Research taking place in care homes for older adults has rapidly increased in recent decades, which was seen even more during the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenges in including older adults, particularly those living with a level of cognitive decline, have prevented resident voices being at the forefront of research. Furthermore, lack of resources and time pressures within care homes create barriers to accessing staff and care homes. It is important to consider the whole care context within research, alongside resident voices, to consider lived experiences and provide productive and realistic suggestions for change. Co-production is becoming more common in research, and is committed to facilitating inclusion and overcoming individual, social or contextual barriers to communication and inclusivity. The CHAPPI (Care Home Activity Providers Facilitating Public Involvement in Research as a Meaningful Activity for Care Home Residents) project has collaborated with key stakeholders, including care home managers, activity providers and lived experience experts to ensure gaps in knowledge between academia and industry are bridged from project inception. During this ‘Q&A style’ presentation, we (a care home manager and a researcher) will present our experiences of participating in or conducting research, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will also highlight lessons learned within the CHAPPI project so far, to discuss how we (as researchers and industry experts) can creatively proceed together, to improve care home research. Finally, we will explore how we can adapt research to fit with care homes to bring an understanding of what is needed to succeed and how we can do better, even during times of extraordinary measures.