University of Limerick’s Public Patient Involvement Research Unit held its annual summer school recently, with over 100 delegates in attendance.
The eighth annual staging of the UL School of Medicine’s Public Patient Involvement (PPI) Research Summer School was a sell-out success.
Taking place over two days on June 15-16, over 100 national and international delegates from academic, statutory and community backgrounds attended.
The PPI Research Unit is the only academic research group focused on patient and community involvement in Ireland and allows UL academics to generate important evidence about how people can be meaningfully involved in health research.
The delegates were welcomed by UL’s Professor Anne MacFarlane, Professor of Primary Healthcare Research, Dr Jon Salsberg, Senior Lecturer in Primary Healthcare Research at UL and Summer School Programme Director, as well as Lorna Kerin, newly appointed Manager of the UL PPI Research Unit.
Professor MacFarlane explained: “Public Patient Involvement respects that people have expert knowledge about their own health and illness and includes this knowledge in the health research process.
“The centrality of PPI to high quality health research is recognised by international and national agencies such as the World Health Organisation, Health Research Board, Irish Research Council and the Health Service Executive,” Professor MacFarlane added.
Dr Salsberg outlined the pivotal role UL plays as a lead site on the national PPI Ignite Network, co-funded by the Health Research Board, the Irish Research Council and UL – flagging the exciting news that UL is offering the first Professional Diploma in Public Patient Involvement in Ireland, with registration open for Autumn 2024.
“This first-of-its-kind programme is perfectly tailored to working health and research professionals seeking that extra level of competency to undertake high quality PPI in their research. And it is designed to allow participants to learn as they will practice, with course content co-developed and co-delivered with patients and community members,” Dr Salsberg explained.
Lorna Kerin, recently appointed Manager of the PPI RU, said it was “such a privilege to return to my alma mater to work with the specialist PPI Research Unit team in UL to progress collaborative partnerships between academics, patient organisations and health services to improve health research, health outcomes and ultimately health equity. The values of PPI such as respect, trust and empowerment resonate with UL’s proud history of commitment to community development values”.
The keynote addresses at the PPI Research Summer School were delivered by Professor Payam Sheikhattair, Director of Prevention Sciences Research Center and Professor, School of Community Health and Policy at Morgan State University, USA, and PPI contributor, Alison Johnson, Limerick.
Interactive workshops were led by academics and community professionals as well as patient advocates. Topics included ‘Creative research methods’; ‘Co-creating information with health professionals working with Ukrainian Family Carers’; ‘Incorporating PPI in a HRB grant application’; ‘Research Partnerships with Charities’ and ‘Arts based research with refugees and migrants’.
UL’s expertise in arts-based research was showcased through a workshop led by Professor MacFarlane and Professor Helen Phelan from the UL Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
Professor Ailish Hannigan, Professor of Biomedical Statistics, also joined a dynamic panel of presenters offering ‘Lightening talks on representation in PPI’ which explored challenging questions such as ‘how can population, community, patient and healthcare diversity be represented in PPI research partnerships?’
There was an uplifting closing to the successful annual conference, with bouquets of flowers presented to the PPI Research Unit administration team, Denia Claudino and Stephanie Daly in appreciation of the huge work that goes into organising a successful colloquium.
The event was followed immediately by the two-day annual meeting of the International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research from June 17-18, which also hosted by the UL PPI Research Unit.
National and international participants subsequently enjoyed networking at a sunny barbeque held in the Pavilion in UL, and a walking tour of Limerick city’s cultural and nightlife spots.
