The Covid realities project is featured on Woman's Hour

COVID Realities is a research collaboration led by Dr Ruth Patrick and delivered by the universities of York and Birmingham, with support from the Child Poverty Action Group.

Our focus is on engaging low income families in participatory research, submitting diary entries to a dedicated web app (https://covidrealities.org/) and participating in discussions focused on developing policy recommendations.

A key goal here is to ensure that the experiences of families on low incomes play a part in key policy decisions. Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour explored our work this week, interviewing Dr Maddy Power (a lead researcher, York’s Department of Health Sciences) and Shirley (a former nurse, campaigner, and single mum with a degenerative spinal condition), @psychologicsal on Twitter.

The interview offers some outstanding insights into Shirley’s experiences of struggling to get by during the pandemic - and (for example) the strategies she has used to ensure her family has enough food. Maddy also gives an outstanding account of the project.