Members of the School’s Public mental health programme together with public partners have co-created a Charter for Public involvement and Engagement. The Charter sets out best practice for fully embedding public involvement and engagement into research.
The Charter comprises 12 guiding principles that set out a framework for effective public involvement and engagement in the Public mental health programme. Alongside the Charter, the associated brightly coloured and engaging infographic helps convey the Charter’s key points at a glance.
The Charter aims to ensure that public perspectives are integral to decision-making in research and research outcomes. It provides terms of reference to ensure consistency in how public involvement and engagement is conducted across different research projects and programmes.
The owl has been chosen as the central part of the Charter as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge, change, transformation and intuitive development. All in all, a reflection of what the Charter represents.
It is hoped the Charter and infographic can be shared and used across the School and more widely as a valuable tool for effective and meaningful public involvement and engagement in research.
Gillian Samuel, Public involvement coordinator, who led the development of the Charter, says:
“The process of co-creating the Charter spanned several months and was truly uplifting, with many people contributing their thoughts and ideas. Since the Charter was launched in the spring (at the Public mental health symposium and the Annual Scientific Meeting) it has attracted a lot of attention and promises to be a ‘living’ document ensuring that PI&E becomes embedded in research thinking and practice”
Public partners involved say:
“I loved being a part of the creation of the PI&E Charter. I felt like it was crucial to ensure that there is a standardised approach to how researchers engage with members of the public and individuals with lived experience throughout their projects. The creation of the Charter is an exciting step forward.
“I was able to shape the Charter right from the beginning, including what we wanted to be in the Charter, and how it should look”
“The Public Involvement and Engagement Charter promises to be a ‘living’ document – ensuring that PI&E becomes embedded in research thinking and practice”
Gillian Samuel, Public involvement coordinator
