Healthy Working Lives Group

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Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement

Getting Involved

The Healthy Working Lives Group is committed to meaningful Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement, known as PPIE, across our research.

We believe that occupational health research is stronger, more relevant and more useful when it is shaped by the people it is intended to support. This includes workers, patients, carers, employers, occupational health professionals, public contributors, community organisations, third-sector partners and people with lived experience.

Our approach to PPIE is led by Dr Simon Walker, PPIE Lead for the Healthy Working Lives Group.

Our approach to PPIE

PPIE is central to how we design, deliver and share our research.

We do not see involvement as an optional add-on at the end of a project. We aim to involve people from the earliest stages of research development, including identifying research priorities, shaping study design, reviewing participant materials, advising on recruitment, interpreting findings and planning dissemination.

Our work is designed to align with recognised UK public involvement standards and funder expectations, including principles of inclusive involvement, respectful partnership, clear communication, appropriate support, transparency and shared learning.

This means working with people, not simply doing research about them.

Why PPIE matters in occupational health research

Occupational health research deals with real working lives.

Our studies often focus on topics such as sickness absence, return to work, Long COVID, ageing, workplace inequalities, mental health, suicide prevention, occupational health services and workforce retention.

These issues cannot be fully understood from academic evidence alone. They are shaped by lived experience, workplace culture, professional identity, health systems, employment conditions, stigma, policy and everyday realities at work.

PPIE helps us ask better questions, design more relevant studies and produce findings that are useful to the people and organisations who need them.

How we use PPIE in our research

Across our research programmes, we use PPIE to:

  • identify research questions that matter to workers, patients, practitioners and communities;
  • shape study design and research priorities;
  • review participant information sheets, consent forms and recruitment materials;
  • advise on inclusive and accessible recruitment;
  • improve the wording and sensitivity of surveys, interviews and topic guides;
  • support ethical and safeguarding considerations;
  • interpret findings from lived experience and practice perspectives;
  • co-produce recommendations for policy and practice;
  • develop accessible outputs such as briefings, infographics, reports and public-facing summaries;
  • share findings with the people, workplaces and communities affected by the research.

Our PPIE values

Our PPIE work is guided by the following principles:

  • Respect: valuing lived experience, professional knowledge and community insight.
  • Inclusion: involving people from diverse backgrounds, roles and experiences.
  • Accessibility: making involvement opportunities clear, welcoming and practical.
  • Transparency: being honest about what can and cannot be influenced.
  • Support: providing appropriate information, preparation and guidance.
  • Impact: showing how involvement has shaped the research.
  • Partnership: building long-term relationships rather than one-off consultation.

PPIE in practice

Public and patient involvement is used across the group’s research portfolio.

This includes work on:

  • supporting older workers and people returning to employment;
  • sickness absence and return to work;
  • Long COVID and sustainable work participation;
  • equality, diversity and inclusion in occupational health;
  • occupational health service quality;
  • workplace mental health;
  • suicide prevention and suicidal distress;
  • nurse suicide and occupational health;
  • community and workplace responses to health inequalities.

In each area, we aim to involve the people most affected by the research topic, as well as those who can help translate findings into practice.

HWLG PPIE Conference

The Healthy Working Lives Group was proud to host its inaugural Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Conference.

This event highlighted the transformative role of collaboration between researchers, patients, public partners, workers, practitioners and community organisations in shaping research on workplace health and wellbeing.

The conference was designed to bring people together to share learning, build relationships and explore how participatory research can improve occupational health policy, workplace practice and public wellbeing.

Conference themes

The conference explored:

  • meaningful involvement of workers, patients and public contributors;
  • co-production in occupational health research;
  • involving diverse voices in workplace health and wellbeing;
  • translating participatory research into real-world change;
  • public involvement in mental health, suicide prevention and work-related research;
  • partnerships between researchers, NHS organisations, employers, policymakers and communities;
  • how PPIE can improve research relevance, accessibility and impact.

Get involved

We welcome involvement from workers, patients, public contributors, carers, occupational health professionals, community organisations, employers, policymakers and anyone with an interest in improving health and work.

There are several ways to get involved with our PPIE work:

  • join a project advisory group;
  • help shape new research ideas;
  • comment on study documents and participant materials;
  • take part in workshops or discussion groups;
  • advise on recruitment and accessibility;
  • help interpret findings;
  • support dissemination to workplaces, communities and policy audiences;
  • attend future HWLG PPIE events;
  • collaborate with us as a community or partner organisation.

You do not need academic experience to get involved. We are interested in your knowledge, experience and perspective.

To discuss PPIE opportunities with the Healthy Working Lives Group, please contact:

Dr Simon Walker
PPIE Lead, Healthy Working Lives Group
University of Glasgow
simon.walker@glasgow.ac.uk

Our commitment

The Healthy Working Lives Group is committed to making PPIE meaningful, inclusive and useful.

We aim to create involvement opportunities that are respectful, well-supported and clear about purpose. We also aim to show how public, patient, worker and practitioner involvement shapes our research decisions, outputs and impact.

Our goal is simple: better research, shaped with the people it is meant to serve.