Public involvement means the various different ways the general public can shape research activities and make sure research is carried out with them, in addition to taking part in research as research participants.
We see open discussions as a big part of public involvement. We hope to do research that is relevant to everyone. This is why we want to understand your views better and having open conversations with you is a natural way to do this.
Our community involvement project is only one approach to public involvement: our focus is on sharing our research and understanding how we can make our way of working more inclusive going forward. We have aimed to keep our approach as open and flexible as possible. This is why we have put together a short questionnaire to ask what people aged 55+ think might be enjoyable activities.
We are looking for people aged 55+ living in Tewkesbury (with remote activities open also to people in Newcastle and Birmingham), Cardiff, Glasgow and Cardiff to join us in planning and organising community involvement activities. You can complete our short questionnaire here. If you would like to know more, please get in touch.
You may have also heard some people talk about public engagement which is about sharing research with the general public in a mutually benefiting way. This shows how broad the ideas to be inclusive and engaging are! There is also a term in health research particularly that you may have come across before: patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE). In general this means that some aspects of research are done together with members of the public. This is based on the fact that people/patients with experience of health care are experts in a way that researchers may not be.
This video made by researchers at NIHR ARC South West Peninsula (PenARC) explains nicely what Patient and Public Involvement means:
There are also lots of useful resources available online for people who are considering becoming involved:
The jargon buster explains some common terms often used in research.
NIHR has also put together a Starting Out booklet which shares some general guidance with people who are new to public involvement. It’s also available as an audio version here.
If you would like to get involved in health research beyond our project, the Health Protection Research Unit website includes further information about public involvement opportunities.
