StrathLab: A Living Lab Ecosystem at StrathclydePublic involvement & engagement
The University of Strathclyde is committed to meaningful and inclusive Public Involvement and Engagement (PIE).
Why does PIE matter?
- Research, knowledge exchange, and teaching all become much more relevant, usable, and ethical through early involvement of PIE groups.
- Builds trust and transparency between researchers and communities and educators and students.
- Improves design, recruitment, and outcomes of the research.
- Drives actionable results that reflect real-world needs.
Public Involvement is having people actively involved in shaping and influencing research. It is work done with or by people, not about them.
Public Engagement is communicating research and its outcomes to people in a way they can access. This can also include collating feedback on the research and how it is communicated to help improve engagement.
The PIE (public involvement and engagement) group at Strathclyde aims to:
- collectively establish and promote principles, structures, and processes for socially inclusive and meaningful public involvement and engagement in research, teaching and knowledge exchange activities for students, staff and partners.
- co-design our PIE framework and code of practice in partnership with citizens (the public), communities, and our public facing strategic partners (e.g. NHS24, NHS Golden Jubilee, NHS Lanarkshire, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Science Centre).
Marilyin Lennon
Emma Dunlop
Farid Bardid
Kieren Egan
Natalie Weir
Ryan Gibson
Note - These are being reviewed and refined through co-design with the public to ensure we are being socially inclusive and progressive in how we do PIE at University of Strathclyde.
- Accessibility: Making our materials, communication channels, and places where we conduct PIE accessible to the widest range of people possible.
- Inclusivity: Involvement and engagement should purposefully include a diverse range of people, reflecting the diversity of the communities the University intends to create impact for.
- Transparency: Clear communication about our aims, methods, and findings will be provided to anyone who would like to participate in research, teaching or knowledge exchange activities.
- Respect: The views and expertise of everyone will be valued and respected equally.
- Meaningful involvement: Everyone will have opportunities to influence the projects from conception and design to data collection and analysis, through to sharing the findings. This involvement will be acknowledged and rewarded in ways to suit individual communities’ needs and preferences.
- Sustainability: PIE will be embedded throughout the project lifecycle, from conception to dissemination. Funds and resources will be sought to enable meaningful engagement and wider reach (inclusion and diversity).
Our projects
Explore some of our projects and hear what our participants are saying about PIE at Strathclyde.
Anne Digan
“I really enjoyed interacting with other people. I learnt a lot and was keen to share and exchange knowledge of my own lived experience. Research also continues to give me hope that my quality of life will keep improving in the future.
It should be standard practice that participants are informed of the outcome of any trial that they have invested their time and interest in.”
Sylvia Collumb
“It is very relevant to me personally as someone with multiple conditions and taking multiple medications and has hearing loss I would like to influence change and raise awareness of the subject.
Being part of a group of people who share their knowledge and a range different experiences I feel I am influencing the research and it is a great distraction from my health issues.”
Get involved
Email us at pie@strath.ac.uk
Students and Staff
Ask the PIE team for advice on running your own PIE activities.
Companies, Charities, Public Sector
Work with us on a project involving PIE (for example, product or service discovery, design, testing). Please get in touch.
Members of the Public
Become a citizen scientist or take part in PIE projects in all sorts of ways at the University of Strathclyde.