Involving Patients and Public in Research
Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) means involving and engaging people with research. This means that people can use their experience to influence research, supporting its delivery so it is relevant to people’s lives, health, and wider concerns.
We place patients and the public at the heart of what we do, ensuring that people have a right to help shape publicly funded research and have the opportunity to make decisions, shape, and learn about research. We need you to help us make sure that research is the best and most relevant it can be.
Putting patients first: A blueprint for public involvement in HealthTech innovation
By listening to the voices of those who will benefit most from new treatments, diagnoses, and technologies, we ensure that our innovations are aligned with patient needs. We are establishing a blueprint for PPIE in HealthTech research, with patient involvement from the start.
This dynamic approach allows us to adapt to both local and national needs while incorporating valuable feedback from public collaborators and researchers. We prioritise patient safety, wellbeing, and needs, while enabling critical research and data gathering to drive progress.
Inclusive HealthTech research: Embedding public voices for greater impact
We work with a diverse group representing the interests and priorities of people living in rural, coastal and deprived areas, and people of different ethnicities and cultural background across the South West peninsula. With their help we have developed a PPIE strategy to embed PPIE in our research.
We use the Public Involvement in Research Impact Toolkit (PIRIT) to inform our research and improve its impact, helping partners and researchers understand the impact of PPIE at the start of their research projects.
How we work
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Exeter have a long history of international excellence in Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE). We use our person-centred approach to research to:
- address the challenges of PPIE in experimental medicine and translational research
- evidence our strong commitment to diversify our PPIE base
- implement all NIHR Standards for Public Involvement, and continuously improve and innovate with our offering
- integrate our regional resources and work with other BRCs to learn how to diversify participation and share excellence
- deliver an approach that is inclusive, responsive, and informative and develops respectful and trusting relationships
Which groups do we work with?
We will work closely with aligned regional structures including:
- The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust PPIE group
- The Peninsula Public Engagement Group (Pen-PEG)
- NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South West Peninsula (PenARC)
- Cornwall PPIE network
- Exeter NIHR Clinical Research Facility patient groups
- Local and national charities
- Our NHS Partners
“Working alongside communities, patients and carers ensures that we generate a shared understanding of the nature of the problem and research together to try and address the issues.
Professor Katrina Wyatt
Our strategic goals & objectives
We worked with public collaborators to develop our goals and priorities:
- To ensure that PPIE remain a core priority for the HRC in Sustainable Innovation and the corporate partners we work with, embedded in both the Centre’s management and operations.
- To support researchers, commercial and industry partners develop the skills and knowledge needed to maintain strong PPIE practices within and beyond the HRC.
- To support the reach and longevity of PPIE through collaboration with regional and national NIHR infrastructure and learning from best practice.
- To work with members of under-represented communities and those who are underserved by research, innovation and technology.
- To communicate the work of the HRC to patients, carers and family members and members of the public through engagement activities.
Find out more about our strategy here.
To get help involving patients and the public in your research or to ask a question email:
- Jess Smith, PPIE Lead
- Zoe Foster, PPIE Officer
