Written by ARC NWC Public Adviser Co-Lead, Saiqa Ahmed

My name is Saiqa Ahmed, I am the Public Adviser co-lead for the Improving Population Health theme and during the past 8 years I have represented CLAHRC NWC and more recently ARC NWC as a public adviser.

I have experienced numerous opportunities thought the CLAHRC and ARC NWC but the one I most enjoyed is taking part in “Fourteen NIHR Doctoral Research Training Camp June 2023.” The focus of the training camp was the development of funding application for a fictitious research project.

My role in the training camp was to act as a public contributor for the preparation of the fictional funding application and to ensure public involvement was represented throughout the entire activity. Additionally, I assisted in the research design, to consider the key outcomes. Furthermore, I aided in developing the plain English summary and communicated the importance of the project to the public at the interview panel.

Delegates worked in small mixed professional groups over three days to prepare a proposal to present to a panel of experts. Each group consisted of a public advisor and an experienced health researcher as a mentor and 8 early career researchers.

This group was built to work effectively in multi- disciplinary team, the camp ran over 3 days and was developed around a fictitious call for research funding from the “Making People healthier research programme” (MPHrP).

Day 1– was designed to introduce the delegates to the training camp and for them to attend a series of presentations to prepare them for the main task- piling together a research funding application.

Day 2– Delegates prepared and completed the MPHrP application and the panel presentation.

Day 3– Each group presented to the fictitious MPHrP Advisory panel. The panel then decided that my group was the team with the best PPIE announced at the end of the event.

My role as a public adviser was to guide the group to consider public involvement from the offset as they agreed on their research question and approach the following day.

On the final day each group presented to MPHrP panel.

The challenging exercise for the groups, we had to make quick decisions, working in an unfamiliar topic area to very tight deadlines. The group mentor and I worked together to assist the delegates to stay calm and focused under pressure.

The camp offered delegates access to inspirational speakers and to enhance our practical experience when preparing grant applications. I enjoyed my time at the Fourteen NIHR Doctoral Research Training Camp as I met people from a number of different backgrounds, improved my time management, team work in addition to making new friends and broadening my network…however the most rewarding part of my experience is when our group won!

(Above, Saiqa Ahmed with her team at the NIHR Doctoral Research Training Camp.)