Incorporating PPI in a grant application
Some grants have a specific PPI section, whereas for others it will be a matter of incorporating it into the general body of the text. We recommend the first step of writing any PPI grant section is to have your PPI plan developed well in advance of your text. Work in collaboration with the PPI partners on the grant to develop both the plan and the PPI section (see our section on developing partnerships).
We also recommend that you write the PPI grant content in plain English. UCD Research has an entire website dedicate to improving research communication, including how to write in plain English. We highly recommend you use the practical tips and tools they recommend.
To appropriately cost your involvement, we have developed a PPI costing tool. Your PPI plans should always be corroborated with appropriate budgeting and management that should be evident in these parts of your grant proposal. Similarly, consider the inclusion of PPI in the evaluation and assessment plan for the project as a whole. We have advice on PPI evaluation here.
Make the influence of involvement easy to identify in your proposal
We have developed a series of questions about PPI in your grant proposal that someone not directly involved in your research should be able to answer from your proposal.
If the PPI in your proposal is clear, specific and well considered, then an academic or PPI colleague unfamiliar with your proposed research should be answer to answer each of these questions if they review the grant.
These questions are available to download as a PDF at the end of this page
| Can a knowledgeable "outsider" answer these questions about your proposal? |
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| Have the researchers collaborated with PPI contributors before or during the grant application? |
| Can you tell if and how PPI has informed this grant application? Is there any evidence highlighted to back this up? |
| Is the plain English summary easy to understand? |
| Do you think the lay summary was reviewed or co-written with a PPI contributor? |
| Does the lay summary clearly describe why the research may be important to patients/ end users or other people impacted by the research? |
| Does the lay summary clearly describe how PPI has informed this specific research project and why the research findings may be important to patients/ service users or other publics? |
| Have they outlined how PPI contributors will influence the research throughout the project lifecycle? |
| Have they outlined how they will support and manage PPI contributors throughout the project lifecycle? |
| Do you think they have they co-designed the PPI plans with PPI contributors? |
| Are the PPI plans solely in the future? If so, have they justified why, and included an implementation plan? |
| Have PPI plans and PPI collaborators been explicitly outlined? (Have they avoided vague or general statements?) |
| Have they outlined a PPI implementation, monitoring and evaluation plan? |
| Has PPI been appropriately costed in the grant? |
| Is PPI evident in other areas of the grant (where appropriate: methodology, dissemination, budget, impact)? |
| Are PPI specific-costs evident in the budget? |
| Is PPI evident in the project management? |