Evaluation of the Bangkok Health Research and Ethics Interest Group: reflecting on the experiences of group members, researchers and facilitators participating in an urban community advisory board in Thailand

Background: The Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), headquartered in Bangkok, conducts research on tropical medicine and global health. MORU works closely with a network of community advisory boards (CABs), with members drawn from communities served by its research sites. In 2019, we set up the Bangkok Health Research and Ethics Interest Group (HREIG). HREIG is an urban CAB composed of Bangkok residents from all walks of life who have an interest in health research, but do not have a professional health research background. HREIG advises on clinical research and broader societal issues, complementing MORU′s rural CABs in areas such as the Thai-Myanmar border and Cambodia. In 2022, the group had 14 members aged 22 to 51. Initially, meetings were held in person and in English, to support discussion with international researchers. During COVID-19 restrictions, meetings moved online and adopted Thai as the main language. Main body: To evaluate the group′s first two years, we conducted a mixed-methods study using focus group discussions and anonymous online surveys with group members, researchers and facilitators. We found that members joined to contribute to research and society, and for personal benefits such as learning about health research or meeting new people. While some valued practicing English, it made harder for members to contribute equally, and even those with good conversational English struggled with technical terms. Researchers reported that engaging with the group helped improve their communication skills, and that they valued hearing lay perspectives. Facilitators strengthened their skills in areas such as facilitation, online collaboration, and explaining research in lay terms. As HREIG is not tied to a specific study, its contributions have ranged from improving malaria messaging for the Thai public to testing COVID-19 surveys, or sharing opinions on vaccines and clinical trial participation. Conclusion: Our findings offer an in-depth insight into the experiences of HREIG members, researchers and facilitators. We share the outcomes of the group′s activities, and the lessons learnt from running a CAB in an international research environment. We hope that our findings will help others who would like to set up a CAB in a similar context.