Welcome to the Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) Research Unit. The Unit was established in the School of Medicine by Professor Anne MacFarlane, PhD, and is designated as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Migrant’s Involvement in Health Research.
Our work draws on a variety of disciplines including general practice, allied health, sociology, anthropology, health promotion, biostatistics and music. We have strong collaborative partnerships with community organisations, other academics, health service planners and policy stakeholders in Ireland and abroad. The Unit has generated research income of €14,900,232 since its inception in 2011.
The PPI RU has three, inter-related areas of work:
- Building the evidence about meaningful PPI
- Building the evidence about meaningful PPI with migrants
- Building capacity for meaningful PPI at UL, nationally and internationally
The PPI RU draws on the participatory health research paradigm to guide its scholarship and has a conceptual interest in participatory spaces. The Unit has three inter-related scientific questions:
- What material practices (participatory/arts based) support partnership building and working in qualitative and quantitative studies?
- What is the ‘work’ required to implement partnerships as a routine way of working?
- What is the evidence about how partnership working impacts on the process and outcome of research?
We explore these questions through studies about primary care services and population health, with a specialist focus on migrant health.
Listen to our podcast with Prof Anne MacFarlane 'Why involve public and patients in research'
Listen to our short video of Dr. Jon Salsberg talking about the value of PPI in research
From the UL PhD Research series, Meghan Gilfoyle talks about undertaking a PhD in the PPI Research Unit here
