to share our own experiences with the researchers but we also get to hear the views of the other ALPHA members. Everyone’s background is different, so there are lots of experiences that researchers need to think about.

“We’ve been involved in many stages of the research and so I’ve seen how the studies develop over time because of our feedback. It does leave you feeling like you’re actually making a difference and making the research better. It’s only one meeting each month, so it doesn’t take up much time and it does feel like time well-spent. I get a lot out of it.

“People my age are definitely more interested in health research because of the pandemic. The research feels more relevant to our lives now. Maybe research used to seem too complicated or a bit dull, but I think more people would want to help researchers now if they knew it was an option. A lot of health research is actually really relatable.”

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ALPHA (Advice Leading to Public Health Advancement) is a public involvement group of people between the ages of 14-25 and is led by DECIPHer, which is part of the Health and Care Research Wales funded community.

Find out more about ALPHA and how to join.