Public Advisory Group
People affected by heart and circulatory conditions, stroke, diabetes and/or kidney disease and members of the public play a central role in shaping our work. Our Public Advisory Group brings together 28 public contributors who support different areas of research and governance
What do we do?
Public Advisory Group members contribute their perspectives, expertise and lived experience to shape and strengthen the Centre’s work.
They contribute to a range of activities such as:
- Participating in meetings and workshops providing constructive feedback and ensuring public perspectives are represented
- Reviewing and co-designing materials for clarity and accessibility, including public facing materials such as plain English summaries
- Engaging with data researchers to refine research aims, identify risks and suggest priorities which are relevant for patients and the public
- Advising on engagement and communicate methods, and how to build trust and transparency between the Centre and the public
Our team of public contributors guides and strengthens our work.
PAG meetings
As a whole group we come together quarterly to provide updates on PPIE work across the Centre, review progress, offer insights and discuss upcoming plans.
Here is a quick look at what our Public Advisory Group has been looking at each quarter.
March 2026
What we discussed:
- Progress updates on the Centre’s PPIE priorities, including PPIE strategy refresh
- Findings from recent PPIE evaluation presentation and discussion
- Discussion on ongoing plans to create a PPIE service for cardiovascular researchers and how patients can be involved
- Review of PPIE website content and discussion on how to improve
How public contributors shape our work:
- Strengthening trust and transparency: public contributors have helped us understand what makes an organisation feel trustworthy, continuing to guide how we communicate our purpose and values
- Improving researcher guidance: feedback to build into PPIE service a checklist for researchers to ensure they have considered key questions from a public perspective before starting a project
- Highlighting real world impact: discussions on how our work benefits patient communities, and how we share these impact stories
June 2026
- Progress updates on the Centre’s key PPIE priorities since the last meeting in March, including on the PPIE strategy and development of PPIE Service
- The cost recovery model for the Centre in order to deliver infrastructure and services to support data-driven cardiovascular research. This was followed by a Q&A session where public contributors were able to ask questions on the PPIE service or broader PPIE work
- Presentation from Anna Woolman on the success of the Take the Lead community grant programme run by HDR UK, including discussions on the community projects funded by the BHF Data Science Centre
- Development of a PAG skills register, where different skills and experiences will be recorded across the PAG members with feedback from public contributors on how this should be formatted and facilitated
How public contributors shape our work:
- Public contributors raised the question of equitable access for data researchers using and paying for the Centre’s service, and challenged the Centre to think of developing a policy on how we engage with corporate/industry compared to academic researchers
- Discussions on how the Centre can improve impact reporting, where the lack of consistency in the past has been, and key areas for development in the coming months
- Regarding a PAG skills register, public contributors were generally supportive of plans, but raised questions on how regularly it would be updated, whose responsibility it would be to do so, and on making sure to review 6 months in to reflect on whether the register is having the desired effect
- How public contributors who are on the skills register are categorised: as cardiac experience, not problems