Scotland’s highly successful Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Event is returning for a fourth year, and the community are urged to get involved with a call for impactful abstracts now open.

The 2027 gathering is part of an NHS Research Scotland (NRS) commitment to showcasing powerful PPI initiatives across the country, demonstrating the huge value of researchers and the public working together to help make studies more relevant, inspired by lived experiences.

PPI is an essential part of effective health and social care research and has been shown to improve its quality and impact, with involvement ranging from supporting priority setting and study design, to sitting on advisory groups, contributing to the development of materials, and working in partnership with researchers across the entire study lifecycle.

It is vital that patients and the public are able to share their experiences and play a meaningful role in the research that affects them, helping to accelerate studies while improving access, inclusivity, and diversity.

To ensure the event reflects the quality, depth and diversity of PPI activity across Scotland, proposals for 60-minute workshops, oral presentations, and speed talks are now being welcomed. PPI partners, professionals, researchers, including early career researchers, and policymakers with an interest around developing their PPI practice and activities, are encouraged to submit abstracts and shape the programme.

You can submit your abstract for an oral presentation or make a proposal for a workshop at the meeting by following these links.

This will help to deliver a truly exciting programme which will launch early next year alongside the opportunity to register.

March 2027

Hosted by NRS and the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of Scottish Government, the event will take place at the Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) venue on Monday 8 March.

It follows three successful gatherings since inauguration in 2024. Next year’s event will once more bring together speakers from NHS, academia, and the third sector, as well as public contributors, and early career researchers, all united in ambitions to improve the quality of PPI in research.

The event’s central themes will focus around early and continuous engagement, ethical co-production and partnership; expanding the drive to work with underserved groups and communities; and building and supporting the PPI community to help establish new connections across the country.

It will further spotlight the process of involving the public and patients as active partners, analysing their motivations, challenges faced, and the outcomes of such involvement, while tackling any lingering misconceptions, and encouraging knowledge exchange.

Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist (Health) at Scottish Government, said:

“Bridging the gap between lived experience and scientific expertise is vital to improve research. It is why all research funded by the Chief Scientist Office is on the condition of public participation. This event is testament to our commitment and demonstrates the quality and diversity of work taking place across Scotland. Great progress has been made and that will only continue thanks to public contributors and researchers working hand-in-hand.”

Dr Julie Simpson, Research Manager – Information and Capacity, at CSO, and key lead on the event said:

“The opportunity to now submit PPI abstracts is key to inspiring the community and shaping an exciting and diverse programme that demonstrates progress in this important area. We would urge interested parties to take advantage and share their ideas and ambitions with a wider audience.

“Fundamentally, we are looking for diverse, high-quality submissions which spotlight successful initiatives, explore new ideas and approaches, showcase diversity and inclusion, or simply reflect on learnings – all are welcome and will be considered in the drive to encourage continuous improvement in PPI.”

The deadline for abstract submissions is Friday 30 October.

If you have any queries on the event, please contact communications@nrs.org.uk

 

his article is written as part of a promotional agreement between NHS Research Scotland (NRS) and Healthcare News Scotland.

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