What is a Participant Involvement Panel (PIP)?
Our Participant Involvement Panel, or PIP for short, is an active partnership between the study participants and the researchers and study management team that influences and shapes the research and study delivery.
The panel supports the Stratification of Clinically Vulnerable People for COVID-19 Risk Using Antibody Testing (STRAVINSKY) study to ensure we are conducting research that is relevant, suitable and valuable for patients. Patient and participant involvement is particularly important in the evolving COVID-19 environment, and we are keen to ensure participant feedback is heard and considered within the research project.
The PIP advises and guides STRAVINSKY researchers through providing open, honest feedback and reflections on the research priorities as well as perspectives and thoughts on implications of the research on the wider public and in the context of other emerging COVID-19 research and policy.
Membership
Panel members are all active participants in the STRAVINSKY study. The current members are:
Margaret Bennett
Margaret is a retired teacher. She was diagnosed with Common Variable Immune Deficiency, a primary immune disease, in 2003. Since then she has worked closely with Immunodeficiency UK to promote the needs of immune compromised patients.
Liam Dougan
Liam is the chair of a small charity for mental health and wellbeing for the LGBTQ+ community in Nottingham. The charity runs a HIV peer support group in collaboration with the NHS which has given Liam local insight into the effects of COVID and vaccines on a range of people living with HIV.
Alan Hancock
Alan is an older living donor kidney transplant patient, given by his wife Margaret. He is committed to patient engagement and involvement, and active in a number of research projects
Tina Leonard
David Martin
David is a recently-retired Geography Professor. He is a keen walker and photographer and has been living with Lymphoma since 2018.
Panel Activities
The panel plans to meet five times over two years. To date, five virtual meetings have taken place since November 2023. Panel members also provide ad hoc support to the study in between meetings.
The panel works within an agreed Terms of Reference.
The British Society for Immunology supports panel members in their role and provides secretariat for the panel, organising and chairing meetings, circulating papers and sharing information and resources through email.
For any questions, please contact Hana Ayoob, BSI Patient and Public Involvement Manager at h.ayoob@immunology.org