We are a group of academics, researchers and support staff who believe that working closely with members of the public is essential for creating research and teaching that has real impact and meaning for the wider community.

Our vision is to create a culture at the University where Public Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE) is a valued and integral part of research and teaching.

PCIE refers to the different ways that the public and those with lived experience of certain conditions or situations can contribute knowledge to research and teaching.

Engagement is where academics share their activities with the public and tends to occur after the research or teaching has been planned.

Involvement describes more active ways of involving the public often occurring during the planning stage after the initial idea has been formulated. For example, a researcher may have an active discussion with members of the public about their research findings, leading to changes in their interpretation and plans for future research.

A more inclusive style of PCIE is Participatory research where researchers and members of the community share planning and decision-making from the very beginning of the project in a sustained and bidirectional manner. This is also called co-production and can be described as collaboration and partnership. While academics should aim towards involvement and participatory practices, our network recognises that all aspects of appropriate engagement and involvement can provide a better research experience for participants and facilitate inclusivity.

The University of Manchester has many excellent examples of these types of PCIE, across different disciplines and conditions such as autism, mental health, dementia, social care Parkinson’s Disease and patient safety. It is a leader in more inclusive and participatory approaches, for example through the Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), tailoring Carers’ Assessments in NHS and Adult Social Care to the needs of carers of people living with dementia and Autism@Manchester through co-producing research with autistic people. In order to maintain and advance The Universities standing, the PCIE network has three key priorities:

1. Promote understanding of the value of PPIE to research and teaching quality
2. Understand how we can do PPIE differently
3. Ensure staff have the support, resources and opportunities to conduct PPIE

These priorities will be achieved through a range of activities such as creation of support and resources for staff and communication of these resources through events and websites. We will also identify areas of best practice for engaging underserved communities in participatory research in order to enable equal partnerships between academics and communities and encourage greater diversity of people involved in PCIE.

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