News & Events

Community Engaged Scholars Programme (CES-P) PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway Call Announcement 13th May 2024

PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway are delighted to announce the launch of the Community Engaged Scholars Programme (CES-P) Call 2024. The purpose of the Programme is to increase the capacity of community-academic partnerships to conduct research, underpinned by principles of Public and Patient Involvement in Research (PPI), to improve the health of our communities. CES-P provides formal training and pilot study seed funds for partnerships comprised of Community and Academic Partners interested in embedding PPI in a collaborative research study.

The call is open to community and academic partnerships, either new or established. A Community Partner is defined as an individual/patient/member of the public who maintains a primary affiliation, whether employed or volunteer, with a community organisation, e.g. community-based organisations, community-based health provider organisations, patient organisations, charitable organisations, schools and/oradvocacy groups. An Academic Partner is an individual(s) with a permanent, temporary or honorary appointment with the University of Galway, or one of its partner institutions (e.g. Saolta group). The call is open to all University of Galway researchers and community partners, regardless of experience level. 

To learn more about the programme, a hybrid Information and Q&A Session will take place on Friday May 31st (1pm-2pm). To register in advance click here. 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing details about attending/joining the information session. 

The CES-P call follows the completion of a pilot CES-P programme in 2020. The three funded partnerships from this round of funding were:

• Irish ME/CFS Association, represented by Orla Ní Chomhraí and Tom Kindlon, partnering with Dr John Cullinan, a health economist; 
• Irish Heart Foundation, represented by Martina Greene and the Ballinasloe Stroke Support group, partnering with Dr Ruth McMenamin, a lecturer in speech and language therapy;
• Croí, represented by Irene Gibson and Denise Dunne, partnering with a group of health psychologists, led by Dr Oonagh Mead

For more information, including application detailss, call documents or to view recordings, click here.

For queries and questions relating to this call, please email CES-P programme coordinator Dr Brendan Dolan at brendan.dolan@universityofgalway.ie

PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway Seed Funding 2023/24 Award Announcement

A huge congratulations to the winners of the PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway’s Seed Funding Award 2024, Saoirse Lally (Polska Harp - Multilingual PPI), Yvonne Fitzmaurice, Mary Kelly, John Kelly, and Michael Griffin (Knowledge Beyond Words), and Dr Sally Whelan, Dr Jamie Reilly, and Professor Geraldine Leader (Collaborative Autistic Research Empowerment - CARE). The quality of applications by PhD students, researchers, academic staff and PPI contributors was very impressive and highlights the breadth and depth of PPI across University of Galway. A huge congratulations to our winners, we wish them every success as they continue their PPI journeys with these innovative and important research projects. 

Learn more about the projects awarded here.

Population Health and Health Services Research Joint Seminar Series

The Health Behaviour Change Research Group, the HRB Primary Care Clinical Trials Network Ireland, the Health Promotion Research Centre and PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway are running a joint seminar series to highlight research in the area of Population Health and Health Services Research.

Our Next Seminar of the Spring series

Dr. Lisa Hynes, Mary Lillis, and Irene Gibson will deliver a virtual seminar on Thursday 21^st April 1pm, on “The role of health-related non-profit organisations in facilitating Public & Patient Involvement in research: The Croí-University of Galway experience”.

• Dr. Lisa Hynes is a health psychologist and Head of Health Programmes with Croí, the West of Ireland Cardiac & Stroke Foundation. Lisa has been involved in PPI in research for many years, as well as research and service delivery related to self-management support for people living with long-term conditions.
• Mary Lillis has been a member of the Croí PPI Group since its establishment. Mary is retired and living in Galway, having spent most of her career as a teacher in special needs education.
• Irene Gibson is a PhD trainee within the HRB Collaborative Doctoral Programme in Chronic Disease Prevention, and cardiovascular nurse specialist. Her research focuses on user centred design for the development of digital cardiovascular disease prevention tools. 

Seminar

In this webinar we will describe the Croí-NUIG partnership as a positive and successful example of a collaboration with a non-profit health organisation to facilitate community based Public and Patient Involvement in applied academic research. Non-profit organisations have been at the forefront of PPI in Ireland over the last decade. Through our experience, we will raise topics for consideration for researchers and community organisations around roles, responsibilities and opportunities related to PPI activities.

Previous Seminars in the Spring Series

Dr. Catherine Anne Field's Eye of the Storm: Promoting Staff Well-Being during the COVID Pandemic through Team Time'

PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway

We are delighted to announce that a new team is in place to guide the PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway.

Dr Ruth McMenamin and Professor Martin O'Halloran now co-lead the PPI Ignite Network @ University of Galway and Martha Killilea is the new programme manager. Follow their activities here.

Former Lead, Prof. Sean Dinneen, now leads the PPI Ignite Network, a national network of 7 Universities, 10 national partners and 53 local partners and Edel Murphy, previously the programme manager at University of Galway is now the national programme manager. Follow the PPI Ignite Network here.

