The focus of this scheme is to support the involvement of patients and/or public to inform the design of health and care research studies.  It is not designed to support recruitment of participants onto research studies. 

The scheme offers a total of £10K on a pilot basis up until July 2026.  Funds of up to £500 are available per application and should be used to fund public involvement and engagement during the development of a health and care research funding application, including:    

• Reimbursing out-of-pocket expenses for members of the public (e.g. travel, subsistence, carer costs). This will be paid in line with local policy

• Offering payment for the time spent by members of the public (based on NIHR payment guidance)

• Refreshments at meetings or events

• Venue hire external to the researcher’s organisation, if this is fully justified (e.g. where an accessible room is not available, or another venue is more appropriate)   

• Materials which the researcher would not normally have access to within their organisation (e.g. play materials for a session with children)

Funds cannot normally be used to:   

• Pay for the time or out of pocket expenses for research team

• Pay for time of paid members of staff asked to be involved in developing research as contributors

• Undertake research

• To hire a venue within the researcher’s own organisation

• To pay for materials which the researcher can reasonably gain access to with their organisation (e.g. printing costs)

*In exceptional circumstances researchers may be able to claim travel expenses (for example, when a researcher is travelling to see a member of the public and travel funds are not available from elsewhere). This must be fully justified and will be decided on a case-by-case basis by the BHP Senior PPIE Manager.  

• The funding available is for PPIE activities prior to or during the grant application stage only.  Any future PPIE should be fully costed into the grant (help is available to do this at bhp-publicinvolvement@contacts.bham.ac.uk).   

• The grant application must be related to health and care research  

• The applicant must be employed by one of the Birmingham Health Partner organisations*  

*Please note that we will endeavour to ensure a fair distribution of funds across the BHP organisations. 

Open call. 

A decision will be made, and is usually communicated to the applicant, within two weeks from application submission.

Applications are welcome from staff employed by one of the Birmingham Health Partner organisations.  

Please download and complete the application form below and return to  bhp-publicinvolvement@contacts.bham.ac.uk.   

Your application will be reviewed by public members to ensure that the PPIE outlined is robust.    

Public members will comment on the following:  

1. Justification for PPIE (based on the UK Standards for Public Involvement)  
2. The appropriateness of the timing of the PPIE (i.e does this give sufficient time to recruit public members and deliver the PPIE)  
3. The relevance of the public members/communities involved  
4. Have diversity and inclusiveness been considered  
5. Clarity on which aspects of research design public members will be asked to comment on  
6. Adequate support for public members  
7. Budget (does it seem sufficient)  

Support will be provided by the BHP PPIE Senior Manager who will also review the form.  The outcome of the review is usually provided within two weeks from application submission.    

If you require any support to complete this form, or require training in PPIE, please contact bhp-publicinvolvement@contacts.bham.ac.uk.  There is a range of help available to support the involvement of the public in your research including:   

• NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Hub can provide methodological guidance on PPIE, as well as other research design advice and support.  Visit their website to request support or email NIHR-RSS@contacts.bham.ac.uk.     

• The Birmingham Public Involvement Hub provides a free online Introduction to PPIE training course.  You can register here.   

All awardees will be required to:

• Co-ordinate timely payment for time and expenses to public contributors 
• Complete an evaluation form within six months of receiving the award 
• Contribute to a PPIE case study once the research is underway 

Your award funds will be held in the BHP budget. All orders and/or payments will be processed by our BHP Administrator. Further information will be provided should your application be successful.