Patient and public involvement (PPI)
Our patient and public research partners are at the heart of the WCRC’s activity, providing strategic input to our work.
Involving the public in our work
We involve people with direct experience of cancer as a patient or carer in the design and delivery of our research studies. By sharing their personal experiences with us, public contributors ensure that our work is relevant to people’s needs and concerns.
We also support members of the public to influence our long-term research aims and interests. They share their perspectives through participation in strategic groups and committees, help to develop resources, and advise researchers and the wider team on public involvement best practice.
We are committed to supporting and encouraging public involvement in research in line with the UK Standards for Public Involvement. We have a Public Involvement Action Plan, and we are collaborating with our funder Health and Care Research Wales to share public involvement learning and best practice. Members of the public can find opportunities and information on how to help with research on the Health and Care Research Wales website.
Members of the public can find opportunities and information on how to help with research on the Health and Care Research Wales website.
Help for researchers
Information for researchers wanting to involve the public in research can also be found, including contact details for their dedicated involvement team who can offer direct support with promoting involvement opportunities and access to pre-grant involvement funding.
If your research call deadline is close, but you still have 6 weeks or more left, and you need some PPI input to the proposal, you can access our Rapid Response Group of PPI quickly through the HCRW Enabling Involvement Fund. Details of how to do this are on the Rapid Response Group briefing sheet.
PPI Research Partners
Julie Hepburn
Julie had successful treatment for a stage 3 bowel cancer 9 years ago and since that time has been heavily involved in public involvement, mainly in the cancer area. She is currently the Lead Lay Research Partner for both the Wales Cancer Research Centre and the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre at Cardiff and is involved in cancer research projects ranging from screening and early detection through to surgery, treatment and palliative care.
Bob McAlister
Bob has been a Research Partner at the WCRC since 2017. His interest in the subject stems from family members being lost to the disease. He has a particular interest in early phase trials but he has been on various trial management groups for Cancer Research. At a UK level he is the public sole member on the UK Standards for Public Involvement Working Group.
Sue Campbell
Sue has been involved in PPI work for 10 years and has chaired various TMG and TSG’s. She has also been a co-applicant for various research studies and has co-authored a number papers. Sue is a cancer survivor and long term carer for her late husband. Her main interests are the pelvic cancers and all types of radiotherapy particularly proton beam therapy.
Dr Kathy Seddon
Kathy has been a Research Partner at the WCRC and Marie Curie research centre for ten years. She is a Marie Curie Research Voice and a member of their Policy and Research group. She has contributed to lots of research often as PPI Co-Applicant. Most recent projects include Bereavement, Brain Tumours, the SERENITY International Project and the co-developed the new PIRIT PPI tracking tool
Mark Edwards
Since having Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2006 Mark has tried to turn an unwanted experience into something more positive. As a keen patient involvement contributor, becoming a research partner with WCRC has helped him to advance to a more thoughtful level. Because of his interest in genetics, with its capacity to illuminate the cancer landscape, Mark has chosen to work with CReSt Theme 1: Precision and mechanistic oncology.
Sarah Peddle
Sarah has experienced cancer personally and through family members, and so was keen to contribute to cancer research by becoming a Research Partner (RP) with the WCRC. Since joining the public involvement community in 2017, she has been involved in a broad spectrum of involvement opportunities. Sarah primarily supports CReSt Theme 6 (Population health-based cancer prevention, detection, primary care and health services research), a key area of personal interest and one which draws on her involvement experiences and her professional background in data/ information.
Dr Pam Smith
Dr Pamela Smith is a Research Associate based in the Cancer Screening, Prevention and Early Diagnosis team in the Division of Population Medicine. She has a background in behavioural science and recently started her role as the Academic Lead for Patient and Public Involvement in the Centre. Her research interests include lung cancer screening and smoking cessation with a particular focus on reducing health inequalities. Her role as Academic Lead for PPI will see her working with the Research Partner Group on improving equality and diversity in PPI.
Jim Elliott
Jim is a Public Involvement specialist at the Health Research Authority / Independent Advocate for Patients in Research. He is an experienced health research manager and is now a patient research advocate leading the work of the Health Research Authority to promote the involvement of patients and the public in health research and getting involved directly with organisations that fund health and social care research and in some research projects.
Latest PPI news:
From garden tasks to groundbreaking trials: my journey as a Public Research Partner
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WCRC Lead Lay Research Partner Julie Hepburn advocates for Public Involvement in cancer research at Life Sciences Hub event
Julie Hepburn, WCRC Lead Lay Research Partner, delivered an impactful speech at the Cancer – Early Detection & Diagnosis event…