Are you interested in Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) in Research?

PERC is looking for enthusiastic and motivated members of the public who live or work in North West London to get involved in the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (Imperial BRC)'s research.

What does being "involved" in research mean?

"Involvement" does not mean being a subject or participant in a research study or clinical trial.

Public involvement” is when the public* is actively involved in specific research projects or research in general to help shape the research. Research is carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them.

"Public engagement" is providing and disseminating information and knowledge about research to the public including discussing and consulting the public.

 *Public includes patients, potential patients, carers and people who use health and social care services as well as people from organisations that represent people who use services. (NIHR INVOLVE)

What is the Imperial Biomedical Research Centre?

The Imperial BRC is a research partnership between Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. The aim of the Imperial BRC is to translate our scientific discoveries into the clinic, through our five hospitals, serving a highly ethnically diverse population of 2.3 million people in North-West London. Imperial BRC supports the infrastructure to promote and assist the flow of research from the (research) bench to the (patient's) bedside as effectively and quickly as possible. Their activities include developing new devices, diagnostics, new treatments and analysing and combining health data. Patient and public Involvement and engagement is central to the Imperial BRC’s PPIE Strategy.

The Imperial BRC’s research themes and their aims are as follows:

  • Brain Sciences – to improve understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, and stroke.
  • Cancer– to improve personalised cancer and leukaemia care by identifying: markers within the body to help with individual care; and treatments to overcome resistance to currently-used drugs.
  • Cardiovascular – this theme researches atherosclerosis, serious coronary events, genetic disease, abnormal haemorrhage/stroke syndromes, and heart failure. 
  • Gut Health - new areas of experimental gastroenterology for conditions such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), pouchitis, obesity and allergies.
  • Immunology (study of the immune system) - to improve the diagnosis and treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus, vasculitis, renal transplantation and glomerular, and chronic kidney disease.
  • Infection & Antimicrobial Resistance – the study of bacteria, HIV immunology, tests at the point of patient care, healthcare associated infections and antimicrobial resistance, asthma, respiratory infection, global health, and the development of ways to model the spread of these diseases using maths.
  • Metabolic Medicine & Endocrinology - to prevent and treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, and their complications.
  • Surgery & Technology - to improve the quality and safety of surgery through technological innovations.

Cross Cutting Themes (provide facilities, technology, resources and support to the Imperial BRC research themes and wider researcher community)

  • Genetics & Genomics - to improve the diagnosis of hereditary disease and to treat common diseases by advances in genetics and genome technologies, and next generation sequencing.
  • Imaging– developing new technologies to assist with diagnosing diseases, predicting how people will respond to treatment and finding alternatives to surgery.
  • Informatics & Biobanking – includes collecting electronic clinical data and biological samples to provide insights into diseases.
  • Molecular Phenomics – measuring a set of physical, chemical, physiological, and clinical features that define a person as well as using collections of patients’ biological samples to provide new information to treat patients.

 We encourage applications from young people and those from diverse communities as “broadening the diversity of lay partners and participants” is a key part of our vision.

Where?

Depending on the role, meetings will usually take place either at Imperial College’s St Mary’s campus in Paddington or the Imperial College campus next to Hammersmith Hospital on Du Cane Road, W12. It is likely you will need to travel to this campus to meet with the researchers. Travel expenses will be paid in accordance with INVOLVE’s Policy on Payment of Fees and Expenses (February 2016).

Payment

PERC and the Imperial BRC believes that members of the public should be rewarded for their time and follows NIHR INVOLVE’s Policy on Payment of Fees and Expenses (February 2016). Travel expenses will be paid in accordance with INVOLVE’s Policy on Payment of Fees and Expenses (February 2016).

Applications close

Midnight, Sunday 23rd September 2018

Apply here

To apply, please complete this online form.

Contact us

If you have any questions about these opportunities or applying, please email ppi@imperial.ac.uk  or call (+44) 020 7594 9774.