PPI Bulletin

November/December 2022

Dear All...

This is our last bulletin of 2022! I do hope you like the new snazzy, colourful version. A huge thank you to Louise Ward for taking the initiative on this and putting so much effort into producing the bulletin with me. We are keen to develop the content so please do get in touch with either Jo or Louise (emails below) with any ideas, snippets, blogs or interesting papers around Public Involvement or Equality Diversity and Inclusion.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of our fantastic community of public contributors to the work of RDS SW. This year does seem to have flown by, but we have been busier than ever supporting researchers around the region with their funding bids. Public contributors have provided written reviews for 49 projects and sat on the panel of 6 mock interviews. Public contributors have also attended our grant application seminars, our Away Day and the Residential Research Retreat. We have public representation on our Senior Management Team and our Strategic Oversight and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Groups. Public contributors have contributed to updating our expenses policy, the content of the bid for the Research Support Service (RSS) and most recently a national webinar (more detail below).

We will be looking to extend public participation in our activities throughout 2023 - perhaps developing some of the ideas that came through our workshops for the RSS bid. I would just like to say a huge and very heartfelt THANK YOU to our public contributors for their commitment and contribution to RDS SW in 2022 and with best wishes for a restful festive break.

Jo

RDS SW Updates

RSS Bid for South West

The bid from the SW for a Research Support Service: NIHR Research Support Service - Application Guidance commencing October 2023 was submitted on 15th November. We now have the long wait for the outcome which should be around April 2023.

National Updates

The Role of the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Lead

On 24th November, Jo and two RDS SW public contributors, Heather and Gail, contributed to a national RDS webinar on “The role of the PPI Lead and the Public Co-applicant in Health and Care Research”. Jo and Heather co-presented on the role of the PPI Lead with Gail supporting Saumu Lwembe (Assistant Director for Public Involvement with the NIHR Central Commissioning Facility) with a presentation on “What does a funding committee look for?” Jo, Heather and Gail also joined the panel for the Q&A session.

The webinar had 169 attendees and generated a lot of quite challenging questions. Unfortunately, Teams gremlins prevented full recording, but the audio was recorded and is currently being overlaid with the slide presentations for circulation. We will provide the link for this as soon as it is available. The “Chat” and panel questions will be also answered in writing by the panel for circulation. The RDS team will be looking to develop follow up workshops for the New Year.

Carers Week 2022 NIHR workshop

Report from a webinar on 6 June 2022 hosted by the NIHR Centre for Engagement and Dissemination and the NIHR School for Social Care Research. Please see here: Involving and engaging carers in research | NIHR SSCR

BU PIER (Bournemouth University Public Involvement in Engagement and Research) Partnership Annual Report

BU PIER and RDS SW work closely together and they've just published their annual report looking back on their achievements and impact, sharing some highlights from the year. To reflect the significant level of co-production this year with students, PIER members and community organisations, this year's report is written by people with lived experience and their partners, from their perspective. We hope you enjoy reading about PIER activity and their impact. BU PIER Partnership Annual Report 2021-22

Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) update

The resources are divided into 5 areas:

1. General resources – this includes useful toolkits, guidance, articles, frameworks and strategies, and
   training opportunities
   
   
2. Developing an EDI strategy for a funding application – key questions to consider such as: Who is this intervention seeking to benefit? Will it work the same for all these patient groups? Have you involved a diverse group of public contributors? Will the research be disseminated to the people who need it most?
   
   
3. Monitoring the diversity of people involved in your research – why monitoring is important, and an example of a form that could be used to obtain relevant data from your research participants or public contributors
   
   
4. Case studies – examples of health and social care research projects that have successfully embedded EDI
   
   
5. Community groups – details of local community groups who are happy to support you with involving the public in your research project.
   
   

Funding bodies (NIHR and UKRI) report on their diversity

Both NIHR and UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) have published their diversity reports recently. They make for interesting reading. You can find the full reports here:

• Diversity Data Report 2022 | NIHR
  
  
• UKRI publishes updated diversity data and analysis – UKRI
  
  

RDS Blog on cultural competence

By Suman Prinjha, Senior Adviser in Qualitative Research and Ethnic Minority Inclusion, RDS East Midlands Cultural competence and inclusivity in research (rdsblog.org.uk)

Toxic Corridors, a poem by Kwabena Kimath

Toxic Corridors was commissioned by the NIHR's Race Equality Public Action Group (REPAG) to build awareness of the Race Equality Framework, a self-assessment tool for public involvement in research. Please watch here: Toxic Corridors by Kwabena Kimathi - YouTube

Opportunities to get involved

Grant Peer Review Panel Member

Help to Shape the Future of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research
BACP, the UK’s leading professional association for members of the counselling professions, is currently looking for three members of the general public with personal experience of therapy to join their Grants Peer Review Panel. Through this unique opportunity you will assist with reviewing funding proposals for research projects relating to counselling and psychotherapy. No research experience is needed, only an interest in shaping the future of counselling and psychotherapy research.

Opportunity to join a Stroke Research Project

Researchers at University of Birmingham are looking for someone with lived experience as a stroke patient to join their team as a Patient and Public Involvement Partner on a stroke research project. More info.

Provide your views on a spinal cord injury research project

Researchers at Imperial College London would like to speak to people with spinal cord injury (SCI) or their families to ask about whether they think a new research study we have been thinking about would be a good idea. More info.

Improving care at and in homes

For carers: This is an opportunity to take part in an opportunity about future support tools for care at home and in care homes. More info.

Help improve the lives of those with Lymphoedema

This is a co-creation focus groups that aims to gain insight into the pain points, needs, and wants of a lymphoedema patient. More info.

Webinars and events attended

INCLUDE Impaired Capacity to Consent Framework

Louise attended this webinar on 30th November. The recording is available here. The INCLUDE Impaired Capacity to Consent Framework and other resources including the Easy Read guide are available to access and download here.

Experts by experience in #MentalHealthResearchMatters

Helen attended Experts by experience webinar on 16th November ran by ARC Wessex Mental Health Hub.

Upcoming events

• Introduction to Patient and Public Involvement for Researchers, Cambridge BRC
  Tue, 10 January 2023, 10:30 – 12:30 More info
  
  
• PPI Toolkit: Ways to involve the public in research (for researchers), Cambridge BRC
  Mon, 30 January 2023, 13:00 – 15:30 More info
  
  
• Public Research Involvement Forum (for public), NIHR Surgical MedTech Co-operative
  Wednesday, 25th January 2023
  How does my contribution make a difference? Join this session to find out the impact and difference other contributors have made through their input on various medical technology projects. We will also aim to secure some researchers and companies on this session. More info

If you would like to submit items or news for us to include in future bulletins, please send to Louise Ward or Jo Welsman