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| By Alex Mitchell
From Byker to Bournemouth: a new collaboration for VOICE®
VOICE® has launched a brand-new collaboration with Bournemouth University to further strengthen and connect public and patient involvement and engagement (PPI/E) in the UK.
The agreement via Bournemouth University’s PIER (Public Involvement in Education & Research) Partnership and the Clinical Research Unit will enable university PPI/E teams to utilise the VOICE® digital platform to coordinate their involvement & engagement initiatives, activities and programs. Crucially, this means that VOICE® members across the UK will now have the opportunity to contribute to, shape and drive the valuable health and social care research being carried out by Bournemouth University research teams.
PIER Partnership
The PIER Partnership is an award-winning initiative at Bournemouth University; facilitating collaborations between people with lived experience, students and academics to enhance the student journey and inform all stages of the research cycle.
Professor Stephen Tee, Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bournemouth University, said:
We are delighted to be collaborating with the VOICE® digital platform and Newcastle University. The work of engaging with a community of members of the public, patients & carers is absolutely central to Bournemouth University’s efforts to ensure this community is able to contribute their unique experiences to help shape and improve research, innovation and education.
Nigel, BU Pier Member:
I feel excited at the prospect of BU planning to partner with VOICE®, which sounds just the sort of initiative that will enable people like myself to offer their experiences in developing research projects.
Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit
Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit (BUCRU) offers a collaborative model for supporting and conducting health-related research in Dorset. The BUCRU supports researchers in improving the quality, quantity and efficiency of research across Bournemouth University (BU) and local NHS Trusts. The BUCRU public involvement work will now be conducted in collaboration with the PIER Partnership and VOICE®.
Alex Mitchell, our Strategic Partnerships Manager, said:
This is another major step forward in our mission to make involvement in research and innovation more accessible to the public. BU do amazing work, particularly in ensuring that seldom heard voices are involved in health & social care research. There is so much we can achieve together, especially with an organisation such as Bournemouth University whose ethos and values are so aligned to our own.
