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Your HRA public involvement newsletter
Issue 22, August 2024
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 Public contributors and HRA staff at a conference
In this month's newsletter
Welcome
Hello everyone and welcome to your public involvement newsletter. To subscribe and to see previous issues of the newsletter, please visit the HRA website.
We have created a text-only version that should be easy to print. You can also view the newsletter as a webpage. Click on the link at the top of this newsletter and zoom in using the ‘Ctrl’ and the ‘+’ symbols.
For support with this, or if you need the newsletter in a different format, you can read our guidance, email the public involvement team at public.involvement@hra.nhs.uk or call on 0207 104 8161.
If there is something you'd like to include, or learn more about, do let us know.
In this month's newsletter:
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In this section, we give a short update on some of the involvement activities we have in progress and share new invitations to get involved in our work.
 Shared Commitment illustration
Last month, 10 members of the public contributed to different aspects of the HRA’s work. Activities included:
We also had meetings to exchange feedback with people who have been involved in our work, and the Community Committee had an informal meeting to get to know each other better.
 Three speech bubbles with a sad face, happy face and neutral face
We want to increase public involvement in how we make decisions and this means working differently and trying new things.
If you're involved in the work of the HRA and your experience isn't what you expected, or something has gone wrong, please get in touch with your named contact. If you would like to raise a formal concern, we have a procedure for dealing with these.
We welcome all suggestions and feedback to help us keep improving.
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In this section, we share news about some of the HRA’s work that we think you may be interested in. You might also enjoy exploring the news and updates section of the HRA website.
 Illustration of a computer screen with an online meeting
A little while ago we told you that we were working on some important guidance and information to support everyone who gets involved in our work.
Our new HRA Community ways of working webpages are now live and are there to give you a clear idea of what you can expect from us, what is expected of you and how we can support you.
The information has been created in collaboration with our Community Committee and is specifically designed for our public involvement network, Research Ethics Committee (REC) members and Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) members.
It gives an overview of:
If you are thinking about getting involved in our work or if you already are, please take the time to read through the guidance.
We will also make sure we send you a link to this guidance every time you express an interest in an involvement activity, so the information is always close to hand.
We hope you find this a valuable resource!
We’re always grateful for your feedback, so please email the public involvement team on public.involvement@hra.nhs.uk, if you think there is any other information which should be included in this guidance.
We’re pleased to share the results of our diversity and inclusion survey, which we ran in late 2023.
The report gives us an insight into the demographics of our HRA Community – made up of members of the public who inform and influence our work through public involvement activities, as well as members of our Research Ethics Committees (RECs) and Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG).
In total, we had a 67% response rate. A big thank you to everyone who took part!
It’s really important to us that the people we work with reflect the diversity of the population we serve.
The HRA’s strategy sets out to include, so that health and social care research is done with and for everyone. An important part of this is to ensure that the HRA makes better decisions by working with a diverse group of people.
We’ll use the results of the survey to help us better understand the make up of our HRA Community and to work towards making sure our membership is representative of all backgrounds.
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In this section, we share news of activities organised by other groups or organisations. To find out more about the activity, please contact the organisers directly.
To include a news item relating to public involvement in health or social care research, please email the public involvement team at public.involvement@hra.nhs.uk
 Two people working together whilst looking at a laptop
The MRC has published its new strategy for how people and the research community can come together to shape and share research.
The new strategy outlines ambitions for creating effective collaboration and genuine partnerships between researchers, MRC staff, public involvement and engagement professionals, individuals and communities over the next three years.
The MRC funds research at the forefront of science to prevent illness, develop therapies and improve human health. They have found that embedding public partnerships in their work can improve the relevance of research, making it more likely that everyone will benefit.
If you have any questions, you can email the MRC on publicengagement@mrc.ukri.org.
 A group of people in a meeting room with cups and flipchart paper. Image courtesy of Sarah Griffiths
Dr Sarah Griffiths writes about the value of working alongside people with experience of dementia to design a research study.
She describes how together they identified and worked on issues such as:
- keeping personal information safe
- equality, diversity and inclusion
- creating clear information for people deciding whether to take part in the research
Sarah is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Ageing Population Studies, Research Department of Primary Care and Population Health at University College London. If you have any questions, you can email Sarah on s.a.griffiths@ucl.ac.uk.
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The HRA is organised into different directorates. This month, we are shining a light on the work of the Digital Directorate.
 Illustration with cogs, a hand and networks
To make sure the UK continues to be a great place to do research, our information systems need to be easy to use, up to date, and secure.
But nothing stands still - research and technology change and evolve. So it is vital that we update our digital research services based on the needs of those who use them.
There are four teams in the Digital Directorate at the HRA. They cover everything from the management of our day-to-day IT services to cyber security, and are responsible for the ongoing transformation of our systems.
Because we are just one part of the UK’s wider research data services, we work in partnership with colleagues in the Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales government health departments. We also work with health and care organisations across these nations that support, guide, and regulate health and social care research.
Why does all this matter?
By making things as simple and straightforward for researchers and everyone else involved in setting up and running health and social care research, we can make it easier to do research that people can trust.
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If anything in this email is unclear, you have questions, or would like to suggest something you'd like to learn about, please email the public involvement team at public.involvement@hra.nhs.uk or phone the public involvement team on 0207 104 8161. |
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