Celebrating four years of the HRA Shared Commitment to Public Involvement

Today we are celebrating the fourth anniversary of the launch of the NHS Health Research Authority (HRA) Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in health and social care research.

Fuse signed the pledge in May 2024 in partnership with the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) and over 30 other leading organisations to help drive up standards in health and social care research.

Excellent public involvement is an essential part of health and social care research and improves the quality and impact of research. It is inclusive, values all contributions, ensures people have a meaningful say in what happens, and influences outcomes, as set out in the UK Standards for Public Involvement.

Together our organisations provide guidance, training and support, and signposting to enable researchers to involve patients, the public and communities better in their work.  

Fuse’s commitment to public involvement and engagement

Fuse has a dedicated Public Involvement and Engagement Manager, Ella Anderson, based at Newcastle University, and a Public Involvement and Engagement Group (PIEG) which is co-chaired by a Fuse Public Partner.

There are more than 100 members on the Fuse Public Partner Network and a diversity of membership and experience across the network, including age range, employment status, ethnicity, health status, plus a variety of levels of PIE experience from novice to experienced. As well as public partners, membership consists of community connectors.

Here our Fuse Public Partners talk briefly about themselves, why they are interested in public health, and their involvement with Fuse research.

The Fuse podcast ‘Public Health Research and Me’ is led and hosted by the Centre's public partners to bridge the gap that sometimes occurs between research and public audiences.

Members of Fuse’s Public Partner Network were given the opportunity to take part in training with experienced science communicator and producer, in which they learned how to prepare, record, edit, share and promote a podcast.

Read about the experience of one of our Public Partners hosting the podcast.

Find out more: 

The Shared Commitment to Public Involvement in health and social care research – Health Research Authority

Fuse and Public Involvement and Engagement or email Ella Anderson, Fuse Public Involvement and Engagement Manager: eleanor.aderson@ncl.ac.uk.

Last modified: Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:48:08 GMT