CA:RING is a UK-wide Patient and Public Involvement community. It brings together over 200 young people and parents with researchers who are working to improve children’s health and care.
We believe that people should have a say in research which affects them.
Young people and parents can help researchers understand what’s important when it comes to young people’s health, how they can best involve participants in healthcare research and how they can be fair and inclusive.
CA:RING is a non-profit partnership between the University of Cambridge and Anna Freud.
To find out more, visit ca-ring.co.uk or email us on caring@annafreud.org
CA:RING helps researchers involve members of the public in planning and interpreting their research and help them keep the public informed about their studies in plain terms.
Involving members of the public is increasingly becoming an expectation of high-quality research, because people know their own lives better than researchers do. The experiences of people from under-served groups tend to be particularly overlooked. This means that they are often not well represented in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) and research is less likely to benefit them.
At CA:RING we are committed to including people from all sorts of backgrounds and communities to help make research more fair, ethical and inclusive.
Anyone can join CA:RING if they:
✓ Currently live in the UK (you don’t need to be British!)
AND
✓ Are aged 11 to 24 OR
✓ Are a parent, carer or guardian to a young person aged 24 or under
We are currently looking for people to join our Advisory Group. There is one group for young people and another group for parents and guardians.
The groups will meet once a month to:
This is a paid opportunity – £15/hr if you’re under 18 or £25/hr if you’re over 18.
If you’d like to join, visit ca-ring.co.uk/join-ag
If you don’t want to join the Advisory Group but would like to hear about opportunities to take part in PPI activities, check back soon for when we open applications for our general mailing list around December 2023.
We can offer a range of advice and support for researchers, including those who do not have much (or any!) experience with Patient and Public Involvement.
Involving the public can help you identify and address gaps in your research design, understand the wider systemic and social context of your findings, and make your work more competitive for funding applications and publication.
For example, CA:RING members can help you:
We are happy to support any UK-based researchers whose work has the potential to benefit young people’s health and well-being.
For more information and to complete an “expression of interest” form, visit ca-ring.co.uk/researchers
Visit our website: ca-ring.co.uk
Or email us on caring@annafreud.org
