People choose to get involved in research for a whole range of reasons. Maybe you have personal experience which you would like research to take into account; you want a chance to give something back and help influence research to benefit others; or you would like the opportunity to develop new skills by learning about research.

Members from our Patients and Research Group have told us that being involved in research has helped them develop a better understanding of their condition, or the condition of people they care for, has connected them to others, given them hope, and helped increase their self-esteem.

Healthtalk.org researchers interviewed 38 people about their experience of involvement in research who described the following benefits:

• Satisfaction from being involved in an interesting project
• Help to make sense of an illness experience
• Help in their own recovery
• Gained confidence and skills
• Received information about their health condition

If you are a patient, carer or member of the public who works with us on the design and planning of research, or in a strategic advisory role, you are entitled to receive payment for your time. You can find out more in our  Payment Policy for the Public.

We want to make it easier for interested people to find out about the opportunities we have to get involved in our mental health and dementia research. 

Join our Patient and Public Involvement Contributor group and we will keep you up to date with any involvement opportunities we have available, along with information about PPI training and related information.

Visit this web page for more details or email claire.murray@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk for more information.

Our PPI Research Meetings bring together patients, carers and members of the public to hear about and provide feedback on early stage research projects.

Recent meetings have discussed projects exploring dementia and depression.

Travel expenses are refunded and a payment for time is offered. 

These meetings are held bi-monthly, if you would be interested in registering to be sent information about future meetings please email claire.murray@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk or complete this Sign up form.

• Friends of OxDARE – dementia and ageing research

OxDARE brings together diverse groups who are involved in dementia and ageing research across Oxford. The Friends of OxDARE enables public members to register their interest in dementia and ageing research.

A regular newsletter is sent to Friends of OxDARE that included patient and public opportunities in ageing and dementia research. You can find out more and register your interest on the OxDARE web page.

• Patients and Research Strategy Group

Oxford Health BRC’s Patients and Research Strategy Group brings together patient, carer and public members, with staff members from across mental health research and care, in the development and delivery of the Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Strategy

The diverse voices and experiences of Strategy Group members will influence Patient and Public Involvement in our research, and will help ensure it contributes to improving the quality and effectiveness of research.

The Strategy Group meets four times a year. Its members have direct or indirect experience of mental ill health and/or have an interest in research; and want to work as partners to make Oxford’s mental health and dementia research as good as it can be.

You can find out more about PAR in the Terms of Reference for the group or email claire.murray@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk .

• ENGAGE Group

ENGAGE Championing Mental Health Research Participation is the Oxford cognitive health Clinical Research Facility (CRF) Patient and Public Involvement group.

The group meets regularly and is involved in a variety of activities and projects with the aim to promote participant involvement, improve the experience of research participants, and raise the profile of research in mental health.

If you are interested in finding out more about ENGAGE email claire.murray@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk .

• NeurOx Young People’s Advisory Group (YPAG)

The BRC is committed to ensuring that young people have a voice in mental health research and that we listen to a diverse representation of young people’s views to build an evidence base that is acceptable and authentic to the lives of young people.

The NeurOx YPAG is a group of young people (between 14 and 18 years old) who work with the Neuroscience, Ethics and Society (NEUROSEC) team to help develop methods for working with young people to better understand their views. To find out more visit www.BeGOODeie.com.

These young people also contribute to other mental health research across Oxford University involving children and young people.

Here are past examples of opportunities to get involved in our research:

Help us improve how research interacts with electronic health records

Preventing dementia – join our focus group for a new research project

Patient advisory group for  treatment resistant depression research study

Patient and carer involvement in early psychosis research