Researchers can now apply for funding to involve patients and the public in their research.
Four starter grants of up to £500 – and one grant of up to £2,000 to support innovative work – are available from the BRC’s Public and Patient Involvement bursary.
Researchers are eligible if they – or the lead researcher for their project – are based at UCL. The deadline for applications is 31 March.
Funding bodies like the NIHR, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust increasingly expect researchers to involve the public in their research.
While there is no set format for public involvement work, previous grant holders have run workshops and focus groups to seek patient views on what to research, how to recruit research participants and how to communicate research findings in accessible ways.
Investigators have also worked with patients to develop apps, and trained up members of the public as peer researchers.
Angela Wipperman, the BRC’s Patient and Public Involvement Manager, said: “Involving patients and the public in research results in more relevant, higher quality research and increases the chances of research attracting funding.
“We highly encourage researchers to apply for one of our grants to help them do this work, and we’re happy to advise researchers who are new to public involvement on how they can incorporate it into their research.”
The BRC is particularly interested to hear from researchers who plan to involve groups who are currently under-represented in research, in order to increase diversity in public involvement. The BRC will consider providing additional ‘top up’ funding for work which does this.
Researchers interested in applying for a grant, but who don’t know how to get started in public involvement, are encouraged to contact Angela at a.wipperman@ucl.ac.uk
Visit the BRC’s bursary funding page for more information.