University of Galway PPI in Research Awards Winners

PPI Ignite @ NUI Galway are delighted to announce the three winners of the inaugural University of Galway Awards for Public and Patient Involvement in Research Excellence. Our Public Advisory Panel co-developed this award scheme with the PPI Ignite @University of Galway team and our selection panel consisted of four PPI contributors and two reseachers.   

Our selection panel was very impressed with the high standard of the entries both from PhD students and from research and academic staff working with PPI contributors in very different and innovative ways.

 And the winners are....

Joint winners of the inaugural PPI Excellence in Research (click on the links to find out more):

• My Comrade+ PPI panel (Ms Nan McCarron, Ms Katie Baxter, Dr Morris Brown, Mr John McCosker) and the research team (Collette Kirwan, Lisa Hynes, Emma Carr, and Andrew Murphy)
• COB MS - embedded patient researcher Robert Joyce, Patient Advisory Panel (Ruth Court, Claire Lyons, Deirdre Dolly, John Dolly, Finbarr Dillon) and research team (Dr Sinéad Hynes, Dr Christopher Dwyer, Fionnuala Rogers, Anusha Moses, Eimear Bane, Robert Joyce)

The winner of the PPI Excellence in postgraduate research is:

• Nikolett Warner and the BRCA Alteration PPI Panel, a PhD scholar in the School of Psychology working with a team of people living with a BRCA alteration 

A huge congrats to the winners! Check out the case studies and hear from the teams themselves. 

Details of the PPI Excellence in Research award scheme is here: PPI Awards Announcement

Publication: Irish ME/CFS Association Partner with a University of Galway Health Economist

We are delighted to announce the first output from our pilot Community Engaged Scholars Programme has been published. 

Cullinan, J., Ní Chomhraí, O., Kindlon, T. et al., Understanding The Economic Impact of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Ireland: A Qualitative Study, HRB Open Res 2020, 3:88, DOI: 10.12688/hrbopenres.13181.1

PPI Seminar: Five Positive Outcomes from Integrating PPI in Our Research - Experiences from a Feasibility Trial in Multiple Sclerosis (COB-MS)

On November 24th Dr Sinéad Hynes and Robert Joyce delivered a seminar as part of the Public Health and Health Service Resarch seminar series. During this presentation Sinéad and Robert also discuss emplying a PPI contributor as part of the resarch team for the COB-MS project.

Watch the seminar back here.

Appointment of Derek Stewart as Honorary Professor at University of Galway

‌The College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences in University of Galwayappointed Professor Derek Stewart OBE an Honorary Professor for his work as a patient advocate involved in health research. Derek Stewart has made significant contribution to Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in research in the UK, holding many important roles over the years and was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to health, in particular cancer care. Prof Stewart is recognised internationally as a public involvement champion and brings meaning and insight into the value of PPI for research. In recent years, Prof Stewart has played a key role supporting the development of PPI in  University of Galway, running workshops and presenting at our PPI conference in 2019, as well as working directly with the PPI Ignite @ University of Galway team.

Look back at Prof Stewart's inaugural lecture, a series of personal tributes and a stimulating Q&A, recorded on Wed 4^th Nov 2020 to celebrate the appointment. You may also like to read a press release about this appointment.

The Patient Effect

We are delighted to announce that the world preimere of the The Patient Effect, selected as the Science on Screen commission for 2019,  was a great success.

The documentary tells the story of Public and Patient Involvement in Research - how tapping into the lived experience of patients, their families and carers, has the potential to hugely enhance the quality and relevance of health and medical research.

Directed by Mia Mullarkey, this Irish documentary follows three personal stories, which reflect the power of including public and patient voices in planning and conducting research. Paul Ryan, father to Sophia who was born premature at 25 weeks, is contributing to a majorresearch programme called NEPTuNE – exploring the most effective methods to monitor and manage babies with neonatal brain injury.  Cameron Keighron lives with type 1 diabetes and has been heavily involved in developing a new way of delivering healthcare to young people with diabetes. Connecting up with Margaret Devaney and the Swinford Arthritis Walking Group has provided first-hand insight of the impact of chronic pain on their day-to-day life to medical device developers at University of Galway, inspiring the latter in their research endeavours

Previous Screenings:

• Joint North Rare Disease Conference Day, Belfast 
• Documentary Premiere, Pálás Cinema Galway
• Community screening at ARD Family Resource Centre, Doughiska
• Grand Rounds, Galway University Hospital, University of Galway
• Human Biology Building, University of Galway
• D1 Now Young Adult Panel PPI meeting, University of Galway
• Doughiska Active Retirement Group, ARD Family Resource Centre, Doughiska
• Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics, University of Galway
• Clinical Research PPI Working Group meeting
• Health Research Board seminar
• Institute of Lifecourse and Society, University of Galway
• Retired Staff Assocation, University of Galway
• Health Research Charities Ireland (HRCI) PPI in Industry-led Research
• Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Person Centred Care Symposium

If you are interested in co-hosting a screening of The Patient Effect contact Martha Killilea.

Recent PPI Ignite @ University of Galway Newsletter

Catch up on the latest PPI Ignite @ NUI Galway activities in our recent newsletter.

You will find all previously published newsletters here.