On 26 November Dr Joanna Zabkiewicz (Cardiff ECMC PPI academic lead) and Julie Hepburn (Strategic Lay Lead Cardiff ECMC/WCRC) delivered a key webinar as part of the Division of Cancer and Genetics Seminar Series focusing on how Public Involvement can help pre-clinical research.
This talk was aimed at pre-clinical researchers who might be inexperienced in involving the public in their research and wanted to learn more.
The introduction outlined what Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) is and highlighted the potential benefits it could bring to researchers, even when their research might seem very far away from the clinic. These benefits include enhancing the quality and relevance of research, as well as improvements to design and a route to impact. On top of this are the unexpected outcomes from listening to people with lived experience; bringing new idea for how our technology could be applied to a different setting and gaining greater insight into what challenges need addressing.
Part of the session focused on Researchers’ reservations about involving the public and their common concerns. The biggest reservation was doubt over which PPI activities are suitable, followed by the belief that the research was too complex for the public to understand and difficulty in describing immediate patient benefits.
For each of the above challenges Joanna and Julie offered specific solutions but, in many cases, it highlighted the need for public involvement from an early stage to help increase understanding and minimise perceived barriers.
Lots of support and resources on PPI activities and recruiting relevant PPI representatives are available for those looking to take their first step into involving the public in their research. Please visit Involving the public in your research | Health Care Research Wales