Dr Julie Bayley is Director of Research Impact Development at the University of Lincoln, leading the development and implementation of the institution’s impact strategy. She is also Director of the Lincoln Impact Literacy Institute (LILI), collaborating nationally and internationally on initiatives to develop healthy impact practices across the research environment. Alongside her impact role, Julie is a Chartered HCPC Registered Health Psychologist with a PhD in Health Psychology and Impact, and undertakes a range of research in health, impact, implementation science and patient-centred outcomes. She collaborates regularly with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and undertakes extensive consultancy and commissioned research across the research sector. She is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor in the Institute of Care Excellence, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Emerald Publishing’s Impact Literacy Advisor, Policy Lead for the British Psychology Society Division of Health Psychology, and previously Director of Qualifications for the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA). Outside of her professional life, Julie is a carer and patient advocate for vascular health.
Lauren Sherar is a Professor of Professor of Physical Activity at Loughborough University. Her research centres on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and public health, with a focus on children and young people and clinical/underserved populations. She is passionate about bridging research and policy, which is supported by an Honorary Academic Appointment with Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID). Lauren has expertise in accelerometer assessment of physical activity/sedentary behaviour, data harmonisation, intervention development and evaluation and measuring growth and development of children.
Lisa Goodinson is the Project Manager for PHIRST-LIGHT
Lisa provides an underpinning operational contribution to the research activities to the PHIRST-LIGHT team. She provides operational support across the team which team comprises of academics from the Universities of Nottingham, Loughborough, and Lincoln.
She works within the Unit of Lifespan and Population Health in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham.
I am the PPIE rep and Public Co-applicant with the PHIRST LIGHT team. I have worked with diverse, under-served communities with high rates of health inequalities across the Midlands for forty years. Throughout my varied working life – as a trustee of a Welfare Rights advice group, teacher, youth and community development worker, Inequalities Programme manager working in local government, in Public Health, and the Criminal Justice sector – I have worked with individuals and communities to become actively involved in issues impacting on their health.
I’ve been an informal carer for immediate family members, young and old alike with a range of life limiting conditions/disabilities. I was a lay member with various NICE committees and guideline groups for twenty years and since retirement I have become increasingly involved with the NIHR as a public contributor: reviewing for various funding streams; as a committee member of the RfPB East Midlands Advisory Panel; RDS EM Regional Advisory Board; RDS National Strategy Group; RDS EDI working group; and in presenting and advising on aspects of PPIE and EDI. All of which has afforded me so many opportunities to learn and to share my guiding passion for public involvement in addressing wider health inequalities.
Veronica Varela Mato is a Senior Research Associate in Health and Wellbeing who has extensive experience in working with a variety of stakeholders to develop health schemes that support the health of those most at need. She has an interest in understanding how health programmes can be improved to increase their sustainability and maximise their impact. She completed her PhD in cardiovascular health, sedentary behaviours and physical activity in transport workers at Loughborough University in 2016. Since then, she has worked closely with multidisciplinary teams to develop research in the field of exercise metabolism, physical activity, sedentary behaviours, and occupational health linked to mental health. She has collaborated on the writing up of a number of grants, including an NIHR funded 3-year cluster randomised control trial ‘the Structured Health Intervention for Truckers (SHIFT) Study’ within the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University. Dr Varela Mato is committed to developing healthier working environments and communities and her research focuses on the promotion of health and wellbeing, and management of chronic conditions in disadvantaged workplace and community settings. She has expertise in intervention development, evaluation and the prevention and management of ill-health through lifestyle changes.
Professor Derek Ward is the Director of Public Health for Lincolnshire County Council, and is currently covering the same role in North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire Councils. He is also a visiting Professor of Public Health at the University of Lincoln. Derek is the Public Health Clinical Research lead within the East Midlands Clinical Research Network (part of the NIHR) and has been on the board of trustees for of the Royal Society of Public Health and a member of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) public health advisory committee. Prior to his current roles he held a dual role within academia and the NHS. He was Director of the Health and Social Care Research Centre and a Professor of Public Health at the University of Derby and provided professional public health advice into the 4 Clinical Commissioning Groups across Derbyshire. Prior to taking up this joint role, he was Director of Public Health for Derby City for 5 years, firstly as an Executive Director within NHS Derby City Primary Care Trust and then latterly as a Chief Officer of Derby City Council. He also has significant experience of national and regional policy work, having been a Consultant in Public Health and a Senior Civil Servant in the Department of Health (DH).
