Public Involvement training 

Our public involvement training is now available through an online course on the Coursera platform. This course is entitled ‘Public Involvement in Research’ and is aimed at researchers but also suitable for patients and the public (citizens). Over four weeks you will learn how patients and the public can be involved across the research cycle. This ranges from identifying research topics important to patients, through to disseminating important findings to community groups. In this course you will learn practical tips and hear about inspiring real-life examples. Although this course has a public health focus, the methodologies and ways of involving patients and citizens are widely applicable to other disciplines and types of research.  The ‘Public Involvement in Research’ course will give you the skills and knowledge needed to get started with public involvement in research!

Read on for an overview of the course content, as well as information on how to access the course.

Course Overview

Week 1: Differentiating Public Involvement and Co-production in Health Research

In Week 1 you will gain an introduction to what public involvement is, and why it is valuable to do it. You will also learn about the differences and similarities with ‘co-production’ and hear some inspiring examples.

Week 2:  Role of Public Involvement and Co-production Throughout the Research Cycle

In Week 2 you will become more familiar with participatory approaches early in the ‘research cycle’. You will learn how the process of doing research can be broken down into seven broad stages, which is helpful for thinking about research activities the public can shape. First, you will become familiar with techniques and tips for involving the public in identifying and prioritising research topics. Next, you will look at the role of public involvement and co-production throughout the second stage (Designing and Managing) and third stage (Funding and Commissioning) of the research cycle. You will hear from citizens that have been involved in these stages, and have the chance to reflect on the value of these methods.

Week 3: What Is the Role of Public Involvement and Co-production Throughout the Stages of the Research Cycle? (Covering Stage 4 (Undertaking and Analysing), Stage 5 (Disseminating) and Stage 6 (Implementing))

In Week 3 you'll look at the role of public involvement and co-production throughout the fourth stage of the research cycle (Undertaking and Analysing). Qualitative research might seem the most obvious kind of research in which to involve citizens and patients as co-researchers – such as interviews. However, you're going to study some other examples where citizens and patients can inform the “doing” of research – such as systematic reviews and even ‘basic science’. In Lesson 2, you'll look at the role of public involvement and co-production throughout the fifth and sixth stages of the research cycle (Disseminating) and (Implementing) respectively. It will feature tips for communicating scientific knowledge.

Week 4: How can you evaluate public involvement and co-production in health research (stage 7 of the research cycle)?

In the final week, you will learn about the ways to evaluate public involvement and co-production in health research (stage 7 of the research cycle). A public contributor gives an interview in which he talks about his experience with evaluating the impact of public involvement. You also have the opportunity to decide on an evaluation tool which could be applied to your own setting.

Course FAQs

How long is the course? It is structured as a 4-week course with approximately 4 hours content per week. However, you are able to skip to areas of the course that you are most interested in, if you wish.

Who can take the course? Anyone can take the course for free but unless you have access through Imperial College or pay Coursera's fee, you will not receive a certificate of completion (approximately £35 dependng on what kind of Coursera account you have).  For more information about the certificate price, please contact Coursera.

• Imperial staff and students – If you use your @imperial.ac.uk address to create an account, the course is free to access and to receive a certificate of completion. Use this link to access the course and follow these  Instructions for accessing Public Involvement in Research Course.
• Imperial Biomedical Research Centre researchers – If you do not have an @imperial.ac.uk email please contact publicinvolvement@imperial.ac.uk
• NHS staff – Please note the current offering to NHS staff is unavailable - we are working with Coursera to resolve this and will update this webpage with further details once access has been restored.
• Members of the public and non - Imperial researchers – You can sign up to take the course for free however if you would like to receive a certificate of completion, Coursera will charge a fee. To access the course for free, please click here to create an account and follow these Instructions for accessing Public Involvement in Research Course. If you are a member of the public and are already working with a research team or centre, check whether they have funds to pay for the certificate (should you want one).

What if I need a certificate of completion? Imperial staff and students will be able to access the course for free using their Imperial email address. If you are a public contributor working with an Imperial research team, please ask your Imperial point of contact about how best to obtain a certificate.

Will there be additional training sessions? As required, PERC and the Imperial Clinical Trials Unit also plan to host online sessions in more depth on topical issues such as diversity in research participation and the role of a public co-applicant on a research study. Please check back here for more details.

If you are an Imperial staff member or student and have any other enquiries or need more information about public involvement training, please contact PERC at publicinvolvement@imperial.ac.uk.

Other training resources