We want people to help us design and conduct our research. We believe this kind of active input (patient public involvement or PPI) makes our research better.
There are a number of ways you can get actively involved in research. For example by:
* helping us to decide our priorities for new research
* advising researchers on what kind of things to measure so that answers are relevant to patients,
* helping us explain research in understandable ways.
There are different ways people work with us. For example by:
* coming to one-off meetings
* sitting on a panel that meets regularly
* looking at information and talking to us by email.
It is standard practice with PPI to reimburse patients and the public for their travel and carer costs.
Our biomedical research centre has a PPI network and lay panels of people who want to get actively involved in research in this way. If you are interested in getting actively involved, email the biomedical research centre PPI team on ppihelpdesk
What I like is that it is a two-way conversation,” says one of our members, “We can suggest ideas for research or changes. For example, I offered to help improve the patient information leaflets because I thought they should be clearer about things like the side effects or symptoms patients might expect with certain treatments.
Join our online Patient and Public Involvement Network
Find out more
There are lots of other resources and support for patients and the public to get involved in research. You can also: visit People in Research which provides information specifically for the public - researchers wanting to find members of the public to get involved in their research also advertise on the site look at the resources on the NIHR 'involve patients' web page.