Community Engagement and Involvement Support

PPI Virtual Ideas Cafes

What are Ideas Cafes?

These cafes provide the opportunity for researchers to have an informal virtual chat with our public collaborators about early-stage research ideas and project outlines. They offer the chance to share ideas with patients and the public as well as practise communicating research to a lay audience.

How the meetings work

These cafés are split into 40-minute sessions. During this time, a researcher can present their research idea in a short 5-minute presentation (support slides optional) followed by discussion with public collaborators. They may ask questions, share perspectives and experiences, and provide feedback that can help to strengthen the project.

How to book your place

We release new cafe dates every term, You can reserve your spot for available slots by clicking on the preferred date and time below. A member of the team will then be in touch with further details and provide a Zoom link for the meeting.

Dates for Virtual Ideas Cafés:

7 Aug 10am – 11:30am

17 Aug 10am – 11:30am

BRC Pre-application PPI Support Fund

It is good practice to involve patients and the public at the earliest possible stage, and involvement during grant development will ensure that the project meets the needs of patients, is relevant, and will embed community engagement and involvement (CEI) throughout.

We’re inviting applications for up to £250 to support CEI during the development of a research project before funding is secured.

Researchers working within any BRC theme are welcome to apply. Previous or current BRC funding is not required.

Applications to this fund will be assessed on a monthly, rolling basis (until funds are depleted). Applications will be reviewed by the BRC CEI Team and our public collaborators.

For more information on this fund, including details on the criteria we’ll use to assess applications, please read the guidance linked below.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your plans with the team before applying, please contact us at involvement@exeter.ac.uk

Connection with people and communities

We may be able to connect you with people and communities, depending on the people you would like to involve. We have connections with different groups across the South West, and also have a list of public collaborators who would like to become involved in research.

Help us to help you by giving us plenty of notice to find and invite potential public collaborators, and be flexible with how and when public collaborators can support your research.

Guidance for involving people and communities in your research

Please download the following guidance document:

Involving patients and members of the public in research: A guidance document for researchers working with NIHR Exeter and South West Peninsula at the University of Exeter.

This document provides you with information on the following:

• why involvement is important
• practical approaches to involvement
• planning and budgeting for involvement activities
• other information that might support your involvement of people and communities.

Grant development

If you’re planning a new research project and would like input into the design of the project relating to involvement, any supporting information, or into the application itself, come and talk to us!

The earlier you come the stronger the research can be. It doesn’t need to be restricted to one conversation, we’re happy to chat as many times as you need.

Get in touch: involvement@exeter.ac.uk

Resources

We have a payment policy for our involvement work to help you plan and budget for community involvement activities. This is based on the NIHR rates for thank you payments for your public collaborators. There is also a short version of this policy here.

Our ARC South West partners also offer a wide range of practical tolls, templates and resources to support with community involvement and engagement.

Explore the resources here

Training

Whether you are new to involvement or looking to build on your existing skills, we can help you to find the right training and development opportunities.

We can also work with you to identify training needs and develop tailored support where possible.

Contact us to find out more about how we can support you by emailing involvement@exeter.ac.uk