Abstract
This article explores the approach that ICES (formerly the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) uses to encourage public engagement at both the research study and corporate level. ICES is an independent not-for-profit research institute in the province of Ontario, Canada. This article was co-written by ICES’ public engagement team and four members of the ICES Public Advisory Council (PAC). As part of the process of writing this article PAC members provided their reflections on why they got involved, what worked well and the limitations and challenges of ICES’ approach.ICES described the development of its public engagement strategy to inform how the institution would capture and incorporate the values of Ontarians in ICES activities and research. ICES provided details on two key elements of its strategy: the formation of a PAC to advise its leadership, and the creation of resources and supports to encourage researchers to incorporate public engagement in their projects.PAC members and ICES provided perspectives on what impact they perceive as a result of the public engagement strategy. PAC members expressed that ICES has demonstrated listening to and using their input, but it is too early to evaluate if their feedback has changed the way ICES conducts its work. ICES discussed the challenges and successes in building and implementing the public engagement strategy, including recruiting a diverse council, aligning with public priorities and creating a culture of engagement. As a result of public input, ICES has restructured the way the institution explains its privacy and cybersecurity approach to build trust and confidence. ICES has also seen an increase in researchers using public engagement resources, and early data suggests that in 2019 about 20% of scientists included some form of public engagement in their projects.ICES’ journey to public engagement resulted in important changes to processes and activities at the institution, but there is much more that needs to be done. PAC members advocate that public members should be engaged in health data research and hope that public input will be a core element in health data research in the future. ICES will continue its efforts to address public priorities and will seek to further evaluate the impact of public engagement across the organisation.
Highlights
This article was co-written by ICES’ public engagement team and four members of the ICES Public Advisory Council
The section below provides reflections from both the ICES Public Advisory Council (PAC) and ICES itself on the successes and challenges of the public engagement strategy, and whether each party feels that change is evident in the organisation as a result
Many of the priorities set by the PAC have pertained to ICES broadening its communications to the general public and building awareness of the institution and health data research
Summary
This article was co-written by ICES’ public engagement team and four members of the ICES Public Advisory Council. ICES’ public engagement team designed the strategy with the intent of having a two-tiered approach: public input to influence organisational decision-making and support for researchers to have smaller, project-specific engagement mechanisms. This focused ICES’ public engagement activities into the four key pillars described below (Figure 2). ICES typically has over 500 active research projects, each with distinct topics and objectives and different cross-sections of public data This poses challenges for encouraging public engagement within research projects, implying that each project team would need to develop an engagement plan that would be specific to their study population. ICES scientists are offered the opportunity to do one-onone consultations with the Manager of Public Engagement and walk through how they might conduct engagement within their project given the study population, timelines and budget
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