Centring community voices in strategic decision-making: Welcoming the Public Contributor Panel

Public and Community Involvement, Engagement, and Participation (PPIEP) and strategic direction are cornerstones of our HPRU, ensuring that community voices and lived experience meaningfully shape the HPRU’s research and strategic direction.

A key part of this commitment is the HPRU’s newly formed Public Contributor Panel, which brings together members with lived experience of, or a personal interest in, blood borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. Panel members provide expert insight, advice, and challenge to guide and shape the HPRU’s strategic direction and leadership decisions, ensuring that lived experience shapes and guides the HPRU’s work at every level, not just within individual research projects. In addition to contributing to panel meetings and tasks, some members will also join the HPRU steering committee, feeding directly into leadership decisions.

On 14 October 2026, we were delighted to host a kick-off event to launch the Public Contributor Panel officially. This half-day, hybrid session brought together panel members, HPRU staff, and researchers from across the unit for an informal and creative afternoon of connection, reflection, and shared learning.

Building connections

The key focus of this event was to provide an opportunity for the panel members and the HPRU research team to meet, build connections, and learn from each other in an accessible, informal way. Through creative activities, including photo-sharing and collaging, panel members and researchers introduced themselves before engaging in small-group discussions, both online and in person, to share experiences, perspectives, and ideas.

It was a chance to get to know one another beyond job titles and research topics, and to begin building the trust and collaborative relationships that will underpin our work in future. The atmosphere was open, engaged and energetic, and a great start to this productive and impactful partnership.

Exploring our shared values

A central part of the day focused on three key values, co-developed with panel members to represent the core principles of the panel’s work: Anti-Oppressive, Adaptive and Flexible, and Compassionate and Courageous. Using images as a starting point for conversation, participants explored what these values mean in the context of the HPRU, how to embed them in everyday practice, and the challenges that may arise along the way.

Adaptive and flexible

Participants reflected on what it means to be adaptive and flexible while still recognising and valuing the individual strengths and expertise that each person brings. The discussion highlighted the importance of creating space for different perspectives and ways of working, and of supporting everyone to continue growing and developing. There was also a shared recognition that being adaptive means evolving alongside our colleagues, our environment, and the communities we work with, rather than expecting people to fit into a fixed way of doing things.

Anti-oppressive

Conversations on anti-oppression focused on the importance of moving beyond good intentions to meaningful, everyday action. Participants emphasised the value of being active bystanders, challenging oppression and discrimination even when an issue does not affect us personally or directly. The group also reflected on the importance of accessibility and of creating research environments where diverse experiences and perspectives are genuinely heard and valued.

Compassionate and courageous

Participants explored how compassion and courage work together to create a supportive and resilient HPRU community. There was a strong sense that collaboration, mutual care, and understanding are what hold teams together, particularly when people are navigating challenges alongside their work. At the same time, participants highlighted the need for courage: to challenge the status quo, speak out against injustice, and keep working towards change even in the face of delays and difficulties. The phrase “bridges are built from both sides” captured a shared commitment to openness, partnership, and mutual effort in building this culture together.

Imagining the future together

Attendees also participated in a collaborative creative activity, creating group collages both online and offline, in response to the question: “What are your hopes for the HPRU?” Using the same images brought to the meeting, alongside additional materials, panel members and research staff looked ahead to share ideas and visualise the unit’s key priorities, strengths and goals for the coming years.

The resulting collages were both forward-looking and reflective, capturing both the current strengths of the panel and wider HPRU, alongside a shared ambition for an HPRU that is inclusive, responsive to context, and shaped by the people and communities it serves.

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Looking ahead

The input of our Public Contributor Panel members will be vital in ensuring that community voice and lived expertise meaningfully shape and guide our decision-making and strategic direction as a unit. We’re excited to see what we can achieve together, and grateful to everyone who joined us for such a thoughtful, creative, and inspiring start to the panel's work in the HPRU.

Interested in updates about the work of the panel and other news and developments from the HPRU? Sign up for the HPRU newsletter here.

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