The Faculty’s Social Responsibility (SR) and Civic Engagement (CE) plan outlines our commitment to driving positive environmental and social change for our local and global communities through our world-leading teaching, learning and research. To support this, the patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) forum, Co-Chaired by Professor Stephanie Snow, Academic Lead for Community Engagement and Involvement and Kay Gallacher, public contributor (PC), brings together PCs, University staff and students and external stakeholders to discuss and shape the Faculty’s PPIE priorities. 

The third forum meeting of the academic year was held online in March, with highlights including: feedback on a final year student project investigating vaccine confidence, an update on the Faculty’s International Women’s Day event, an introduction to the Public Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE) Champions Network and a discussion on the Faculty’s public contributor training programme.  

Final year students, Becky Light and Jas Dhaliwal introduced their research project, where they’ll be conducting surveys to investigate MMR and COVID-19 vaccine confidence and accessibility amongst different educational levels and ethnic demographics. Forum members provided feedback on the survey including refining survey questions to better capture participants’ perspectives and addressing potential bias. The feedback will form part of the students’ reflective piece in their project report.  

The forum was re-joined by former member, Emma Gowen, introducing her new role as the Lead for PCIE Champions Network. The PCIE network aims to promote the value of PPIE to research and teaching and connect divisions/school/faculties across the University to allow for cohesive and effective PPIE. You can find out more about their work in this blog.  

Members were updated on the Faculty’s flagship Bicentennial International Women’s Day Event, held in March. The Faculty was honoured to be joined by keynote speaker, Professor Olive Mugenda, Chairperson and Former-Vice Chancellor Kenyatta University Teaching Referral & Research Hospital. Olive took the audience on a personal and heartfelt journey, recounting the challenges she has faced as both a woman and leader from her early childhood and throughout her professional career. You can read more about the event in this blog or watch the recording on YouTube.  

Finally, members reviewed the Faculty’s existing Public Contributor Training and Development Plan, which includes the training programme, Being a Public Contributor in FBMH induction guide and PPIE toolkit. Members were asked for their perspective on the most useful resources in the training programme and if there were any gaps needing to be addressed. Suggestions included to expand resources to cater to diverse needs and ensuring resources were easily accessible.  

For information on previous Forums visit: January 2024, October 2023, February 2023, November 2022, March 22, and January 2022. To find out more about PPIE: watch our short film, sign up to the monthly Public Engagement Digest, visit the PPIE blog, or contact srbmh@manchester.ac.uk. 

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