Last year we launched a new Community Committee.
They meet every quarter to help the HRA to make better decisions and ensure that health and social care research is done with and for everyone. Our strategy, 'Making it easy to do research that people can trust' sets out our ambitions.
Margaret Cheng has been a member of our Community Committee since its launch.
Margaret blogs about why she joined and her journey at the HRA.
I’m Margaret and I’m a member of the HRA Community Committee. I applied to become a member of the committee because its aim is to ensure that the views of the HRA Community inform what the HRA does. We do this through strong links with the HRA Board, responding to and commenting on the Board’s work and raising our own issues for the Board to consider.
I have taken part in clinical research trials and have actively looked for trials and research relevant to my own health conditions, so have first-hand experience of how challenging it can be to find relevant projects and to get involved. I know that HRA recognises the importance of involving patients and the public in all stages of the research process. I am proud to work with them in support of their ‘Making it easy to do research that everyone can trust’ vision and their aim to increase visibility and transparency through the ‘Make it Public’ campaign.
I have worked with HRA in various roles for three years now, along with other health sector organisations including National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and NHS England (NHSE). My interest in health research started after a stroke, nine years ago, which led to me closing my company (I was a market research consultant) and gradually coming to terms with a new me. I was lucky enough to make it back into the workplace but, when my ongoing health issues forced me to stop, I knew I wanted to continue to be involved both with stroke and wider health issues.
My first encounter with HRA was helping to improve information for people deciding whether to take part in research. Since then I have taken part in two business planning workshops, helped shape clinical trials guidance, worked on the Make It Public Campaign and been involved with recruitment.
So joining the Community Committee was a logical next step for me. I have spent the past year getting to know my fellow committee members and the supporting HRA team whilst getting more deeply involved with the Board’s business. Setting up a new committee from scratch has been hard work - we’ve had to work out our own terms of reference (TOR) and really think hard about what we want to achieve - but the fruits of our efforts are beginning to emerge. Community Committee members attend Board meetings on rotation and talk directly about issues we want the Board to be aware of. We are listened to, well supported and can track the actions that arise from what we bring forward.
From a personal development perspective, I have learned a lot about the HRA’s structure, people and strategy. I have developed my understanding the Research Ethics Committee (REC) and the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) including the huge amount of work these committees do and the importance of the volunteers who undertake this work.
I am looking forward to meeting some of my fellow committee members face to face in the coming months and to continuing to see where the development of the Community Committee will take us in our work with HRA.
Learn more about our Community Committee.