How can public contributors help you with your project?

Public contributors can help you in many ways. They can:

  1. Review early draft research proposals from a public, patient or service user perspective. Is it ethical? Will it make a difference to patients, carers or society? Is it good value for money? Is the research inclusive? How will it be conducted? Can it be implemented?
  2. Support project funding applications
  3. Attend early scoping or steering group sessions. As a critical friend they may challenge some areas of the approach or objectives. Are there any circumstances where the research project may not be able to proceed due to staff or funding or unforeseen issues?
  4. Consider ethical issues and attend ethics committee meetings
  5. Check plain English documents. Are they clear and not too lengthy?
  6. Co-author reports and publications
  7. Help disseminate findings
  8. Help generate and deliver publicity for the research outcomes
  9. Help change practice based on your research (knowledge mobilisation)

In some cases, it may be advantageous to coproduce your research with appropriate contributors. There is more information about this on the our resources for co-producing research page.

Public contributors will give your project another viewpoint and may well bring up issues that might not necessarily arise without their input. They can also help with knowledge mobilisation.

An agreed protocol at the outset will be helpful to all. A proposed timeline for application submissions and further involvement of your public contributor is helpful. As a courtesy, let your public contributors know whether an application has been successful or not.

Nearly all research funding bodies are keen to know about the extent of public involvement throughout a project. Increasingly, this is an important factor when considering the merits of the application.