Involve

Patient and public involvement and engagement

We believe that research and innovation can only solve problems in healthcare when solutions are deeply rooted in people’s needs and values. So we make sure that people are at the core of everything we do – working with, not for, citizens. This requires meaningful involvement with those who we ultimately aim to benefit from our work – the public, patients, health professionals and carers alike, so that we can better understand the issues that affect them, and find the best ways to address them. And by openly engaging with a diverse range of people, we can ensure that no voice is left unheard.

Find out how we’re putting people at the heart of our work through involvement, engagement and co-production.

Explore how we're involving and engaging patients and the public

Exploring people's perspectives on healthy environments

The health and environmental issues that matter most to funders, researchers, policymakers and the public aren’t necessarily the same. This could mean that research benefits some groups at the expense of others, therefore increasing the gap between those who are able to live healthy lives and those who aren’t.

To address this imbalance, a team from IGHI's Helix Centre, led by Beard Askew and working independently via Imperial Consultants, carried out an innovative project to explore the perspectives of under-represented groups on healthy environment research. This community-led initiative involved a diverse group of about 100 people in the UK and used a variety of interactive elements, like 360^o videos, to spark discussion. The aim was to gather their views to inform the UKRI/NERC’s healthy environment research programme in making decisions about priorities for future research, supported by public funds.

Read the full report: Healthy Environments, Diverse Perspectives (full report, PDF)

Read the summary report: Healthy Environments, Diverse Perspectives (summary report, PDF)

Read a blog from one of the project's community co-creators: Shaping research on healthy environments with diverse voices

Supporting mental health for young minority ethnic men

We’ve teamed up with The Mind Map, Golden Gloves UK boxing gym and young men of colour from Toxteth, a deprived area in Liverpool, for our new initiative called Fightin’ Thru.

The collaboration aims to use boxing and popular culture to raise awareness of mental health and appropriate support for young men, particularly those who identify as black and minority ethnic. The team is co-producing events on Instagram about mindfulness, exercise, diet, sleep and finances.

Find out more

Raising awareness of hearing loss in underserved communities

We’re working to raise awareness of hearing loss and engage people with hearing health through our innovative project, Hearing Birdsong.

Co-produced with Imperial researchers, designers from Kennedy Woods, audiologists and people with hearing loss, Hearing Birdsong is an immersive installation that blends art, science and technology to encourage early identification and increase access to care. The pop up features bird boxes playing familiar bird calls, which match the frequency bands of a traditional hearing test. Visitors unable to hear one of the birds could be experiencing hearing loss and are offered a hearing screen.

The project also won a World Health Organization, World Hearing Forum and Coalition for Global Hearing Health grant to convert the concept into a virtual experience, which you can watch here.

Woman facing camera, text reads: What is the networked data lab?

Answering patients and carers' questions about intermediate care

Intermediate care services provide support for a short time to help you recover and increase your independence.

The North West London Networked Data Lab has been working with local patients and carers to understand what matters to them around intermediate care.

We’ve used healthcare data to answer some of their questions, such as who receives intermediate care after a stay in hospital and how this care makes a difference to the number of people who need to go back to hospital.

Watch our video to see what we learned.

We also partnered with Healthwatch Westminster and Healthwatch Kensington & Chelsea to look into the questions which the data couldn’t answer.

They spoke to patients and carers about their intermediate care experiences to explore themes such as the involvement of patients and carers in decision making and the quality and continuity of care received.

Check out the Healthwatch report to hear what patients and carers had to say.

The Hearing Birdsong team explain their co-produced project and why it’s important to involve people with lived experience.

Hearing Birdsong is an installation of birdsong and handmade bird boxes, which has proven to raise awareness of hearing loss and encourage people to seek help when needed.

Watch this video from members of the team talking about the project and why it's important to involve people with lived experience.