Share this

Calendar

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Event 2026

Date: 03/03/2026 to 03/03/2026 Venue: Stirling Court Hotel

Hosted by NHS Research Scotland (NRS) and the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of Scottish Government, the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Event 2026 will take place at Stirling Court Hotel — part of the University of Stirling Campus — on Tuesday 3 March

PPI partners, professionals, researchers, including early career researchers, and policymakers working in the area, and with an interest around developing their PPI practice and activities, are being encouraged to attend.

Programme

The following draft programme is correct at time of publishing, but is subject to change. A full breakdown of workshops is available below the day's agenda.

09:00 – 10:00

Registration and Refreshments

10:00 – 10:15

Welcome

Dr Alan McNair, Senior Research Manager, Chief Scientist Office

Room: Blair Atholl

10:15 – 11:00

Inclusive Language for Patient and Public Involvement

Sammy Waite, Patient and Community Involvement in Research Officer, University of Edinburgh

Room: Blair Atholl

11:00 – 11:30

Refreshments and Networking

11:30 – 12:30

Session One

1A (Workshop), Allanwater

Stepping Forward Together: Overcoming barriers in Public Involvement

  • Elspeth Banks, Patient Representative and Co-Chair of the CRUK Scotland Centre PPI Steering Group
  • Shaumya Kularajan, CRUK TRACC MB-PhD student, University of Glasgow

1B (Workshop), Glendevon

Real-world Dilemmas in Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement:
Pragmatic observations from working with under-served groups

  • Dr Kath Williamson, CSO Post Doctoral Fellow University of Glasgow & Senior Clinical Nurse Specialist Bariatric Care (Community) NHS Lothian
  • Dr Mark Baxter, Clinical Senior Lecturer, University of Dundee
  • Dr Lucy Whitaker, Senior Clinical Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • Dr David Baird, Senior Clinical Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh

1C (Oral), Hermitage Iona

Advanced talks: Making PPI meaningful

11:30 - 11:50, In Case I Don’t See You: Good Afternoon, Good Evening - Good PPI

  • Ms Charlie Guy, Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) Coordinator, University of St Andrews School of Medicine
  • Mr Joshua James, Junior Creative, STV

11:50 - 12:10, Patient and Public Involvement in Qualitative Analysis: Engaging Patient Advisory Group colleagues in the coding of Fear of Cancer Recurrence interviews on the PETNECK2 Trial

  • Maebh Kenny-Jones, Research Assistant, University of Stirling

12:10 - 12:30, UKRI Mental Health Platform: PPIE From the ground up!

  • Dr Sophie Quick, Communications and Engagement Manager, UKRI Mental Health Platform, University of Edinburgh and Public Contributor
  • Oliver Seligman, Public Contributor

1D (Oral), Blair Atholl

Patient Voices in Different Types of Study

11:30 - 11:50, Lived Experiences at the Heart of Co-analysis: Experiences in palliative care research

  • Dr Sarah Bowers, SCREDS Lecturer, University of St Andrews/NHS Forth Valley
  • Maureen Ward, Public Contributor

11:50 - 12:10, Embedding Patient Voices in Bowel Cancer Research

  • Dr Emma Parsons, Research Assistant, University of Glasgow
  • Public contributors

12:10 - 12:30, Depression Detectives - Online Citizen Science

  • Dr Iona Beange, Patient and Public Involvement Co-ordinator, University of Edinburgh
  • Sophia Collins, Public Engagement Practitioner and Consultant

12:30 – 13:30

Lunch and Networking

13:30 – 14:30

Session Two

2A (Workshop), Hermitage Iona

Building Inclusive Knowledge Spaces, One LEGO® Brick at a Time:
Involving Underrepresented Communities in Data Research

  • Dr Piotr Teodorowski, Research Fellow, University of Stirling
  • Rachel Edwards, Public Engagement Officer, Research Data Scotland
  • Michael McTernan, public contributor

2B (Workshop), Glendevon

Patient and Public Involvement in Evidence Syntheses (Systematic Reviews)

  • Alex Todhunter-Brown, Professor of Evidence Synthesis, Glasgow Caledonian University; Co-lead NIHR Evidence Synthesis Scotland InitativE (NESSIE); Co-convener, Cochrane Co-production Methods Group
  • Lyndsay Alexander, Associate Professor, School of Health, Robert Gordon University; Co-director, JBI Scottish Centre for Evidence-based Practice

2C (Workshop), Allanwater

Trauma-Informed Practices for Ethical Patient and Public Involvement Research

  • Raimonda Sidaraite, Senior User Experience Consultant, User Vision and Stephen Denning, Director of Consulting, User Vision

2D (Oral), Blair Atholl

Ethical and Inclusive

13:30 - 13:50, Two-Eyed Seeing: The Ethics of Ethical PPI from Western and non-Western Viewpoints - Lessons from the Global Heritage Women for Health Equity Project

  • Leila Neshat Mokadem, PhD scholar, Robert Gordon University, & CEO, Equity Lighthouse
  • Jane Ogamba Akadiri, Founder and Charity Manager, Touch of Love Outreach

13:50 - 14:10, Creating Meaningful Impact: Inclusive and Equitable PPIE Across Sectors

  • Amy Connelly, PPIE Specialist, Heriot-Watt University and Public Contributor

14:10 - 14:30, Co-production in MRI Research: Experiences from the Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative

  • Dr Michelle Sader, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Aberdeen

14:30 – 15:00

Refreshments and poster viewing session

15:00 – 15:20

Discover Your Role — Public Involvement Action Plan for Wales

Peter Gee, Senior Public Involvement Manager, Health and Care Research Wales

Room: Blair Atholl

15:20 – 15:45

Public Engagement Fund Showcase: Engaging Scottish Communities with Data

Rachel Edwards, Public Engagement Officer, Research Data Scotland

Room: Blair Atholl

15:45 – 15:55

Awards and Close

 

Go back to the calendar