The tenth annual UL Public Patient Involvement (PPI) Summer School has taken place at .
The two-day research event brought together over 140 participants from Ireland and abroad to explore how bringing patients, researchers, and the public together can benefit research outcomes.
Participants were given the chance to engage in dynamic workshops, plenary sessions, and networking throughout the event, which provides a collaborative environment to champion high-quality public, patient, and carer involvement in health research.
Professor Anne MacFarlane, Professor of Primary Healthcare Research in UL’s School of Medicine, a world-recognised primary care academic, founded the PPI Summer School and celebrated a decade of successful collaboration, embedding public patient involvement in the Irish health landscape.
Speaking at the event, Professor MacFarlane reflected, “It doesn’t seem like that long ago that we had the first PPI Summer School here in UL, and celebrating this tenth anniversary feels really exciting, with cancer research, chronic illness, ethics, and inclusivity, all topics for discussion.”
“I’m so delighted to see familiar faces and new ones, this was always our hope for the Summer School: to create and build connections between people who are passionate about the meaningful involvement of patients and the public in health research in Ireland,” added Professor MacFarlane.
Over the past ten years, UL’s PPI Summer School has been successful in creating sharing, training, and networking opportunities among researchers, patients, carers, clinicians, policymakers, and other relevant partners.
Ghislaine Rouly, Co-Director of Canada Research Chair in Partnership with Patients and Communities, delivered the keynote address, during which she emphasised the power of PPI in transforming health systems.
Additional workshops focused on cancer research, chronic disease, and medication management, creating inclusive PPI, with ideas from the rare disease community, and reflections of the last decade of PPI in Ireland.
UL’s Associate Professor Jon Salsberg, Primary Health Care Research - Public and Patient Involvement, School of Medicine, said, “It has been so gratifying to see the PPI Summer School grow year on year. The excellence and diversity of speakers and workshop leaders and enthusiastic contributions of the participants has made this such an important perennial part of the Irish PPI landscape.”
During the conclusion of the event, in her last day in her post, Lorna Kerin, Participatory Health Research Unit Manager and PPI Ignite @UL Manager, said, “It has been such a privilege to return to my alma mater and to work with the wonderful team at the Participatory Health Research Unit in the School of Medicine."
"I hope to return to next year's event as a guest and to hear about the continued academic-patient-community research partnerships that are of such benefit to our population and to our health services,” Ms Kerin added.
You will find more information about the public patient involvement in research in UL on the Participatory Health Research Unit website.