Table 6 Quotations for the theme of ‘Complexities of the ‘who, when and how’ of stakeholder engagement’

RECs own role in stakeholder engagement

We struggle to get authentic, layperson representation on the committee. It’s hard for lay people to have a voice on a professional committee (REC20)

So, I think we’ve missed a trick there, in terms of actually talking to Mr and Mrs community… this institution hasn’t gauged the community’s understanding about COVID-19 and where things are and I think a lot of that could have been done, stepped up quite quickly (REC11)

Who’s the community member, then I wonder, you know, who does this person represent? For years? So, I think that’s a key concern for me is, who they are, and how we actually appoint them, which of course, isn’t clear… And also, then within the time of COVID, it is very difficult to now suddenly get input from other community members (REC18)

We miss an opportunity with the role of ethics committees in public education. Our communities, some of them tend to see doctors as next to God… And then when you have a doctor that says, we’ve skipped stages in research, I tell you, I held my head and I just thought, this is exactly what we don’t need (REC3)

Challenges to community engagement during COVID-19

What do you do with community engagement in in pandemic times or in emergencies? None of our researchers used existing structures like they were doing for TB research or HIV/AIDS research (REC16)

Are we getting true community sentiment? Or is that voice already too schooled in research to actually give you a true parameter of what's happening at community level? (REC3)

As far as COVID is concerned, I really don't know who you consider to be the community… Who actually do you go to when you've had 1.4 million cases of COVID in the country, you can't just choose seven people off the street and say, that's the community? (REC7)

You’ve got to have a large number of people to truly call that community… I don’t think it’s something that can just be a box that you tick, you’ve got to take it seriously… So, community involvement should be a whole lot of checks and balances and should be broader in the context of COVID specifically, in my opinion. If you want it to be truly valid (REC10)