VOICE is an exciting new digital platform for coordinating and supporting public involvement in research. BU has been awarded a licence of one year to trial and develop content on the platform.
We have used this opportunity to bring together the different teams working in BU to coordinate public involvement in research under the banner of VOICE@BU
VOICE@BU includes:
- Mel Hughes, Pete Atkins and Angela Warren from the BU PIER Partnership
- Helen Allen and Louise Ward from BUCRU and the NIHR Research Design Service South West (RDS SW)
- Colleagues from the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences based research centres e.g. ADRC
- Colleagues from BU Research Development & Support (RDS) Team (for coordinating public engagement)
On 11th and 18th May we ran two information events to explain VOICE@BU in more detail and provided a demonstration. One event for researchers, you can view the recording here and one event for members of the public and community organisations. Both events were well attended and both researchers and public contributors were keen to be involved.
Evidence shows that involving the public in the development of research at all stages of the research cycle ensures that research is relevant, participant friendly, ethically sound and improves outcomes for patients and service users. We are committed to increasing the range of voices that help shape and inform health and social care research at BU.
To summarise, researchers can:
- Easily and quickly register for VOICE
- Submit an opportunity request to involve members of the public in their research
- Use the digital tools the platform offers to involve members of the public in research
- Promote workshops/focus groups
- Facilitate online discussions
- Promote opportunities for the public to join steering groups
- Online surveys & polls
- Set timed challenges and encourage ideas from the community
- Set up a closed group to communicate, share documents and support an established public involvement group
- Communicate with VOICE members regarding specific opportunities
- Access and share support and learning resources (From June) to help patient and public involvement and engagement activities
Please do register with VOICE and explore what is available and email us: voice@bournemouth.ac.uk to discuss how we can help get the public involved in your research and/or promote an event/opportunity to VOICE members.















with Alice at the end of her life and witnessing the interactions between healthcare staff and herself which inspired the research. The presentation went on to explore on-going challenges such as poorer health outcomes, social exclusion, discrimination, and lack of cultural sensitivity that many Gypsy, Roma, Travellers face. As well as current problems posed by a lack of robust data collection as healthcare organisations do not use include Gypsy, Romany and Traveller as part of their ethnicity data collected. Dr Heaslip argues argued that failure to do so negatively impacts on developing robust public health initiatives to address these poorer health outcomes and is a key factor in understanding why so little progress have been made over the past two decades.











The buxton chair has gone! These advances alongside an ageing population with multi-morbidity, increasing frailty, has led to an increase in acuity of care in acute hospital environments and in the community. Nurses need to be critical thinkers, challenging how we care and what is best for each individual patient. Nurses have to deliver excellent hands on care, with expert holistic assessment and evaluation skills. They lead teams and influence how care should be delivered from the bedside to strategic decision making. For those reasons nurses need to be knowledgeable, to critique the evidence as well as create the evidence to support how care should be delivered. That is why a university education, supported by 50% of their course in practice settings, is essential. That is the nurse I want to care for me and my loved ones, compassionate, kind, caring, and knowledgeable. To illustrate this further Michele shared examples of the research she is undertaking of the brilliant nurses and allied health professionals working as ACP’s during COVID19.
During focus groups and 1-1 interviews the research team (Dr Dawn Morely, Dr Janet Scammell, Kelsie Fletcher,@AN4LTH) and 3 practitioners from Dorset Healthcare, Cliff Kilgore, Mary Edwards and Dr Pippa Collins,@DorsetHealth), heard how the ACP’s advocated for patients, led to the development of services, their responsiveness, flexibility and adaptability during an enormously challenging period – it was very inspiring. Their advanced critical thinking skills ensured the care they delivered was holistic and person centred. Hopefully those attending the coffee morning were convinced that a university education for nurses and the new role of ACP’s illustrated the expertise of postgraduate nurses delivering care on the front line.













On Christmas Day in the Morning…
New Nepal scoping review on maternal & neonatal health
Fourth INRC Symposium: From Clinical Applications to Neuro-Inspired Computation
Writing policy briefs
ECR Funding Open Call: Research Culture & Community Grant – Application Deadline Friday 12 December
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 Call
ERC Advanced Grant 2025 Webinar
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Published
Horizon Europe 2025 Work Programme pre-Published
Update on UKRO services
European research project exploring use of ‘virtual twins’ to better manage metabolic associated fatty liver disease