Introduction: Expert by experience involvement in the design, implementation, and evaluation of occupational therapy curriculum is now an expectation in pre-entry programs in Australia. To achieve this, educators and experts by experience need to partner to inform each other and students on the best ways to navigate service provision with people with lived experience. However, there are no practice guidelines to assist effective partnership within the university context.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the experience of health educators and experts by experience who partner to co-design and/or co-deliver curriculum in health profession education.

Methods: This study adopted a qualitative descriptive design. Six experts by experience and six health educators were interviewed to share their experiences of what helped and hindered co-designing and/or co-teaching. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings: All participants were positive regarding the value and impact of curriculum partnership and identified that a sound understanding of co-design and investment in the working partnership were fundamental. Experts by experience valued opportunities to work and connect with their peers and benefitted from educator support to understand the expectations of their work. Health educators discussed the complexities of partnership including their need to self-learn how to partner effectively and strategies to navigate partnership within constrained university contexts.

Conclusion: Health educators and experts by experience share similar and different experiences during a co-design and/or co-teaching partnership. This presentation will share themed insights from health educators and experts by experience to enable successful curriculum co-design and co-delivery.