This project is addressing the second of eleven recommendations in the ‘Going the Extra Mile’ report (http://tinyurl.com/llekart): “The NIHR should commission the development of a set of values, principles and standards for public involvement. These must be co-produced with the public and other partners. They should be framed in such a way, and with a clear set of self-assessment criteria, so that organisations across the NIHR see their adoption as integral to their continuous improvement in public involvement”.

Over the last two years a UK-wide partnership, have been developing a set of standards and indicators for public involvement/engagement in research.  The new, national standards for public involvement in research provide a framework for reflecting on and improving the purpose, quality and consistency of public involvement/engagement. They describe the building blocks for good public involvement/engagement and provide a baseline of expectations.

The partnership want to encourage people to start using the standards. During 2018/19, they will be working with 10 test bed projects (10 pilot sites) across the UK, to see how the standards work in practice in a variety of contexts. The partnership also want to involve a much larger number of people, groups, teams and organisations who are or intend to put the standards to practical use in their own working environment and share what they learn, if you would be interested in sharing your experiences of using the standards you can register here. (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Freestylers)