This action plan supports the Medical Research Council (MRC) Public Partnerships Strategy. It outlines the key actions for year two from July 2025 to June 2026.
Priority 1: make sure public partnerships are a key aspect of research culture throughout the MRC research community
We will:
- continue to talk to the MRC research and public involvement and engagement community about our aims and why public partnerships are important
- make one-off funding awards to universities to support pre-application public involvement in MRC research
- ensure the UKRI Funding Service supports the inclusion of public partnerships in MRC funding applications
- influence UKRI funding policy to ensure our funding systems and processes support public partnerships
- introduce public partnerships expert reviewers on MRC Centres of Research Excellence funding panels
- develop a pool of public partnerships reviewers for all MRC strategic funding opportunities
- monitor and review new MRC guidance on payment for public partners, ensuring alignment with other funders
- ensure the UKRI research outcomes tracker supports annual reporting of public partnerships activity in MRC-funded research
Update July 2026
We have awarded funding to six university schemes to support pre-application public involvement in MRC research and run two awardee community of practice events.
We have also been working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) colleagues to introduce new questions about public involvement and engagement in UKRI funding applications and to introduce a mechanism for including public partners as part of the research team.
We have established a pilot of public partnerships expert reviewers for the MRC Centres of Research Excellence funding panel, completing their first review in April 2026. We have also begun to establish an MRC Academy of Experts in Public Partnerships to contribute to MRC funding reviews.
We worked with UKRI colleagues to update the UKRI research outcomes tracker questions about public involvement and engagement.
Priority 2: integrate public partnerships into leadership throughout the MRC research community
We will:
- work with research leaders to support them to understand, champion and reward public partnerships, with a focus on non-clinical research
- establish a task and finish group with public partners to guide our ways of working
- include public partners in the MRC institute review process
Update July 2026
We have set up an Embedding Public Partnerships Group to develop practical recommendations for implementing MRC priorities. We have also established a mechanism for involving public partners in the MRC institute review process.
Priority 3: improve understanding of the differences that public partnerships make to non-clinical research
We will:
- work with MRC institutes and MRC Centres of Research Excellence to share and explore ideas on how to embed meaningful public partnerships into non-clinical research practice
- convene a meeting of Better Methods Better Research ‘public involvement in non-clinical health and biomedical research’ awardees to discuss progress
- continue our Public Partnerships in Research webinar series, working with public partners and research community on future topics
- review the evaluation report recommendations for our good practice case studies and plan implementation
Update July 2026
We ran sessions at the MRC Biomedical Science Conference in November 2025 on public involvement in non-clinical research to inform future plans. We also held an ‘Embedding Public Partnerships in MRC funding applications’ webinar in 2026, with over 300 attendees.
We have reviewed and prioritised the report recommendations for our good practice case studies and are actively seeking examples of public involvement in non-clinical research.
Priority 4: diversify the range of people the MRC research community partners with
We will:
- influence how diversity information is collected for public partnerships activity across MRC head office
- produce a report on the diversity of our public partners
Update July 2026
We have published an Embedding Diversity in Research Design policy and begun to collect diversity data on projects involving public partners.
Priority 5: make health and biomedical research accessible to all and engage the next generation
We will:
- gather insight on the needs of our research community to enable sustainable co-development with public partners
- work with the MRC Strategy team, Public Partnerships Oversight Group and public partners to ensure public involvement in future opportunities to set MRC research priorities
- work with the MRC Policy Team to ensure public involvement influences policy development and evaluation
Update July 2026
We have gathered insight at MRC events, including the MRC Biomedical Science Conference in 2025 and our Public Partnerships in Research webinars.
Priority 6: support and develop everyone working in public partnerships to promote continuous learning and sustainability
We will:
- support the development of a Community of Practice for non-clinical research with members of the public involvement and engagement community
- plan and run public partnerships session at the MRC conference in November 2025
- support MRC programme managers to increase their awareness and understanding of how to involve public partners in their work
- continue to contribute to, and pilot, UKRI staff development training for public engagement
Update July 2026
We have developed and promoted a video guide for MRC staff on ‘How to involve public partners in your work’, and improved visibility of relevant case studies and webinar content.
We ran sessions on public involvement in non-clinical research at the MRC Biomedical Science Conference in November 2025.
We have also formed a peer learning group with members of the public involvement and engagement community to develop understanding of public involvement practice in non-clinical research.
Evaluation
We will:
- work with key stakeholders to co-develop success measures and a strategic evaluation plan
Update July 2026
We have developed metrics to evaluate our strategy implementation and will further co-develop the evaluation plan with our Embedding Public Partnerships Group.