Public involvement in health and biomedical research is increasingly seen as both desirable and necessary. Desirable because the public’s vast and varied experience can bring important perspectives to research. Necessary because many funders now require it.
That’s why we’ve developed the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Resource Hub – to guide researchers through the process of actively involving patients and members of the public in their research and projects.
In conversation with: Dr Lynne Sykes, Academic Clinical Lecturer Working within: Institute of Reproductive & Developmental Biology
With the help of the NIHR Imperial BRC PPI award, we were able to set up a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) group to help shape our preterm birth research at Imperial. The funding enabled us to invite 10–15 participants to three PPI meetings over a course of 12 months. We now have an established group with around seven core members and one nominated representative. The meetings have been a great way to present, and get feedback, on our current and future research plans.
The hardest thing about submitting a grant application is often not knowing what the judges are looking for. So, with the call now open for this year’s NIHR Imperial BRC Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) grant scheme funding, but the deadline fast approaching, we thought we’d ask both past winners and members of the judging panel to share their thoughts and insights on what makes a winning patient and public involvement proposal…
In conversation with: Raheelah Ahmad, NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Fellow Working within: NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance
Our team (Raheelah Ahmad, Tim Rawson, Enrique Castro-Sánchez, Esmita Charani, Luke Moore and Alison Holmes) set out to explore if and how citizens would be willing to take part in setting priorities for research funding.
In conversation with: Rachael Ryan, Research Assistant Working within: Centre for Psychiatry, Department of Medicine
The Healthy Start, Happy Start (HSHS) study aims to help parents better understand their child’s communication and behaviour, and to learn different ways of reacting. We set up a Study Advisory Group (SAG) and asked them for ideas on participant recruitment and materials. The group has developed over time to also consider how to explain different parts of the research to participants and how to best keep participants engaged.
In conversation with: Emma White, Research Technician Working with: Professor Takats
One of the main pieces of research activity in the group revolves around using Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) in the form of the iKnife. This is a surgical diagnostic tool that uses the ‘smoke’ bi-product of surgical diathermy (a widely used alternative to traditional scalpels, where electrically induced heat makes precise cuts to remove unwanted tissue whilst minimising blood loss) for real-time tissue identification.
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We’re the Imperial Patient Experience Research Centre team, otherwise known as PERC. And we’re dedicated to improving the quality and impact of healthcare and translational research by promoting and supporting active communication between patients, the public, researchers and clinical staff.