About Public and Patient Involvement

At the core of public and patient involvement (PPI) is the aim to support and enable the active involvement of people in the planning and undertaking of health and social care research. It occurs when members of the public work with researchers in research prioritisation, planning and overseeing research studies, as well as providing analysis, sharing the findings and supporting implementation in practice.

Over the last few years significant shifts have been occurring in Ireland to advance PPI. Most notably the Health Research Board collaborated with the the Irish Research Council to launch PPI Ignite. This funding scheme is designed to help academic institutions create the right environment, training, support and processes to help researchers engage the public and patients in their research from the start.   Currently, five universities have received funding under this scheme (UCD, DCU, TCD, UL, NUIG). The second phase will launch in 2021 and will expand to include additional universities.

Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI) is an umbrella organisation of charities active in medical and health research, together representing over 1 million Irish patients. Sitting at the interface of the research community and the general public, HRCI and its members have an important role to play in increasing the quantity and quality of PPI in Ireland. In parallel with initiatives through PPI Ignite, HRCI has been supporting its member organisations to develop and strengthen their PPI activities and also working closely with the research community to ensure a concerted effort.

This collection highlights the growing evidence that PPI is being adopted and advanced in Ireland. A diversity of approaches is outlined in the collection of articles. They showcase PPI work involving many sectors of society and there is evidence of ongoing innovative PPI, from input into clinical trial design to co-design in health systems. Taken as a whole, the collection is extremely encouraging to us and we believe readers will find guidance and inspiration in the papers contained within.

We would like to strongly encourage more submissions to this collection. In particular, we would like to see papers providing further evidence of the value of PPI and submissions that support learning and understanding of the language and undertaking of involvement. We would like the collection to demonstrate advances in PPI over time and to celebrate creative and inclusive approaches. We also hope for demonstrations of patients and members of the public leading this work and offering their perspectives on involvement.

Collection Advisors

Éidín Ní Shé

Dr Éidín Ní Shé previously worked at the UCD Centre for Interdisciplinary Research Education and Innovation in Health Systems and was the research lead for UCD PPI Ignite. She will be taking up a new post as Senior Lecturer in Health Management at the School of Population Health in the University of New South Wales.

Avril Kennan

Dr Avril Kennan is the CEO of Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI). In that role she supports a community of approx. 40 charities to engage fully in health research, with the aim of increasing the quantity and quality of patient-relevant research.