Developing an international network

It is an exciting time for involvement and engagement in health and social care research. This is rapidly becoming an important movement, creating better research with patient and public benefit. It is well established in some countries and rapidly developing in many others.

With this growing movement comes an opportunity to change the face of research across the world for good, so that it better reflects the needs and priorities of patients, carers and the public.

There are institutions, associations and individuals, whose purpose is to advance and promote public involvement and engagement in research. We believe the time has come to join together and enhance the opportunities such a network would bring, enabling the sharing of expertise and evidence-base good practice. For organisations starting to develop public involvement in their own country, it would offer a powerful network of support to enable faster progress. Moreover, through collaboration, our movement would be empowered to influence international and regional health and research organisations.

With this fundamental purpose in mind, we are looking to develop and establish an international network over the next twelve months. We are committed to doing this in partnership with patients and the public and through an open process of dialogue, consensus meetings and surveys, involving colleagues and partners across the world.

Read the latest blog update here

For further information please contact G.Hickey@soton.ac.uk