Our PPIE Strategy

We believe that PPIE should be co-produced and embedded into all our areas of work to ensure it is patient centred and the work
we are doing is relevant and appropriate from a public perspective. To achieve this aim, we will:
• Integrate the public voice across all areas of our work, including governance, planning and priority setting, funding calls,
communication, and evaluation.
• Recruit and meet regularly with public contributors to support and advise on the work of the BHF Data Science Centre with
an aim to increase trust, transparency and relevance.
• Public contributors can be:
➢ those with lived experience of heart and circulatory disease
➢ those with lived experience of other linked diseases
➢ parents, partners or others with experience of supporting those living with heart, circulatory or other linked disease
• Promote and apply appropriate policies, procedures, and guidelines (including the Health Data Research UK guidance for
remuneration of public contributors).
• Work towards UK Public Involvement Standards and Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI) good practice
standards when involving members of the public.
• Work with our BHF DSC colleagues to identify PPIE opportunities within centre projects and support and capture PPIE
activity within these areas of work.
• Promote and support public engagement activities across the BHF Data Science Centre and Health Data Research UK
where relevant.
• Celebrate success of PPIE in our research and work through regular webinars and showcasing events.

We believe that involvement in research should be accessible to everyone, and we aim to broaden the diversity of those involved in
our PPIE activities and make a conscious effort to reach out to diverse groups for engagement and dissemination activities. To
achieve this aim, we will:
• Set clear equality, diversity and inclusion objectives aligned with HDR UK and map current practices against objectives to
highlight areas for development.
• Recruit diverse members to our Public Advisory Group (PAG), aiming to have broad representation across age, gender,
ethnicity, location, health data literacy, etc.
• Work collaboratively with HDR UK to attend science festivals across the UK, including rural, remote and underserved
locations.
• Promote and facilitate the inclusion of under-represented and seldom-heard groups through active engagement with local
partners, organisations, and communities.
• Reduce barriers and increase accessibility to involvement and engagement by being flexible and accessible, using
innovative approaches and utilise alternative formats for sharing information and engaging with the wider public.
• Actively seek and develop partnerships with trusted organisations, including diverse community groups, to help us reach
diverse audiences at local, regional, and national levels.
• Work with HDR UK and PEDRI to enhance diversity in our involvement activities.
• Model a culture where different viewpoints are encouraged and valued across all our work.

To achieve this aim, we will:
• Build upon existing relationships such as with British Heart Foundation, PEDRI and HDR UK and identify new opportunities
for collaborative working with other organisations.
• Work collaboratively with partners to share learning and resources to support effective PPIE, making best use of resources
and reducing duplication.
• Contribute to national PPIE networks, guideline and standards development and impact evaluation when we locate suitable
opportunities and in response to invitations.
• Co-develop a framework with our public contributors that outlines principles and procedure for partnership working, aiming to
embed PPIE within the process.

To achieve this aim, we will:
• Offer a tailored and person-centred approach to induction, training and ongoing support for public contributors.
• Supporting BHF Data Science Centre staff and partners to include PPIE as a standard process in the set up and delivery of
new and ongoing projects, including induction, one to one support and resources available.
• Supporting researchers to develop their knowledge and skills in PPIE through formal and informal learning opportunities, this
includes training, workshops and webinars.
• Share resources and case studies to promote the importance of PPIE.
• Sharing training opportunities for public contributors to be involved in across HDR UK and BHF DSC.
• Work collaboratively with public contributors and researchers within the CVD-COVID-UK consortium (research focused on
COVID-19 and heart and circulatory disease e.g., cardiovascular disease) to ensure robust PPIE within all proposed projects
and conduct yearly training sessions for public contributors involved.
• Provide public contributors with the knowledge they need to effectively engage and get involved with an activity by providing
updates on projects and sharing additional information via regular meetings and an internal newsletter.

We believe in the importance of continually developing our PPIE approaches and showcasing the positive impact public
involvement and engagement has across our work. To achieve this aim, we will:
• Monitor public involvement and engagement via our reporting log to capture all PPIE activity and impact.
• Share updates and changes with the public group via a monthly newsletter, highlighting changes made as a direct result of
their involvement and where changes can’t be made, clearly explaining the reasons why.
• Annually review the impact of our PPIE work with our Public Advisory Group, Operations team and Senior management.
• Develop at least two case studies a year to capture impact of our PPIE activities and share these internally via our online
platforms and externally with partners via newsletters and at events.
• Develop blogs and other opportunities alongside our public contributors to showcase how public involvement is making a
difference across our work.
• Establish a mechanism that facilitates the exchange of good practices and mutual learning through quarterly PAG
gatherings, as well as spontaneous ad-hoc meetings as the need arises.
• Sharing and celebrating examples of best practice and innovation across our work with partners and the wider community.
• Evaluate PPIE activities to identify areas for improvement and work to continually develop and strengthen our approach

To achieve this aim, we will:
• Host our Writing Club as need arises, allowing opportunity for our PAG to contribute to all external facing messages where
relevant.
• Run workshops for website reviews and updates as needed.
• Invite our public contributors to co-present for our monthly webinars and networking events where appropriate.
• Increase the internal visibility of PPIE, e.g., new staff inductions, PPIE resources for internal communication, monthly PPIE
update for staff and PAG including a member’s corner written by public contributors.
• Develop new ways to engage wider audiences new to health data research.
• Utilise plain language, visuals and alternative information formats to be more accessible across all our communications at
the Centre.
• Work with community-led organisations and healthcare partners to share external communications reaching wider
audiences.
• Co-develop human interest stories alongside our public contributors bringing relevance and meaning to our work for patients
and the public where possible