Celebrating Co-production in Sussex (Co-production Conference 2026)
More than 100 people from across the county came together for the fourth annual Sussex Co-production Conference in Hove.
Hosted by CAPITAL, Changing Futures Sussex, Possibility People and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the conference was attended by people with wide ranging lived experience along with representatives from the NHS and the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VSCE) sector.
Donning butterfly wings and accessories, the organising team designed this year’s conference around the theme of metamorphosis to illustrate how co-production can transform a project from a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.
The event launched with an entertaining ‘Back to the Future’ themed icebreaker and a focus on what the future would look like with and without co-production. This helped to set the scene for a plenary discussion about developing a Co-production Charter for Sussex. Breakout groups went on to explore the key values of coproduction, including transparency, relationships, trust and power sharing. Once finalised, partner organisations will be invited to sign up to the Charter and help to embed the shared principles and values of co-production across Sussex.
The highlight of this year’s event was the 2026 Sussex Co-production Awards to celebrate the incredible work happening in co-production locally. From a total of 44 nominations, 13 people received awards in recognition of their own or their organisation’s work.
Proceedings began with Sarah Flagg from Voices of Lived Experience Board (VOLEB) team scooping the ‘Creative Excellence in Co-production Award’, and Cass, Naomi and Tasha from Possibility People’s Get Involved Action Group receiving the ‘We Tried and We Learned’ category in recognition of the fact that things don’t always go according to plan.
Next up were Tasha Barefield from Possibility People Lived Experience Advisory Groups who collected the ‘Co-production Champion Managers Award’ and Amanda Walderman who received the ‘Co-production Champion Working in the Public Sector Award’.
Rebecca Cassap from VOLEB received two awards for her work with victims and survivors of domestic abuse to ensure their voices are heard. These were the ‘Co-production Growth Award’ and the ‘Lived Experience Co-production Champion Sussex Wide’.
Sue Beckles-Varga from the Brighton & Hove Lived Experience Advisory Group, who stole the show with her butterfly-themed attire, won the ‘Lived Experience Co-production Champion for Brighton & Hove’. The award for West Sussex was given to Sara Shepherd for her work with the Drug & Alcohol Partnership and Lorraine Quinn-Stokes received the award for East Sussex.
The final awards of the day went to Rachael Swann and Drew Taylor from Grassroots Suicide Prevention Lived Experience Advisory Group for ‘Inclusive Excellence in Co-production, and the Connect Lived Experience Training Team and Dynamite Co-production – Aldingbourne Trust, in ‘Special Recognition of their Co-production Work for Exemplifying The Values of Co-production’.
Presenting the awards at this year’s conference were Antonia Bennett, Deputy Head of Working with People and Communities at NHS Sussex and Christmas Musonza, Director of Engagement and Experience at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Tasha Barefield, co-host of the conference and Engagement and Co-production Lead for Possibility People, said: “Co-production matters because it shifts power. It brings people with lived experience, frontline staff and leaders together as equal partners to shape services that genuinely work. Our conference is always a powerful reminder of what’s possible when we create space for honest conversations, creativity and shared ownership.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, contributed so openly, and helped make the day what it was. The energy in the room doesn’t stop there. Our next step is to build on this momentum by finalising and launching our shared Co-production Charter, so that the principles we talked about become embedded in how we all work across Sussex.”
If you would like to get involved in any of our work please go to https://linktr.ee/sussex.copro