Collaboration begins with listening
#CelebratingEngagement with the Marylebone Project and Imperial’s Institute of Global Health Innovation
For nearly a century, the Marylebone Project has been a lifeline for women experiencing homelessness, meeting their immediate needs while helping them rebuild their lives with dignity.
This remarkable work caught the attention of Imperial’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), prompting them to form a partnership with the Marylebone Project. Together, they harnessed frontline wisdom to reimagine how health research is carried out with women experiencing homelessness, earning them recognition in the form of a Partner Award at the 2025 President’s Awards for Excellence in Societal Engagement.
The importance of an open-minded approach
The collaboration began when IGHI approached the Marylebone Project about carrying out research with women experiencing homelessness, an underserved group with complex healthcare needs that the IGHI team had not engaged before.
When Imperial first reached out, former Marylebone Project Centre Manager Miriam Kennedy was hesitant. Previous experiences had felt transactional, with nothing returned to the women who shared their stories. What shifted the conversation with IGHI was their open-minded and community-led approach.
As IGHI Public Involvement Officer Jodie Chan recalls, “We were just looking to form a partnership that would be meaningful. We didn’t know the research questions, the methods, or the outputs - because we wanted to create them with the women at the Marylebone Project.”
Meaningful involvement is person‑centred. It’s not about prescribing experiences or making assumptions, but letting people’s stories carry weight and lead what we do.
Through conversations with staff and service users at the Marylebone Project, it gradually became clear that, in health research, the core challenge was inviting people to open up about painful experiences without causing harm. Jodie responded, “Okay then, that’s what we do the research on.”
Backed by a successful National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) grant, IGHI and the Marylebone Project forged an empowering partnership that placed women’s voices at the centre of the research.
An introduction to Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE)
At the heart of the Marylebone Project’s work is the concept of the Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE). PIEs, as described by Miriam, are environments that are designed to serve the part of the person who has been ostracised or marginalised to try and create a safe space for them to rest or use a service. “It’s intentional thoughtfulness about what trauma means,” she says. Often, this shows up in small practical details, such as an open-drawer policy for sanitary items so that women don’t have to ask for them.
The Marylebone Project suggested that a PIE approach could help to make research feel safer and more empowering for the women experiencing homelessness who are involved. From this, the research question emerged: How do you create a Psychologically Informed Environment in research?
The first step was to slow down and focus on building relationships with the women at the Marylebone Project, so they began with two months of ‘lunch and learn’ sessions. These sessions had no agenda or notes, and quickly became a safe space for women to share and respect one another’s stories.
From there, the group moved into six months of fortnightly workshops with a group of Experts by Experience (EBEs) at the Marylebone Project to explore what a psychologically informed approach to research might look like in practice. They discussed sensitive topics, worked through case studies, and asked, ‘what would make this process feel safe?’
Miriam reflected that, throughout the discussions, the Imperial team were able to take the vulnerability expressed by the women at the Marylebone Project and put it into action to inform “a brighter future for healthcare.” Guided by their own answers, the group co‑created a practical Guide to Psychologically Informed Environments in Research.
Creating a Psychologically Informed Environment in research: The pilot
The next step? Testing their new Guide to PIE research.
To do that, the team co-produced SHE HEALS, a project which explored what holistic, trauma-informed healthcare should look like for women at risk of or experiencing homelessness. “The women took photos and videos to represent what healthcare currently looks like for them” said Jodie, “Then they made art to represent what they would like healthcare to look like in the future.”
The SHE HEALS gallery launched in April 2026 and has developed into a powerful expression of past experience and future possibility, acting as a blueprint for how to honour lived experience in research.
The partnership between Imperial’s IGHI and the Marylebone Project was funded for 18-months. “The highlight was telling our women we’d won the award,” reflected Miriam.
Many of them have been unseen and unheard for so long, and finally their ideas were acknowledged.
For the IGHI, the biggest lesson was the value of collaborating with a community organisation across the entire research journey. “Bring community partners in from the very beginning,” Jodie advises researchers. “They’ll help shape what the research should be about by sharing the problems they’re up against and what would work best for them.”
The partnership’s legacy lives on through the publicly available Guide to PIE Research and the SHE HEALS gallery. While the Marylebone Project will close in September 2026, the team are committed to ensuring a safe, dignified transition for the women they are currently supporting. “We’re saddened by the closure of the project but grateful for what’s been achieved,” says Sarah. “We’ve seen women regain confidence, rebuild their lives and move forward with renewed hope.”
If you are interested in exploring ways to involve community groups in the development of your research questions, have a look at the Centre for Societal Engagement’s Collaboration Kickstarter Seed Fund.
Pictured (from left to right): Jodie Chan, Miriam Kennedy, and Sarah Hancock. With thanks to Semhar Rota, who also played a major role in the project.
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