We are committed to meaningfully involving patients and the public across all ways of working and activities, and to fostering a research community that is trusted, open, diverse, collaborative and inclusive.
In this guide
On this page
Working with us
The Academy of Medical Sciences is the independent expert voice of health research in the UK.
Our mission is to improve the health of people everywhere. We are committed to Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) through our 10-year strategy and to making sure we are an inclusive organisation through our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy.
We do not carry out scientific research ourselves, but we aim to support those who do, and to make the UK one of the best places in the world to do research.
Our Fellowship is core to the Academy. Fellows are elected based on outstanding contributions to medical research. They are drawn from universities, hospitals, general practice, industry, and public service. Find out more about our Fellowship.
When working with the Academy, you will mainly work with our Engagement team, which was formed in 2021. The team makes sure there are PPI contributor views across the Academy’s activities.
At the Academy of Medical Sciences, we champion PPI in our work. We are grateful for your help making this part of what we do by sharing your personal expertise and lived experience with us. We appreciate that this is a commitment of your time, effort, and energy - thank you.
We have chosen the phrase ‘Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Contributor’ to address the role of people who support our work. However, we realise that this is one choice and no one term is correct or even preferable. Other examples include patient researcher, patient advocate, citizen partner, research consultant, expert by experience, or PPI representative.
Specialised knowledge of research is not needed to be involved. Neither are you required to be a medical professional. You are an expert in your own lived experience and this is equally as valuable as any other type of experience of research.
If you have any questions about working with us, we hope you’ll find the answers here. We also hope it helps you get the most out of your contribution, and supports the projects you work on. If there are ways your experience working with us could be improved, please don’t hesitate to feedback to a member of the team.
Find out more about getting involved.
How we work
The Academy works in many ways, and we are always looking for new opportunities to support and improve medical science.
Our mission is to improve the health of people everywhere. We do this by supporting researchers to make the greatest difference to health.
- We are an independent voice who provides evidence for politicians and other decision makers on what we think they should focus on, the actions they should be taking to improve health and research issues, and make sure the right people are in the room to hear and act on this.
- We build capacity in medical research, helping people do the best research possible and to stay working in research for as long as possible. We do this by providing funding, training, and opportunities to meet other researchers working on similar topics.
- We work with the media, talking to journalists about our work, commenting on things happening elsewhere, and connecting journalists with Fellows who can comment on research.
Find out more about getting involved.
Notable Academy work
As far back as 2008 we involved patients and the public in our Brain science, addiction and drug’ report.
In recent years, we have:
- Supported people with lived experience of clinical trials to attend a workshop on clinical trials for rare and ultra rare disease.
- Brought together a working group of patients and carers for our Future Proofing UK Health Research report.
- Presented a public perspective on the risks from COVID in the winters of 2020 and 2021.
- Funded the Planet DIVOC 91 comic, created by young people from the UK, India and South Africa, to express some of the challenges they faced during the pandemic.
- Run The Departure Lounge, a pop-up shop experience in a Lewisham shopping centre, encouraging over 2’500 visitors to talk about death and dying.
Find out more about getting involved.