Maternity
& Family Research

I work with researchers, businesses and organisations to involve parents and families in health, maternity and community research.

I am passionate about facilitating conversations, creating spaces for people to share their experiences and perspectives and to offer valuable feedback and ideas for research projects.

Since 2012, I have worked as an involvement and engagement co-ordinator and facilitator, connecting parents with maternity research projects. Building on my background as an antenatal and postnatal practitioner, I have shaped this role to better support parents and researchers to enable meaningful, beneficial involvement.

My research roles include PPIE Lead and community engagement co-ordinator, with training and research communication with NIHR, NHRP and a range of universities and healthcare trusts.

“Janine is always knowledgeable, flexible and friendly; accommodating the needs of researchers and the women attending the research sessions. These discussion sessions simply would not happen without Janine’s ongoing support and we are extremely grateful to be able to work with her.“

Dr Allison Farnworth, Associate Professor of Maternal and Family Health at Northumbria University

I can support your project in a number of ways:

PPIE Strategy: developing meaningful involvement plans and engagement approaches, including evaluation and impact

Recruitment & Community Engagement: connecting researchers with parents, families and community groups

Facilitation: designing and leading workshops, focus groups and co-design sessions

Training: supporting researchers, practitioners and project teams to improve PPIE practice

Project Delivery: providing ongoing PPIE leadership throughout a research project.

Research Communication: bringing studies to life with resources, content and case studies

PPIE Leadership & Community Engagement

I specialise in developing and delivering a meaningful PPIE approach that ensure research is informed by the experiences and perspectives of parents, families and communities.

Through this approach, I help make research relevant, accessible and responsive to the needs of those it aims to serve. I specialise in helping to:

• develop and deliver PPIE strategies for health and research projects
• build and maintain relationships with community organisations, parents and public contributors.
• recruit, support and facilitate parent and public advisory groups and panels.
• organise and facilitate engagement sessions and discussion groups
• work collaboratively with researchers to embed meaningful involvement throughout research studies
• develop accessible communications, public-facing resources and dissemination activities
• ensure lived experience informs research design, delivery, recruitment and dissemination
• support funding applications through the integration of high-quality PPIE
• evaluate the PPIE activities, including the impact for researchers, parents and communities

Research Communication & Dissemination

Research has the greatest impact when people can understand and use it. I support researchers and organisations to communicate their work clearly, accessibly and meaningfully to parents, families, communities and professional audiences. I can help with:

• dissemination planning
• plain English summaries
• participant feedback materials
• website and newsletter content
• case studies and impact stories
• blogs and feature articles
• social media content
• community-focused communications
• co-produced dissemination resources
• translating research into accessible content and resources

Drawing on my background in journalism and public engagement, I create communications that are accurate, engaging and accessible while maintaining the integrity of the research.

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