Patient & Public Involvement - Exeter Biomedical Research Centre

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.

“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

Slideshow 1

Slideshow 2

Slideshow 3

Slideshow 4

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

“No matter the question, no matter the topic, effective involvement and engagement are essential to delivering meaningful research and driving impact.”

Professor of Clinical and Social Epidemiology G J Melendez Torres

How do I get involved?

Research can improve health and care. In the South West there are lots of world-leading research projects. This research helps us to understand, treat and improve care for a range of different conditions. But to make research the best and most relevant it can be, we need to involve the public at every stage. We need people with all sorts of backgrounds and experiences.

Being involved in research isn’t just participating in clinical trials. It can mean sharing your experiences so that researchers focus on the problems that matter, working with researchers to develop projects, or making sure that people hear about results that might help them.

We want to hear from you!

There are lots of opportunities to take part in a wide range of health and care research across the South West. We are building a database of people who want to take part in research, including by joining dedicated patient groups. Email the PPIE team to express your interest in joining a group.

Get in touch for more information on how you could take part in research in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset.

The services we offer

We are here to help researchers access training, resources and support to bring patients and the public into their research in a meaningful way

Involving patients in research

Explore some practical tips and resources

Training

Find out about the training we can offer

Support

Learn how we can help you to involve people in your research