Our partnerships with PPI

The BSI are currently recruiting a Patient and Public Involvement Network to support our work. Applications are open until Monday 22 September 2025. 

We are looking for members who: 

• Live with an immunodeficiency
• Live with other conditions related to the immune system e.g. asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes
• Care for those living with immune related conditions
• Have other interests in or connections to immunology  

Eligibility for members has been kept deliberately broad so the network can input on a wide range of project topics and types. 

About the network 

The network will initially be made up of 15 members who have a range of relationships to and interests in immunology. Network members will input into different aspects of the BSI’s work such as public facing information, relevant training programmes and events. The network is new at the BSI, and how the network works will be refined over time in discussion with network members. 

Ways of working 

The BSI will approach network members with involvement opportunities and will select a group of members to work on each project. Opportunities may include meetings where a particular project is discussed with members and requests for feedback on a resource or document. We expect individual members to be involved in XXX each year.  

Network members will be remunerated in recognition of their work and service in line with guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Research.  

Recruitment process 

If you are interested in being part of the network, please complete an expression of interest form by Monday 22 September. The next step will be a brief informal video or phone call with the BSI team to discuss what will be involved and to further understand your motivations for joining the network. Depending on the number of applicants, we may not be able to get back to everyone individually.  

Full terms of reference for the network can be found here: 

We established the PPI panel of the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium as an integral part of the project, ensuring the views of patients and the public were central to the success of the research.

• Discover our report ‘The impact of patient and public involvement in the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium’, which was written with our public contributors to advocate the positive impact of involvement in immunology research.
• Read our open access co-authored paper published in Research Involvement & Engagement ‘The impact of patient and public involvement on COVID-19 immunology research: experiences from the UK Coronavirus Immunology Consortium’, which provides practical suggestions of how to bring together basic research and the lived experience of patients and the public.

We managed the PPI element of the National Core Studies Immunity programme to facilitate involvement with COVID-19 research and, subsequently, co-produced tailored PPI training for the researchers involved.

• Explore our report ‘Patient and public involvement in COVID-19 research: bridging the gap between theory and practice’ which was produced with substantial contribution from a group of patients, carers and members of the public, and describes how research teams involved patients and the public in their work, offering insight into the challenges overcome, the lessons learned and the positive impact of involvement on the resulting research.
• Listen to three audio clips recorded by contributors to the report:
  • Why involve patients and the public in COVID-19 research? - Deb Smith
  • How can we encourage more researchers to involve patients and the public in their work? - Vivienne Wilkes
  • How can we best involve patients and the public in COVID-19 research? - Lynn Laidlaw
• Understand more about how we evaluated the project in our blog article ‘National Core Studies Immunity takes stock of lessons learnt from involving patients and the public in COVID-19 research’ and discover our infographic describing the successes, methods to drive improvement and how we reflected on our learnings.

We manage the Participant Involvement Panel (PIP) within the SIREN study in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency team to connect the researchers with the study participants, which has been crucial to the design, delivery and success of the project.

• Find out more details in the blog article ‘How public involvement improved our study’ by Anna Howells from the SIREN team.
• Read our paper published in Research Involvement & Engagement "Demonstrating the learning and impact of embedding participant involvement in a pandemic research study: The experience of the SARS-CoV-2 Immunity & Reinfection Evaluation (SIREN) study UK, 2020-2023", which provides insights into how the PIP was established and the impact of involvement on the study. 

We support and project manage the CARINA Network, ensuring that the views of patients and the public influence the priorities of the project through involvement in the Scientific Advisory Board.

We’re facilitating the participant involvement and patient engagement within the STRAVINSKY study so people with lived experience of conditions that weaken their immune system are involved in the research being conducted and how the study is managed. 

We’re organising a new participant involvement element of the PITCH study to bring together health care workers and researchers to better understand participants’ views and perspectives on the science.