The panel gave this commendation to recognise the team’s commitment to including African and Caribbean heritage community members at the centre of the research process and how co-production underpinned the design, delivery and evaluation of the interventions.
Common Ambition Bristol (CAB) was established to address the disproportionate impact of HIV on African and Caribbean heritage communities, who experience higher rates of HIV infection, are more likely to be diagnosed late and often have lower access to HIV prevention services such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – a medication that prevents HIV.
CAB brought together community members, University of Bristol researchers, sexual health services and public health teams to co-design and co-deliver culturally relevant approaches to HIV prevention and testing.
Through multimedia campaigns, community outreach, targeted health promotion events and community testing clinics, CAB worked to reduce HIV stigma, improve knowledge and increase access to testing and prevention services.
The programme has achieved measurable results, with HIV tests increasing among African and Caribbean heritage community members in Bristol. Evaluation findings also showed increased HIV knowledge, reduced stigma, improved awareness of testing options and a greater intention to be tested among community members.
Community partnership at the heart of success
A key factor in CAB's success was its commitment to co-production. Community members were involved throughout the design, delivery and evaluation of the programme, ensuring interventions reflected community needs and experiences. This close partnership also enabled evaluation findings to be rapidly fed back into service delivery, supporting continuous improvements.
The project also invested in developing research skills within the community. African and Caribbean heritage community researchers worked alongside academics in data collection, analysis and dissemination activities. One community researcher was awarded a prestigious NIHR doctoral fellowship and became lead author of CAB's first peer-reviewed publication.
Influencing services and policy
CAB’s evidence has directly informed commissioning decisions. In April 2025, CAB secured a 10-year local authority commission to deliver community outreach services for underserved communities across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, embedding CAB within regional sexual health services.
CAB's impact has also extended into local health services. Findings from the evaluation led sexual health services to introduce cultural competency training and revise patient information materials. Bristol NHS Foundation Trust has also incorporated CAB learning into its three-year Experience of Care programme, with the Trust Board describing the approach as "a game changer" for collaboration and service improvement.
The programme's influence has also spread beyond Bristol through presentations at national conferences, as well as a University of Bristol webinar attended by around 250 professionals from across the UK. To support other organisations, the team developed a publicly available CAB Co-production Toolkit providing practical guidance on co-producing more equitable health services with local communities.
CAB has received widespread recognition for its achievements, including winning the Patient Experience Network National Award 2024 and being Highly Commended at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2025 for Most Effective Contribution to Integrated Health and Care.
Professor Jeremy Horwood, Principal Investigator for Common Ambition Bristol, said: "We are delighted that Common Ambition Bristol has been recognised in the NIHR Impact Awards. This commendation is a testament to the dedication of everyone involved in Common Ambition Bristol, particularly our community partners whose insight, experience and leadership have driven the programme's success. Together, we have created an approach that not only improves HIV awareness, testing and prevention, but also builds trust between communities, researchers and health services. It is incredibly encouraging to see this work recognised by NIHR and to know that its impact is being felt both locally and nationally.”
Matthew Wilson, Common Ambition Bristol Project Manager said: “At CAB, we know that sharing power with communities to shape the services they need is essential to reducing health inequalities, improving access to care and creating lasting change. It is a pleasure to be recognised by the NIHR Impact Awards, and a further testament to the passion, expertise and commitment invested by our partners across the community and the health and care system. Seeing HIV awareness, testing and prevention increase in our communities as a result has meant everything to us, and it shows exactly what meaningful co-production can achieve as a powerful tool for building health equity."
Dr Fiona Fox, Lead Researcher for Common Ambition Bristol, said: "This recognition highlights the power of partnership working. Common Ambition Bristol was built on the principle that solutions are most effective when communities shape them. CAB has demonstrated that meaningful community involvement can increase engagement with HIV testing and prevention, improve experiences of care, and influence how services are designed and delivered. We are proud of what has been achieved and excited to see the approach being adopted more widely."
For further information about the prizes, see: NIHR Impact Prizes Winners 2026.