Supports

The PPI Ignite Network at DCU works across the University to strengthen the quality and impact of PPI in health and social care research. We support researchers, research teams, members of the public, patients, and other groups to plan and develop meaningful PPI.

All requests for support should be made through email to ppi@dcu.ie. PPI needs to be thought about as early as possible in planning or conducting research. The earlier you contact PPI Ignite Network at DCU, the more support and guidance that can be offered. At a minimum, a period of at least one week should be allowed for the return of advice.

Training and Education 

We can run seminars and workshops for researchers, members of the public, patients, or other groups, introducing attendees to the basics of PPI, or work with you to deliver more bespoke forms of PPI training.  

We have developed a 1-hour introduction-to-PPI session. This has been delivered to several postgraduate courses (MSc and PhD) in DCU.  If you are interested in this session being delivered to a group or course in which you are involved, please contact us at: ppi@dcu.ie 

PPI Clinics

We run PPI clinics on a weekly basis to discuss PPI plans and challenges with researchers, community or patient organisations, and others. Planning for PPI takes time and needs to be thought about within the context of each project. The PPI Ignite Network at DCU team are here to help you in your thinking on how PPI can be meaningfully achieved within your work. This must be done on a project-by-project basis. Clinics typically last 30-45 minutes and take place in DCU or online.  

Please contact us at: ppi@dcu.ie to arrange a clinic 

Supporting Researchers in Grant Application Writing 

The PPI Ignite Network at DCU provides support to Principal Investigators/researchers across DCU when planning/drafting a grant application. Support is provided to researchers from any discipline where the research includes outcomes that impact human health and social care. We encourage researchers to email us (ppi@dcu.ie) early in the planning process, and when appropriate, we will schedule a PPI clinic to provide support on PPI aspects of the research.

If your request relates to a grant application, you should also provide the following, if possible

• A draft of the application which will be kept confidential to the DCU PPI Ignite team.
• The name of the funder.
• The name of the call.
• The application guidelines.
• Necessary deadlines.

All documentation should be provided in Word where possible, and feedback can be provided verbally (e.g., via a clinic) or in writing (e.g., via email) 

A letter of support from PPI Ignite Network at DCU can be provided. This will confirm engagement with DCU PPI Ignite and outline the assistance that DCU PPI Ignite can provide during your research. There is no cost attached to this letter of support. However, your grant application or research proposal and budget will need to be reviewed by DCU PPI Ignite to ensure the inclusion of meaningful, high-quality PPI.

The outcome of grant applications or research proposals which have received support from PPI Ignite Network at DCU needs to be communicated to the DCU PPI  team via ppi@dcu.ie within one week of the outcome being known. PPI relevant sections from progress reports also need to be communicated to the team via pp@dcu.ie on an annual basis.