Public Involvement and Engagement
Our vision from our strategy is:
Where meaningful public and community involvement and engagement is a central part of NIHR ARC KSS’ health and social care research activities.
It is important to us that the people who are the focus of our research in health and social care have a say in how that research is identified, designed and carried out. We aim to make sure the research is relevant and meets the needs they have helped identify, in partnership with those who deliver the health and social services in our region.
Your views and opinions are important. They offer a point of view that academics or service providers may not have. When everyone’s ideas and views are brought together they can result in high quality, relevant and useable research evidence, which can improve the health, care and wellbeing of others across Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
What is Public Involvement in research?
Public involvement in research is referred to as research being carried out 'with' or 'by' members of the public rather than 'to', 'about' or 'for' them. It involves collaborative working with our public partners, working together to ensure that the voices of local people are at the heart of our Health and Care research.
It is different to research participants taking part in a study.
What is Engagement?
By this, we mean reaching out to individuals or communities to provide the opportunity for a two-way process of sharing information, discussing and listening to ideas to help shape research. Engagement is about building working relationships
Who can be involved in our research locally?
Anyone who lives across Kent, Surrey or Sussex, regardless of your level of experience or education. We work with a diverse community of people from different backgrounds and of all ages. For more information click here.
Anyone can be involved with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Be Part of Research. For more information and to register please click here.
