How you can get involved in Research
There are many ways that members of the public, patients, service users and carers can get involved in research, from being a participant to helping to design research studies.
If you would like to receive updates from the Research and Development Team about new research or ways to get involved, please sign up here.
Take Part in Research Studies
To see which studies are currently looking for participants please visit our Take Part in Mental Health Research webpage. You can also receive updates about new studies by signing up here.
Taking part in research can be rewarding and beneficial process. Participants have told us that it has given them:
- A better understanding of their mental health
- An opportunity to try new treatments that wouldn’t have otherwise been available to them
- An opportunity to meet new people, especially those with similar experiences to them
- A feeling that they are contributing to something positive
Taking part in research helps us to improve our understanding of mental health and develop new, more effective treatments — which can benefit many people now and, in the future.
Lived Experience in Research
The voices of people with lived experience of mental health conditions provide unique and valuable expertise and insights on research. This is often called Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE).
Service users and people with lived experience can get involved in research at the Trust by:
- Contributing to the design of research studies (e.g. joining a Patient and Public Involvement group for a study). Sign up to be informed of opportunities to be involved here.
- Joining the Service User Research Advisory Group (SURAG): SURAG is a group of people with experience of using mental health services that advise the work of our Research and Development Team at the Trust from a lived experience perspective. If you would like to find out more, email Saskia Perks, Lived Experience Research Ambassador, SLaM: Saskia.perks@slam.nhs.uk
Learn about research findings at the Research Club
Last Thursday of every month at 2-3pm, Online
The Research Club, hosted in collaboration with the Recovery College is an open, informal webinar where service users, carers and staff can find out about mental health research. These sessions are designed to make research findings more accessible to service users, members of the public, and healthcare professionals.
In each session a researcher discusses their study – what they did, what they found out and what the impact will be. At the end of the presentation there is the opportunity to ask questions in a supportive, non‑academic space.
The sessions are also recorded, so if you can’t attend at this time, you can always watch the recording later.
Enrol via the Recovery College website: https://www.slamrecoverycollege.co.uk/enrol.html
If you are a researcher and you would like to share the findings of your research, please email: Saskia.perks@slam.nhs.uk
