A University of Portsmouth scheme will train researchers to work with patients and community members when designing medical research studies, before they apply for major funding from the Medical Research Council. This matters because research that ignores the people it is meant to help often asks the wrong questions, excludes underserved groups, and can unintentionally widen health inequalities. Many researchers lack experience in meaningful public involvement, and funding bodies increasingly require it. The scheme fills that gap by providing structured support, training, and a diverse panel of six public contributors who will review and give feedback on researchers’ plans for public involvement activities. If successful, the scheme will produce 6–10 high-quality MRC grant applications that genuinely reflect community needs. Over time, this could shift how research is done at Portsmouth and beyond—embedding public involvement as a routine part of study design rather than an afterthought. The impact is on research culture and infrastructure: better-designed studies, more inclusive recruitment, and research that addresses real-world health priorities rather than academic ones alone.
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Public involvement is essential to ensuring research is focussed on the most relevant questions, and is effectively planned to ensure it is achievable, inclusive, ethically sound, quality-assured, and impactful. It is important that research funding is invested in studies that align with the needs and priorities of those whose lives will ultimately be impacted by the evidence produced. Researchers also have a duty to address health inequalities by taking steps to work with individuals from underserved communities (that may often not be engaged in research) during research design phases, to ensure that inequalities are not perpetuated through lack of consideration of different people’s needs and perspectives. Our scheme aims to drive societal change through the development of meaningful research proposals related to health and societal challenges, nurtured through a connected inclusive community, where researchers and community members thrive together. The objectives of our scheme are to: Support the development of 6-10 high quality MRC grant applications by facilitating researchers to develop, plan, and deliver activities with public contributors. Enhance our research culture by further embedding the UK Standards for Public Involvement across our research activities. Support ongoing improvement in our public involvement activities and infrastructure, through training, review and feedback. Increase opportunities for community members to be involved in research. The scheme will be open to University of Portsmouth researchers, including early career researchers and collaborative teams working with other Universities, NHS Trusts, local government, charities, business, and community groups. All applications will require a collaborator at the University of Portsmouth. A diverse panel of six public contributors will support the scheme. Over the course of the scheme, we will host five panel meetings; the first will be a planning, calibration and development meeting for panel members; meetings 2-4 will be to review and support researcher applications to the scheme; and meeting 5 will be to complete our evaluation and feedback cycle. Researchers will apply to the funding scheme outlining their plans for public involvement activities; the panel will provide review and feedback on their applications and select applications to be supported via the scheme. Successful applicants will be responsible for then undertaking their own public involvement activities, and will be supported to reach potential public contributors via our networks, which we have been developing through our INSPIRE Portsmouth (INtegrating Support for Public Involvement in REsearch at Portsmouth) initiative (funded by the University using Quality-Related [QR] funding). In order to access the devolved funding, the Portsmouth lead researcher will need to have demonstrated the training they have undertaken in public involvement, via access to online learning materials, seminars, and workshops. Resources will be made available to all researchers to support public involvement training via the scheme and our supporting research Institute and Centres. Researchers will need to demonstrate consideration for equity, diversity, and inclusion in their applications to the scheme, in line with MRC policy, and will be required to document and provide feedback on how their public involvement activities have shaped their MRC research proposal. Where wider public contributors are sought as part of the researchers’ activities, these individuals will be invited to join the INSPIRE Portsmouth network in order to be offered future engagement opportunities.
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