Collaborating for the public voice: Reflections on the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative
Categories: Blogs, Public engagement, ADR UK Partnership
29 July 2024
How can organisations working with data research drive forward good practice in public engagement? In a new blog for Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), our Senior Public Engagement Manager, Shayda Kashef, reflected on ADR UK’s involvement in the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative.
In 2022, ADR UK announced its membership as a co-founding organisation of the Public Engagement in Data Research Initiative (PEDRI). Spanning organisations across the data research sector, PEDRI was established to build a community that would drive forward good practice in public engagement.
Since then, ADR UK has collaborated with fellow member organisations to help bring the vision of PEDRI to life. From developing good practice standards for public involvement and engagement, to launching a pilot public information campaign, PEDRI has been making strides to ensure the public voice is better represented in data research. Most recently, an in-person away day brought representatives of member organisations together to exchange perspectives and discuss PEDRI’s ambitions for the years ahead.
ADR UK’s Senior Public Engagement Manager, Shayda Kashef, has played a key role in all of this work, from the very beginning. In a newly-published blog for HDR UK, Shayda reflects: “The beauty of something like PEDRI is that it moves us away from siloed working and encourages us to collaborate, check each other’s biases, and get to the core of why meaningful public involvement and engagement is valuable to everyone.”