Professor Pip Logan obtained her first degree, an Occupational Therapy BSc, in 1985 from the University of Derby. She then undertook her MPhil at the University of Nottingham in 1994, which was a community-based randomised controlled trial of occupational therapy for stroke patients. In 2004 she gained her PhD at the University of Nottingham, a randomised controlled trial evaluating an outdoor mobility intervention for stroke patients. She is the Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange for the School of Medicine, an NIHR Senior Investigator and Chief Investigator for a £1.8 million National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) HTA research grant which is exploring falls in care homes. She also works clinically for Nottingham City Care Partnership (NHS) in the community rehabilitation team.
Mark’s research and professional activity is about making significant contributions to the evidence base for oral health and its interface with general health and wellbeing with particular emphasis on vulnerable and marginalised people. Professor Gussy has experience and academic success that transcends professional boundaries and is now firmly located in transdisciplinary action and rural and community-centred health. Mark has strength in research methods, including trials, longitudinal cohort and prospective repeated cross-sectional design, together with a clinical interest in clinical disease and its multiple determinants, leading his research work towards complex community intervention trials and birth cohort studies. Mark has a particular interest and experience of systems of care/treatment services and the people and groups that sit outside the mainstream service and social systems and the health and social inequity that arises from this. Expert in oral health and its use as a vehicle for exploring broader social and structural determinants of participation and also challenging entrenched, exclusionary systems that disadvantage the most vulnerable. His work is multidisciplinary and straddles multiple domains including clinical care, health service research, community and participatory research, and equity and inclusion.
“Evaluating Public Health interventions – many real struggles tackled. Reflecting how things work or don’t work to facilitate needed change. Feeding back moving forward lightening load. Collaborations essential. Many minds make light work.” Researchers working alongside Public members facilitated by experienced public and patient involvement partners’ I have been called “The bridge- between the researchers and the public members” in my groups both in Hertfordshire, PHIRST PIRG (public in research group) and the consultancy lived experienced groups in the locations of our projects.
Photo my own Sculpture by Kevin Atherton – Kevin Atherton – Wikipedia
I have led the PPI in the PHIRST communications group one of my roles was to create the public involvement bit of this website
What has working on the PHIRST project been like for you?
‘I have really enjoyed my time working with the team. As someone who has an experience of disability and poor service user experience, it has been an enlightening and positive experience for me joining the PIRg* team. I can see hard working individuals going the distance to try to really make a difference with their research, as well as pushing the boundaries as to what it means to be a social researcher.’
What is important about ppi from your perspective?
‘The focus on the public and who the research (and therefore funding) is for. The clear collaboration between researcher and PPI shows it’s not being treated as a tokenistic aspect of the researchers own personal endeavours in academia.’
Any challenges?
‘Tight deadlines and heavy workloads are always a problem in all workplaces! Managing this whilst the focus doesn’t stray from who and why the research is being developed is a challenge that has to be managed.’
What difference do you feel you have made?
‘The team have been really responsive with their feedback and taking on suggestions. I felt quite emotional about the team’s encouragement when it came to the suggestion of focusing on widening access to research and academia, when we were discussing knowledge mobilisation.’
(Picture) Isobel having a restful walk in nature- much needed time away from screens.
*PHIRST- Public in Research group in Hertfordshire University we have 10 members of the public on this team. They are involved at all stages of the research and have done evaluability assessment trained in and done qualitative data analysis. We have developed and given inductions for those new to public involvement and have training on the national standards of PPI. All our involvement work is regularly reflected on by the group and things change and develop collaboratively. We are now being very innovative and giving training around quantitative data analysis methods and will be involving them in that soon. We also have project specific public voice consultation groups. The Herts team really value and support Public Involvement.
Adding the perspectives of service users captures more ideas and interpretations than otherwise may be made or sought from research, as in the childhood lesson outlined in the song by Harry Chapin 1977 – “Flowers are red, green leaves are green, there’s no need to see flowers any other way than the way they always have been seen”
The moral of the story relates to everyone, not just children’s education, in that because things are seen one way doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be looked at or seen differently.
Hopefully with different perspectives comes a more colourful and inclusive world!
It’s nice to know that I am contributing to something that will help drive change and improve things by adding a lay persons perspective.
It is good to ‘ground’ the academics and to help them consider the reality of what they would like to research and its real-world usefulness, not just academically interesting.
(picture) John’s Dog Bella and unnamed mouse – all have a valid viewpoint. We embrace diversity.
“New to Public Involvement in Research”
Key phrases from Hollis:
Transparency
Valuable input being valued
Research guided by the people
Honest conversation brings honest outcomes
Research from the ground up.
Real research with real life input.
