Experts by experience

We seek to regularly engage and collaborate with experts by experience in all our work.

We consider experts by experience to be people with recent lived, living and/or professional experience, knowledge and insight who directly contribute and engage with our research.

These key partners include:

• members of the public
• patients
• carers
• health and social care professionals
• voluntary and community organisations
• other interested parties.

Building on our well-established relationships and networks at local, regional and national levels, we ensure the involvement and engagement of experts in all our research, engagement and dissemination activities.

We work closely with a number of partners and community organisations who are key collaborators in our work through our shared vision and principles of:

• Ensuring inclusive and accessible opportunities to encourage involvement and participation.
• Working together to establish and maintain mutually beneficial and flexible collaborations.
• Providing opportunities and support for learning, skills and development.
• Enabling ownership and nurturing agency through clear governance and processes.
• Communicating with compassion and kindness developing trust and confidence.
• Achieving collective impact through involvement and engagement good practice that seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of older people throughout mid-later life.

Our public and community collaboration partners include:

• The Greater Manchester Older People’s Network
  To hear about our work with the Greater Manchester Older People’s Network, see the YouTube video: Greater Manchester Older People’s Network – Collaborating with Policy Research
• The Newcastle Elders Council
  To hear about our work with the Newcastle Elders Council, see the YouTube video: Newcastle Elders Council – Collaborating with Policy Research
• VOICE Global in Newcastle, part of the National Innovation Centre for Ageing

In addition to these formal partnerships, we also work extensively with local, regional, and national organisations to proactively engage and include the experiences and voices of all citizens. Working with individual experts and organisations on a project-by-project basis, to ensure our research is representative and inclusive.

To hear some of our Experts by Experience talking about their work within our unit, see our YouTube videos:

• Jamil talks about the importance of peer-to-peer interactions to make connections with communities in this YouTube video:
  Jamil – Connecting with Communities: Peer to Peer
• Gill talks about bringing lived experience to policy research in this YouTube video:
  Gill – Bringing Lived Experience to Policy Research
• Gerry talks about contributing lived experience to research and how it built his confidence in this YouTube video:
  Gerry – Bringing Lived Experience to Policy Research
• Sarah talks about the importance of trust, her role in research and how this gave her a sense of achievement in this YouTube video:
  Sarah – Bringing Lived Experience to Policy Research

We are in the process of co-developing our public and community involvement and engagement strategy, this will be launched in summer 2024.

For more information on our work with experts by experience, please contact: pru-manager@manchester.ac.uk.