This is the webpage for the Public Involvement and Engagement (PIE) sub-group which is part of the ARCNWC Methodological Innovation, Development, Adaptation and Support (MIDAS) theme.

This sub-group aims to provide people across the North-West Coast with the opportunity to join a collaborative network to discuss, learn, develop and apply public involvement and engagement in health and social care research.

The MIDAS Public Involvement and Engagement (PIE) sub-group conducted a scoping exercise in 2022 to gain insight into public involvement and engagement linked to health research across the North-West Coast region and identify good practice and areas of challenge. The scoping exercise aimed to ensure that the work and focus of the MIDAS PIE sub-group was of meaning to researchers, clinicians and members of the public across the region. A short survey including a series of questions was shared via social media and email distribution lists. We had responses from 45 people including academics, health professionals, public involvement facilitators and members of the public.

The full report can be found here.

Some key aspects of the survey findings were:
• There were many initiatives, groups and programmes of public involvement in health research identified, these were based within NHS trusts, Universities and community groups.
• Those who answered the survey felt that the PIE sub-group would be most useful by sharing exemplars of PIE as well lessons learnt when initiatives have not worked well, by advocating for equality, inclusion and diversity and more community orientated PIE activities and by collating key guidance over payment processes and infrastructure within institutions.
• The main challenges identified in relation to public involvement were the tendency for groups and initiatives to engage with the ‘usual suspects’ with a need for increased effort to reach out into communities to involve those less likely to be heard and navigating institutional barriers.

This survey was followed in June 2022 with an online forum, which aimed to scope PIE activity and barriers across the region as well as give stakeholders the opportunity to voice their views and provide input to shape the direction of the group.

One area of focus that was discussed within the forum was a lack of opportunities to share experiences of being involved in PIE and examples of best practice. So, over the last six months we have been lucky to be able to speak with a range of people about their experiences of PIE activity. These interviews and conversations have been with academics, researchers and members of the public and have focused on public Involvement and engagement activities that they have been part of, their views on what ‘meaningful’ PIE activity looks like, how any challenges could be overcome and any top tips for someone thinking about PIE for health research for the first time

We are very happy to be able to present the interviews here as podcasts. These interviews took place with:
•Bob Walley -Bob Walley is a Lecturer in Community Leadership and researcher in Climate Change Engagement and Communication in the School of Health, Social Work and Sport, at UCLan. In this interview Bob talks about his work with communities linked to climate change.
•Dr Ridwanah Gurjee -Dr Ridwanah Gurjee is Associate Dean for Community & Social Care in the School of Health, Social Work and Sport at UCLan. In this interview Riz talks about her work within the centre for volunteering and community leadership.
•George Turner-For many years George Turner has been a carer and a researcher. Currently he is a PhD student exploring the relationship between service users and academics at a university in Northwest England. In this edited interview George discusses his experiences and views about helping academics with their research/work.
•Helen Stalford-Professor Helen Stalford is head of Department of Law at the University of Liverpool. She is a leading expert on children’s rights and talks in this interview about her work with young unaccompanied asylum seekers.
•Jamie Hunter-Jamie Hunter is a member of the NIHR ARC NWC public adviser group. In this interview, Jamie talks about his views and thoughts on being a public health research adviser.
•Janet Garner -Janet Garner is the Lead for Service User and Carer involvement in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and the School of Health, Social Work and Sport at UCLan. In this interview Janet talks about her work as part of the Comensus group.
•Silothabo Dliso -Silothabo Dliso is a Research Physician Associate who works as part of the Clinical Research Facility at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. In this interview Silo talks about his work to build research understanding and trust within communities.
•Saima Gul -Saima Gul is a member of the NIHR ARC NWC public adviser group. In this interview, Saima talks about her views and thoughts on being a public health research adviser and on her work within her community.
•Selina Wallis-Selina Wallis is ARC NWC Public Involvement manager. In this interview Selina talks about her work in developing public involvement, from being a lay member herself to leading a large group of public advisors across the Northwest.
•Zoe Swithenbank -Zoe Swithenbank is a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University. In this interview Zoe discusses her NIHR funded work linked to co-occurring alcohol and mental health problems and developing the PPI group to support this work.

We hope you enjoy listening to the podcasts. If you would like to take part in a podcast or have anything you would like to feed into the group, then please contact any of us on our details below.

Thank you

Lucy, Riz and Beccy

Lucy Bray – Brayl@edgehill.ac.uk
Ridwanah Gurjee – RGurjee@uclan.ac.uk
Beccy Harrison – R.Harrison@ljmu.ac.uk