Public and patient involvement in health research is not embedded in Irish Universities. As part of the PPI Ignite Awards scheme the HRB have funded 5 Irish Universities to demonstrate the value of PPI and champion this approach in Ireland. PPI involves public/patients working in partnership with researchers in setting research priorities, planning and running research studies and putting research results into practice. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is a PPI approach where researchers and community representatives work together on a locally relevant health research issue.
As a PPI Ignite University we are seeking funding through this KEDS Award to deliver a pilot of a well-established CBPR training initiative called the Community Engaged Scholars Program. We will do this in conjunction with an existing and a new US partner. The CES-P pilot will involve the PPI Ignite Team in NUI Galway
adapting the CES-P curriculum for an Irish setting
delivering CES-P training and education on CBPR to 3 research teams each with Community and Academic partners
supporting these research teams to undertake preliminary research
facilitating these research teams to submit a grant application to an appropriate funding body
We believe that a successful delivery of the CES-P will highlight the merits of approaching health research from a different (CBPR) perspective. We will monitor the outcomes of our Community/Academic partnerships and will look for additional opportunities to sustain the CES-P approach.
In this way we will be disseminating knowledge on best practice in PPI in Ireland.
