Shape cancer research with Imperial College London

What’s the project about?

Imperial College, London is supporting their researchers to include the patient voice in their studies at every stage to ensure that lived experience is at the forefront of cancer research in the UK.

The Patient and Public Involvement Group was set up so that researchers could easily access the patient voice to help inform and shape their work on cancer. Through it, members receive opportunitites for involvement in cancer research projects.

Who can take part?

Anyone with lived experience of cancer (patient, spouse or carer)

Why do you want me to be involved?

Your involvement in research projects is vital to making sure that the patient voice is heard and taken into account. You can help shape cancer research in the UK and get exciting insight into the latest research and advances.

What will you ask me to do?

By joining the Imperial Patient and Public Involvement Group, you’ll be sent invitations for different types of involvement in research. Some opportunitites can be done online from anywhere in the UK, but others are face-to-face in London.

These can include:

• Reviewing lay summaries and Patient Information Sheets to make sure they’re understandable to the every-day person
• Providing feedback on research ideas, so that the research being proposed is answering questions which are important to patients
• Commenting on study plans to ensure that the commitment for research participants is reasonable and doesn’t create a burden that could discourage patients from taking part
• Providing support for grant application for funding and ethical approval in the NHS
• Offering suggestions about when and where researchers could share study updates and the results of their research to patients and the public

Some members of the group sit on study management committees and follow a study from its onset to completion to keep the patient perspective at every step of the research cycle.

You’ll also hear about the Imperial Science Café, where you can meet once a month in London with r other members and researchers to hear about and discuss about their latest research projects.

How do I get involved?

If you want to find out more or get involved, you can email Kelly Gleason, or you can find out more information on the Imperial College website.