In this episode, Anna invites Gillian, Sarah and Lee to discuss all things public engagement and patient and public involvement. They define the various terms and tease out similarities and differences while challenging conventional practice in academia, highlighting its importance and best practices, and challenges early career researchers face when they try to share power and progress within academia.
Sarah works with a wide range of community groups, organisations and charities in Tower Hamlets and east London to connect them to the breadth of projects, research and teaching at Queen Mary. She connects Queen Mary staff and students to the wealth of knowledge, expertise and opportunities in local communities to generate new connections, partnerships and mutually beneficial working. Sarah also leads the annual Festival of Communities, a leading event in Tower Hamlets which brings residents, community organisations and Queen Mary staff and students together to explore living and learning in the borough. Sarah previously managed the student volunteering programme at Queen Mary Students’ Union for 7 years.
As an engagement professional, Lee is passionate about community engagement and amplifying the voices of people from seldom-heard groups who often feel disenfranchised when receiving support or accessing healthcare services. He is an avid public speaker who regularly delivers workshops and effectively supports charities to improve their processes concerning equality, diversity and inclusion. He is also a trustee for the charity Mighty Men of Valour.
In his hometown of Croydon, Lee is well known for raising awareness of mental well-being, particularly amongst men, through the various projects he leads, including the Father’s Forum and the football team Fathers United that he co-founded. Finally, he is married with two daughters, an established community photographer and a proud supporter of Arsenal FC.
Gillian works on several collaborative projects in the field of public involvement in research, race and ethnicity, medicine, public health and methods development for evidence-based health policy creation. She has experience in the issues of engaging children in research and has worked on a large-scale NIHR project involving children as the participation specialist. Gillian is a qualified young person mentor who has volunteered in outreach programmes to support young African-Caribbean heritage people pursuing STEM careers. Her work on involvement, diversity and underrepresented communities, particularly mixed-ethnicity communities, extends to supporting minority students and staff in academic and professional settings. Her research expertise covers a variety of qualitative and systematic reviewing research methods. She has published and teaches on various topics, including research engagement, public participation, inclusive research, role conflict theory and diverse perspectives in research. Finally, she identifies as a proud African-Caribbean-European heritage mother of two, multiple-stroke survivor and poet (for her sins).