Community health fair comes to town

The Community Health Fair forms part of the national Festival of Social Science and is a free event, giving guests the chance to learn about nutrition, food growing, getting more active, men's health issues and dealing with chronic pain whilst also making their own suggestions for future health research at the University.

Taking place from 9.30am to 4pm at the Hamara Healthy Living Centre, the fair is an opportunity for members of the public to find out about the role of research in improving our understanding of what makes people healthy. Guests will have the chance to tell researchers from the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at Leeds Met whether they are studying the 'right' issues when it comes to health and make suggestions for future research.

On top of drop-in-advice and mini-workshops throughout the day, there will be an exciting programme of afternoon talks with discussions about men and help seeking, the role of religion in chronic pain management and food growing and wellbeing.

Hamara's CEO, Hanif Malik, said: "This event is an excellent example of a grassroots community organisation working together with a leading University to help enhance public knowledge around health. Our partnership with the Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Leeds Met is proving to be a great model of good practice in how different sectors can come together to share knowledge and expertise."

Organiser Dr Anke Roexe at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing added: "We want to demonstrate that research is a public good: it is not just for academics and health professionals, but for everyone. We want to help people to improve their wellbeing by making research accessible to the general public; but the fair is also a great opportunity for us to listen to the public, so we make sure that we ask the 'right' questions."

The Festival of Social Science is run by the Economic and Social Research Council and takes place from 2-9 November 2013. The Festival celebrates the very best of British social science research and its influence on our social, economic and political lives - both now and in the future. You can follow updates from the Festival on twitter using #esrcfestival.

For more information about the Community Health Fair, please contact anke.roexe@leedsmet.ac.uk or najeen@hamara.co.uk.