• Breakthrough Cancer Research is an Irish medical cancer research charity. It focuses on funding cancer research to improve cancer care and survival.  We want to make sure that we continue to support research that is important for patients and their families. For that reason, we have established a Public Patient Involvement (PPI) panel.
  • PPI is defined as the involvement of members of the public and patients in research. One definition of PPI is “Research carried out ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them” (INVOLVE; https://www.invo.org.uk/).
  • Breakthrough Cancer Research want to fund the best cancer research. When we receive research applications, they go through an international scientific review process with experts in the field to identify the best scientific proposals. Applications also undergo a PPI review, to get the perspective of patients and the public – those who are likely to be impacted by the research. By asking patients and members of the public for their opinion, research can and is improved. 
  • To date more than 100 people have responded to our request to take part in our PPI panel. To enable and empower patients and the public to participate fully in this review process, we have run two interactive workshops for the PPI panellists to date. Within these workshops, PPI panellists have learned about the research process, and researchers have learned about some important patient-related issues.
  • PPI involvement is important in research. Here is an example where Breakthrough's PPI panel were actively involved in a successful research grant review process.

“It was a pleasure to attend Mondays Workshop, meet lovely people and got an insight into what's going on behind the scenes.…happy to say what I learned was invaluable and it makes sense to start at the nitty gritty of basics to get the true & accurate picture of what's involved and an understanding of the amazing work our Scientists put in.”

Eileen

We will be hosting further training sessions. The aim is to involve patients and the public in the research we support. If you would like to be involved in our Public Patient Initiative, please contact Frances at 021 4226655, or email her at [email protected]

If you would like to take part, please complete this form. There are no right and no wrong answers.

If you have any questions, please contact us;
Email: [email protected], or
Tel: 021 422 66 55