Participatory Research Fund

Deadline for 2024 applications has passed: Friday 8th November 2024

The Faculty are pleased to announce that we have ~£45k in funding to support you with participatory or co-produced research. Grants are funded via Research England’s Participatory Research funding allocation, whilst there is no strict maximum funding amount you can apply for, we expect most applications to be between £3,000-10,000.

For the purpose of this grant, we broadly define Participatory or Co-Produced Research as:

“Research being carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them. It is an active partnership between members of the public with researchers that influences and shapes research.”

Participatory Research funding can be used to cover the costs of co-produced research or to run capacity-building activities such as:

Pilot projects using innovative models and methodologies for participatory research
The development of materials to support researchers interested in developing their skills in participatory research
Public engagement activities that are related to participatory and co-produced research.

Below are some general examples in how the public can be involved in co-producing research on a practical level:

As joint grant holders or co-applicants on a research project 
To help identify and shape research priorities
As members of a project advisory or steering group 
In focus groups throughout the project to help direct outcomes
Carrying out research as user and/or carer researchers.

To see some examples of projects we have funded in the past. We will be running a Tips and Treats session on the grant schemes we offer on Wednesday 23rd October - book a place.

Eligibility criteria

All academic and academic-related staff, all researchers at postdoctoral level and above, and all postgraduate research students in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences are eligible to apply for a grant. Applicants must be in post until at least June 2025
Undergraduate and postgraduate taught students cannot apply directly for this fund, as the focus is on researchers. However, activities involving these students will be considered for funding
Projects must be completed by the end of June 2025
The activities must engage with an audience outside of the University e.g. community groups, school students, families.

The deadline for the 2024 funding round has passed. Successful applicants will hear back in early December. The funding round for 2025 will open in October 2025. If you have any questions or would like to discuss project ideas, please also contact HLSEngagement@liverpool.ac.uk.

2024 Projects

Project Title	Awardees	Description
From Voices to Data: Developing Refugee Research Skills with University-Community Partnerships	Heather Bullen; Dr Caroline Hands	This works with a grassroots refugee organisation: Asylum Link Merseyside (ALM). The project will centre on equipping 6 volunteers/service users to become community researchers, alongside 4 ALM staff. They will work with experienced University researchers to develop research/evaluation skills and tools to evaluate three weekly wellbeing groups.
Adapting the Dementia Inequalities Game to children and testing it in primary school education	Dr Clarissa Giebel; Dr Megan Readman; Dr James Watson; Dr Megan Polden; Prof Mark Gabbay; Emma Williams; Jacqui Cannon; Dr Nashwa Ismail	The aim of this project is to adapt the Dementia Inequalities Game for children (aged 7-11), and to produce the game for testing with children and people with lived experiences of dementia.
Patient Evaluation and development of the “My Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) Passport” Digital App.	Dan Carr; Anita Hanson	We have already created the “My SJS Passport”. This is a paper booklet to record critical information on their condition. We will now be beta-testing an app version.
Post-traumatic embitterment disorder in authorised firearms officers: a participatory-focused grant application.	Dr Chloe Brennan	I will establish an advisory group of UK Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs) to guide the development of a grant application aimed at understanding the neural underpinnings of post-traumatic embitterment disorder (PTED) in AFOs.
Writing retreat: the REACHE project (Research Engagement And Collaborative Health Enquiry)	Helen Marshall; Carolyn Lees	We will co-write a journal article which details the REACHE project, previously funded by this grant in 2023, and disseminate and share this project in a peer reviewed journal.
CLEAR – Clear Language and Engaging Resources	Peter Waitt	The Enhancing Research skills Among uNiversity stuDents (ERAND) project aims to enable selected students from Gulu University and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Uganda to start building the career path in research, and establish a students’ research peer network.
Exploring the power dynamics between women and healthcare professionals involved in the co-production of research in reproductive health and childbirth	Dr Abi Merriel; Dr Carol Kingdon	Our aim is to explore the power dynamics, benefits, barriers and facilitators of optimal PPIE in NIHR funded reproductive health and childbirth (RH&C) research.
Sex worker oral health: understanding research priorities and the acceptability of oral health outreach with students	Janine Yazdi-Doughty; Gemma Ahearne	The primary aim of the project is to understand the oral health priorities of sex workers in the North West of England and their engagement with dental care. The secondary aim is to create a national framework / advisory document that outlines considerations for sex workers oral health and makes recommendations for oral health improvement activity including student outreach opportunities.
Why is it important to listen to women and families when waters break early in pregnancy? A listening event and formation of a new PPIE Group	Laura Goodfellow; Dr Angharad Care	We would like to hear the lived experience of women and families who have faced early Preterm prelabour rupture of membrane (PPROM) and how they interpret the new observational study data. Additionally, we want to understand what the most important follow up questions are to the women and families.
CASPAR Follow up Focus Group	Elizabeth Medford; Dr Angharad Care	The CASPAR study explores the use of a new medical device that assesses whether cervical stiffness assessments can help predict the outcome of Induction of Labour (IOL). With this HLS public engagement grant we would like to organise two follow up focus group in Spring 2025.

2023 Project Reports

Click here to read about the experiences and lessons learned from last years project holders.