Get Involved

Public Involvement

We believe it is important for members of the public to be involved in research. Understanding the needs and views of the public can lead to better research which is more likely to produce results that can be used to improve people’s lives. We are looking for people to help improve the quality of research applications by telling us their points of view.

How can I get involved?

Reviewing

Researchers submit proposals to us and as part of the assessment process we ask a range of experts to give their opinions of the proposal. We consider members of the public to be experts for this purpose.

We are interested in the views of a very wide range of people including but not limited to: parents, carers, school governors/members of school PTAs, users of public transport and anyone interested in public health issues.

What will I have to do?

If you were to become a Public Health Research programme reviewer it would mean reading parts of a research proposal and then completing a short form with your comments. We would only ask you to read proposals that are of interest to you or you have some subject knowledge of. For example, if we received a school based research proposal we may ask a teacher or parent governor to act as a reviewer. The sort of questions we would ask you to consider are:
Would people agree to take part in the research project?
Would they be likely to stick with it until the end of the research period?
Would people want the scheme running in their community?

Your comments along with those of the other experts are then given to our Research Funding Board as part of the information they use to decide whether to fund the research.

We try not to over-burden people so you would not be asked to do more than 2 or 3 reviewing jobs a year. We will also pay you a set fee for each proposal you review.

What happens next?

If you would like to become a PHR programme reviewer please complete the 'Reviewer application form' and email it to info@phr.ac.uk. We will then email you when we have an appropriate research proposal in your area of expertise. We have approximately three reviewing rounds per year.

Suggest a Research Topic

The other way that members of the public can help the PHR programme is by suggesting topics that require research. If you can think of any public health related topic that needs further research and evaluation you can complete our online suggestions form. All of the suggestions received are considered by the Programme Director and the Programme Advisory Board.

More information

If you would like to participate in broader public health activities visit local involvement networks LINks and INVOLVE.