Public Contributors are people who bring lived experience, community knowledge, ideas and perspectives to health and care research. You might be a patient, carer, parent, family member, service user, community member, or someone with experience of a particular health condition, service, place or issue. You may also bring experience from a community group or organisation.

Our contributors come from across the North West Coast and bring different ages, cultures, backgrounds, experiences and skills. They work alongside researchers, practitioners and member organisations to make research more relevant, inclusive and useful. You do not need qualifications, previous research experience or a particular professional background to get involved. We value the knowledge people bring from their lives, communities and experiences. Some opportunities are open to all contributors. Others may seek people with particular experience of a health condition, treatment, service, social group, community or geographical area.

Public involvement means researchers and members of the public working in active partnership to shape research. Co-production is a way of working together towards a shared outcome. It means recognising the value of different kinds of knowledge and creating opportunities for people to influence research in meaningful ways.

Public involvement is different from:

Engagement, which involves sharing information and starting conversations about research.

Participation, which is where people take part in a research study, for example through an interview, survey or trial.

At ARC NWC, contributors may be involved from the earliest stages of developing a research idea through to sharing findings and helping support change.