Many of the studies at the Usher Institute involve members of the public. Find out how you may be able to take part. Participate Research participants are members of the public who agree to participate in an approved study, and who meet the relevant eligibility criteria. Participation may take many forms; for example being interviewed, or receiving a novel form of treatment or care as part of an evaluation, or clinical trial. Thank you to all those who have participated in our research in the past. Be involved on research teams Involving and engaging members of the public in our research is an important part of our work. We host Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) groups that are open to members of the public with a particular interest in our research. These public volunteers work with our researchers to ensure that our research remains relevant, to help us to communicate our activities and to help plan and design the research of the future. Some of our current Patient and Public Involvement groups are listed below. Co-Design of an Asthma Clinical Decision Support Tool - UK Primary Care and Respiratory Professionals We are launching a project to enhance asthma care through computer-aided decision support, focusing on user input from the start. We seek UK healthcare professionals who treat asthma patients to help us integrate these tools effectively. If you specialise in primary care or respiratory medicine, we need your insights. Participate in interviews, share your expertise, and help us refine decision support tools. If you fit this criteria and would like to be involved, read more here. Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research - Patient and Public Involvement We have a Patient Advisory Group that includes over 130 people across the UK. This group often provides feedback for our research programmes, as well as supporting other projects. Volunteers have opportunities to be involved at every step of the research process, from grant applications to the design of study materials, and sharing information about research findings. We are keen to involve patient and lay volunteers in as many ways as possible, offering flexible ways of contributing. We find that many people enjoy creative opportunities such as helping at Science Festivals, networking with our researchers or designing leaflets. Read more on the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research website Advanced Care Research Centre (ACRC) - Patient and Public Involvement The Advanced Care Research Centre seeks to improve the quality of life and transform care provision for people in later life living with multiple conditions. We are a multi-disciplinary programme, combining research across medicine and other care professions, data science, artificial intelligence, engineering, assistive technologies and robotics, social science and beyond. We place the person in later life at the heart of everything we do, so to ensure our research retains value, all our projects and PhD students are partnered with a member of the public. We also run workshops and other sessions in the local area for feedback and testing purposes. If you are interested in using your experience to support our research, click here Join us for public events Our researchers often take part in science festivals, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and other events throughout the year. Many of our events are open to the public. Check our events page for upcoming seminars, talks and other events. If you are interested in joining any of the listed events but you are not sure on any details, or if they are open to you, please simply get in touch with us via email to usher.communications@ed.ac.uk Usher Institute Events This article was published on 2024-09-24
