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BRC wins UCL Faculty of Brain Science Impact Award for public engagement.

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NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre is the winner of the first ‘Impact through public engagement’ award at the UCL Faculty of Brain Science Impact Awards 2025. It recognises our innovative PPIE project, ‘No One Left Behind’, a hands-on educational game designed to spark meaningful conversations about equity in healthcare. Helen Baker and Aadil Khazi are standing indoors, holding a framed certificate together. The background shows a modern building interior with glass and metal elements, and several other people are visible in the distance. The certificate reads: "UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences Impact Awards 2023 – NHS Mental Health Trust Team – Improving Through Public Engagement Winner.  

We are thrilled to receive this award. It is a testament to the power of creativity in sparking meaningful conversations. ‘No One Left Behind’ has helped people of all ages engage with the idea of equity in healthcare. We are proud to see it making a real impact.

Dr Helen Baker and Dr Aadil Kazi

No One Left Behind

‘No One Left Behind’ comprised of four different environments to travel through and five different animals as research participants. Our team developed the game along with researchers at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and clinicians at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

A collage of three images. The first image shows a child and an adult playing a board game at a table with various cards and illustrations. The second image is a close-up of hands arranging cards with different images, including an observatory, a globe, and underwater scenery. The third image is an illustrated map divided into four zones labeled "Zone 1 Grassland," "Zone 2 Lake," "Zone 3 Mountains," and "Zone 4 Desert," with markers for the start and finish points.

The game rules are:

The players act as researchers who have to get all their research participants to a research appointment. The player/researcher aim is to protect the characteristics of the animals (e.g. large, can fly) and use teamwork (and some tools provided) to get the animals across the game to the appointment together with no one left behind. If one animal does not get to the appointment, the game isn’t completed. 

The aim is to start conversations about equity rather than equality in healthcare. Highlighting how different approaches or assistance are needed for different people to get the same result. It is also to demonstrate that one size doesn’t fit all with regards to diagnosis or treatment, and so research must reflect this.

The team originally took the game to the Bloomsbury Festival Discovery Day 2024, a community event where over 100 visitors came to play with us. The feedback from the public was overwhelmingly positive, with several groups returning multiple times. We have continued to use the game at other engagement events such as international clinical trials day and have share the game with others.  To date No One Left Behind has been adopted by twelve other BRC/CRF’s across the UK, extending its impact far beyond its original audience.

Want to use it in your own public engagement work?
Request a free digital copy by emailing: moorfieldsbrc@nihr.ac.uk and quoting “No One Left Behind!”

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