News from the PPI Ignite Network @ UCD
Keep up to date about the work of the PPI Ignite Network @ UCD
EUPATI Modules
University College Dublin (UCD) and the European Patients' Academy on Therapeutic Innovation (EUPATI) have announced a partnership to bring EUPATI's open educational resources to UCD's doctoral students. This collaboration aims to enrich the public and patient involvement (PPI) experience of students in the fields of health, medicine, and patient care.
UCD, one of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities, is known for its commitment to academic excellence and innovation. With a focus on interdisciplinary learning, UCD empowers students to engage in critical thinking and problem-solving in global health contexts. The PPI Ignite Network @ UCD fosters collaboration between people with lived experiences, researchers, and research institutions.
EUPATI, a renowned European patient education initiative, specialises in providing comprehensive training on medicines research and development (R&D). It emphasises the importance of patient engagement in the entire lifecycle of drug development, promoting patient-centric approaches.
EUPATI training has been packaged into four modules specifically for doctoral students at UCD, with options including digital health, clinical development and medical devices. This partnership will allow UCD doctoral students to access EUPATI’s specialised training without charge, equipping them with a deeper understanding of patient involvement in medicines development. By integrating EUPATI's expertise, students will be better prepared to lead future research that prioritises patient needs and collaboration, ultimately advancing healthcare innovation.
This collaboration exemplifies a shared commitment to fostering knowledge, enhancing patient-centric research, and shaping the future of healthcare.
***Closed***-Bursaries to attend PPI Summer School in Limerick
***Closed***
The PPI Summer School held by University of Limerick is now in it's 9th year. The PPI Summer School provides a co-learning environment to build capacity for high-quality PPI in health research. This will be accomplished through training, sharing and networking among researchers, patients, carers, clinicians, policy-makers and other relevant partners.
We have a number of bursaries available for early career researchers to attend the Summer School in Limerick this year.
***Closed***PPI Seed Funding
***CLOSED***
The 2024 round of PPI seed funding is now closed.
This year's theme is Innovative approaches and methodology related to equality, diversity and inclusion in PPI in research.
Apply for up to €4,000, submission deadline is 14 July 2024, 5pm.
Applications must include active collaboration between UCD researchers and members of the public, patients, carers or communities.
The focus should be on improving the approaches for public involvement in research. The emphasis of the proposal is on advancing inclusive practices in PPI in terms of innovative methodologies or work with populations that are currently underrepresented in PPI and research.
UCD Team Awarded PPI Achievement of the Year Award
Irish Cancer Society Research Awards 2024
People involved in ground-breaking research projects around the country were honoured at the (opens in a new window)Irish Cancer Society Research Awards in February 2024.
The event celebrated the central contribution of patients and survivors to innovative research projects that help to improve the lives of those impacted by cancer. This was reflected in the category of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Achievement of the Year Award, which went to a group of PPI members and researchers from University College Dublin who have worked together to incorporate the patient voice into ovarian cancer research. The team includes Claire Hughes, Adele Connor, Asia Jordan, Lea Schäfer, Brigid Carr, Katayoun Bahramian, Ingrid Halligan Dunne, Lorraine McNally, Deirdre O' Raw, (opens in a new window)Dr Arman Rahman, Yvonne O’Meara, Teerna Banerjee, Chowdhury Arif Jahangir and (opens in a new window)Dr Antoinette Perry.
Also on the night, Dr Luke Jones was awarded Senior Researcher of the Year. Dr Jones is a translational researcher at Systems Biology Ireland in University College Dublin working in the area of Childhood leukaemia and highlighted the role of the (opens in a new window)Young Person's Advisory Group (YPAG) in influencing his research.
The prize of PhD Researcher of the Year went to (opens in a new window)Chowdhury Arif Jahangir for his research to identify ways to better assign breast cancer patients to the right treatment options. He was also a member of the team awarded PPI Achievement of the Year Award.
The Irish Cancer Society is a community of patients, survivors, volunteers, supporters, health and social care professionals and researchers. Together they are transforming the experiences and outcomes of people affected by cancer through advocacy, support services and research. For more, visit (opens in a new window)cancer.ie.
Scanning Horizons PPI Workshop: Resources
The PPI Ignite Network @ UCD delivered a workshop on 09 August 2023.
Public and Patient Involvement (PPI): Achieving Equitable Change and Collaborative Working in Research with Seldom Heard Voices was delivered as part of the programme at Scanning Horizons, Driving Change, Building a Healthier World, the inaugural international research conference hosted by the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems.
We have compiled a page of resources to help workshop attendees to put your new knowledge into action.
Get involved with ovarian cancer research this World Ovarian Cancer Day
This World Ovarian Cancer Day, May 8th, PhD researchers from the Cancer Biology and Therapeutics laboratory at University College Dublin are inviting members of the public and people who have been affected by ovarian cancer to get involved with their cancer research.
The group has established a very active patient advisory committee, and together they were awarded a prestigious Public Patient Involvement award from the Irish Cancer Society in 2022. This award is supporting their efforts to now try and broaden public and patient involvement in their research. To learn more about research in the Cancer Biology and Therapeutics laboratory, visit (opens in a new window)www.cbtlab.ie.
Lasting Impact Award
Prof Thilo Kroll, site lead for PPI Ignite Network @ UCD was awarded a ‘Lasting Impact Award’ by the Dublin Simon Community for his invaluable pro-bono work working with clients in co-designing a mental health support for young adults experiencing homelessness in Dublin.
Assoc Prof Kate Frazer (UCD SNMHS) also received a Lasting Impact Award. Together they led the PhotoVoice and Co-Design phase of the project which was the core piece of work in terms of understanding the needs of the cohort and capturing their recommendations for service provision.
The Dublin Simon Community received funding from the Kind Baudouin Foundation in Belgium for this project.
The project report can be found (opens in a new window)here.
Pictured L-R: Pat Greene (Head of Policy, Advocacy and Volunteering, Dublin Simon Community), Prof Thilo Kroll (UCD), Catherine Kenny (CEO, Dublin Simon Community).
PPI Resource Centre for Translational Researchers
The Patient Engagement Resource Centre (PERC) for translational researchers has been launched. (opens in a new window)EATRIS and the European Patients’ Forum ((opens in a new window)EPF), together with affiliated partner European AIDS Treatment Group ((opens in a new window)EATG) launched the PERC at the end of March. The PERC was developed as part of the Horizon 2020 project, (opens in a new window)EATRIS-Plus.
These PPI/patient engagement resources focus specifically on the needs of preclinical and translational researchers.
Dr. Emma Dorris (PPI Ignite Network @ UCD) and Prof. Amanda McCann (Patient Voice in Cancer Research) were part of the taskforce involved in its development.
You can visit the PERC at (opens in a new window)www.patient-engagement.eu(opens in a new window)
PPI in lab-based Vision Research
Recent UCD doctoral graduate Dr. Ailís Moran wrote a blog on her experience with PPI throughout her PhD research. Writing for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), Dr. Moran highlights how she benefited from the involvement of people living with vision impairment throughout her research as part of the UCD Ocular Pharmacology and Genetics Group. You can read the blog (opens in a new window)here
Resources from Festival Events
Attended a National PPI Festival @ UCD event but didn't note down a resource mentioned? You'll find a collection of those resources here!
New Podcast Series: Ignite Involvement
PPI Igite Network @ UCD have launched a new podcast series. Ignite Involvement is a podcast series featuring a wide variety of guests including PPI partners, researchers and community organisations. Guests chat about all things PPI. The first series has five episodes and is available for your listening pleasure now!
Find out more and listen to Ignite Involvement here.