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Scotland’s Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) community is being called on to share its work, with the abstract submission window now open for the 2027 PPI showcase event — the fourth in a series that has quickly become a fixture in the Scottish research calendar.
Hosted jointly by NHS Research Scotland (NRS) and the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of the Scottish Government, the event will take place at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) on Monday 8 March 2027. It follows three successful gatherings since the series launched in 2024, each one bringing together public contributors, researchers, NHS staff, academics and third-sector partners with a shared interest in improving how patients and the public shape health and care research.
Why PPI matters
Patient and public involvement is now widely recognised as central to good research — not an add-on, but a core part of how studies are designed, prioritised and delivered. Involvement can take many forms, from shaping research priorities and study design, to sitting on advisory groups, helping develop participant-facing materials, or working alongside research teams across the full lifecycle of a study.
Done well, PPI helps studies stay grounded in lived experience, and can improve recruitment, relevance, accessibility and inclusivity — helping research reach the people it’s meant to serve.
What the organisers are looking for
The call is open to PPI partners, researchers at all career stages (including early career researchers), professionals and policymakers with an interest in developing PPI practice. Three submission formats are on offer:
- 60-minute workshops
- Oral presentations
- Speed talks
Submissions are welcomed across a range of experience levels, and organisers are keen to see the full breadth of PPI activity happening across Scotland reflected in the final programme.
Dr Julie Simpson, Research Manager for Information and Capacity at the CSO and a key lead on the event, said the call is about inspiring the wider community and building a programme that reflects real progress in the field. In her words, the organisers want submissions that spotlight successful initiatives, test out new ideas, showcase diversity and inclusion, or simply reflect honestly on what’s been learned.
The programme will be built around three themes:
- Early and continuous engagement, ethical co-production, and genuine partnership working
- Reaching underserved groups and communities, and widening who gets to take part
- Building and supporting the PPI community, helping people make new connections across the country
Expect sessions exploring what motivates people to get involved, the challenges involvement can bring, the outcomes it produces, and some of the misconceptions that still linger around what “meaningful” involvement actually looks like.
Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, Chief Scientist for Health, underlined just how central this is to CSO-funded research, noting that all CSO-funded studies carry a condition of public participation — a reflection of how far the culture has shifted toward genuine partnership between researchers and the public they serve.
Key dates
- Abstract submission deadline: Friday 30 October 2026
- Event date: Monday 8 March 2027
- Venue: Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), Dundee
- Full programme and registration: launching early 2027
How to submit
Two submission routes are open now:
Anyone with questions about the event, or who wants to talk through their submission before putting pen to paper, can contact the NRS team directly via the original NHS Research Scotland announcement.
Source: NHS Research Scotland, published 26 August 2026.
