Bridging the gap between researchers and the public: How we can support you.

Health and social care research plays a vital role in shaping policies, services, treatments, and care that impact all of us. For research to be truly effective and meaningful, it must reflect the voices and experiences of the public. Bridging the gap between researchers and the communities they serve is essential, it fosters trust, improves relevance, and ensures real-world impact. 

Hi, I’m Emma Langley, Public Engagement and Involvement Officer at Health and Care Research Wales and a part of my role is to speak to researchers who would like to involve members of the public in their research.  We support researchers to link with public members by developing research opportunities, and have developed over 83 over the last year, from helping to speed up eye screening in Wales to the transfer of women in labour. 

After recruiting members of the public to our research opportunities, we ask researchers and those public members to provide feedback on a regular basis, after two weeks to make sure that contact has been made between them, two months, six months and one year.  This allows the team to make sure that our service and support has met the needs of those accessing it and how public involvement has changed the project. Through feedback captured from these opportunities, we’ve been able to gather information to refine our service and clarify how we support researchers, and how we communicate that support. 

How can we support you? 

We collaborate with Welsh universities, NHS boards and trusts, local councils, and care providers to lead on, carry out, and support health and social care research and we’re here to help you connect with members of the public who can help shape your research. 

The steps involved for us to develop a research advert is: 

• Fill out and submit our online form to request public involvement. There is guidance information included to help you structure your request.  
• Our team will review this. Then, we will create an opportunity based on the information you provided or give you a call to discuss your needs.   
• Next, we will prepare a draft opportunity using this information. We will check and agree on the content with you before sharing it publicly.   
• The advert is then shared with our community and wider networks through our public bulletin, website, social media and targeted to different communities.   
• After the deadline, we gather all the interest responses and send them to you, we will remove any identifiable information, and you will receive the expressions of interest. You will then review these and choose the people who best match the project's criteria and experience.   
• We will then send you the contact details of the chosen individuals so you can reach out, introduce yourself, explain the project, and plan the next steps with them.   
• If you’re a member of our funded community or applying for a health and care research Wales grant, we can cover their costs for time, travel, and other expenses related to attending meetings. This way, they won’t be out of pocket. These costs do not need to be repaid if your project gets funding.   
• We will handle all payments before any funding is received. Just let us know the meeting dates, times, and if any reading of project materials is needed beforehand. We will need information after the meeting to let us know who was involved and what their commitment was.  

Need help with public involvement in your research? 

We’re here to support you at any stage of your research project, whether you're just getting started, preparing a funding application, or planning how to share your results. If you'd like to discuss how to involve members of the public in your study, just send us an email and we’ll arrange a quick call.