DkIT Facilitate a Workshop with Social Care Students

Dundalk Institute of Technology’s (DkIT) Research Centre NetwellCASALA are delighted to report they recently hosted an event to facilitate social care students’ exploration of the role of public and patient involvement in research.

Ensuring those most impacted by research have a central role in defining what and how research is conducted has led to a joint initiative across seven universities and seventy community partner organisations across Ireland. The Irish Research Council and the Health Research Board fund the Public and Patient Involvement initiative, called PPI Ignite. As a partner of the Dublin City University PPI Ignite Network, NetwellCASALA at DKIT facilitated a workshop with social care students, entitled ‘Exploring PPI in undergraduate research projects’, as part of a national PPI Festival 2022 held in October. The workshop helped fourth-year students, about to embark on their final year research projects, to consider how including Public Patient Involvement (PPI) in their research design might affect their research question as well as how their research is conducted.

The event was led by NetwellCASALA manager, Suzanne Smith, the workshop took a hands-on approach using the Lego Serious Play method. ‘The students really embraced the topic,’ said Smith, ‘and showed great learning about how to include stakeholder views when designing and conducting social care research.’ This emphasis, on keeping the person impacted by research at the centre of all activities, is at the core of the work of NetwellCASALA research centre and living lab. With a focus on ageing and connected health and wellbeing, a Living Lab Panel of local people are at the heart of everything NetwellCASALA does.

For information on how to join the Living Lab Panel and contribute to research on ageing, connected health, and wellbeing, contact Suzanne or Breda at (042)937 0497 or email [email protected].