Public involvement is an integral part of the advice given to researchers coming to RDS London.

Funding bodies consider public involvement a condition of funding. Our team of advisers will work with you to assess your individual needs and provide feedback to help you incorporate good PPI practice that aligns with the expectations of the funding bodies.

What is public involvement in research?

Public involvement is the term used to describe an active partnership between researchers and patients and the public to develop research that is relevant and useful to patient and public needs.

It is not about having patients and members of the public as research participants.

Patient contributions are considered valuable as they provide alternative views from those in research teams or NHS staff. Patients can make judgement based on their understanding of their condition and may have different aspirations and thoughts about health outcomes that healthcare professionals and researchers may not have considered.

Public involvement strategy

Our Regional Public Involvement Strategy describes how we will enhance the contributions of the public in research design, delivery, dissemination and impact.

The strategy was written by the RDS London Public Involvement Team in consultation with our Public Advisory Group. Our regional strategy is based on the National Public Involvement Strategy for 2018-2023. Our Public Advisory Group will continue to operate through the RDS London extension to 31 March 2024.

How RDS London can support your public involvement

Public involvement fund

We provided two types of Public involvement fund (PIF) which awarded small amounts of funding to enable public involvement activities during the development of grant applications.

Fast-track review service

We have a panel of 12 lay reviewers who will review your draft plain English summaries. If you applied for RDS London support before 1 October 2023, then you will still be able to use this service until 29 February 2024.

Implementing public involvement for researchers workshops

We delivered our public involvement workshops in partnership with NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London.

Patient and public involvement in health and social care research handbook

We created a handbook to help you better plan, manage and carry out meaningful public involvement in your research. If you would like a hard copy please email us.

See the RDS brief guide to public involvement in funding applications.

You can also find helpful public involvement resources on our website.