A lasting impact: the role of a public contributor

Public contributors are an important part of the work of the NIHR. They play a crucial role in making research more relevant and impactful through their insights and lived experiences. They help to ensure research addresses what is needed, and takes the experiences of those affected into consideration. Ultimately leading to better health and care outcomes.

For Steve, this meant contributing to a large portfolio of work. Along with Helen Sloan, a fellow public contributor supporting work in Hampshire, Dorset, South Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight, he was the public voice in many meetings. From senior executive groups to service and support specific meetings like communications. He played a key role in the under-served steering group meetings by co-chairing and reviewing funding applications.

He presented at many events, including co-chairing two showcase events for community research projects. He also joined a team at Wickham Festival, talking to the public about being part of research.

Steve's feedback has been valuable to a variety of projects and initiatives. His passion for ensuring information is accessible fed directly into the work of the communications team. He helped to shape content for website, video and printed material. He also co-produced a strategy for patient and public involvement, covering NIHR activities in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, and South Wiltshire.

Steve said of his time as a public contributor: “During COVID-19, I found an advert looking for public contributors in health and care research. It blended a number of things I was interested in at the time. One was health inequalities and the other was research.

“When I first sat on the board meetings as part of the role, I wanted to address inequality in research participation. There were large groups of people who simply weren’t contributing to research and felt excluded from taking part. I wanted to make sure researchers were thinking about: 'Is what I’m doing open and accessible to all, and bringing in all parts of the community in terms of designing, participating and evaluating research?' Sometimes it just takes an outside person, who has good connections with different communities, to bring that awareness.”

Steve continued: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a public contributor for the NIHR. I hoped to make a difference and I think I have gone some way to do that. I am proud of the work I was able to achieve, in particular getting people to think about how to communicate their work to people who are not part of the research world. And also making that connection between people under-served by research and people under-served by healthcare. I hope that my involvement has made people think, made people question, and changed things for the better.”

Zoë Sheppard, Research Delivery Manager, NIHR South Central RRDN, said: “Thank you so much to Steve for all that he has done over the past few years for the Network. It’s been fantastic working with Steve. His insightful, thoughtful, and considered approach has been instrumental in making our work more person-centred. Steve’s involvement, and that of other public contributors, leads to research that is more likely to make a difference to patients and the broader public. We’ve learnt a lot from Steve and achieved a great deal together. He leaves an important legacy which we hope we can build upon.”

Getting involved

Visit the NIHR website to find out more about the ways to get involved in research and how you could help change people’s lives.