Sandra Paget

Public contributor

I am an experienced lay reviewer for the National Institute of Health Research and have been a lay member of several funding panels: Research for Patient Benefit (South Central), Programme Grants for Applied Research and the Policy Research Programme.

As a public contributor I have recently completed involvement io the East Midlands applied research collaboration funded projects,Mapping the innovation landscape, http://arc-em.nihr.ac.uk/resea...; Strategic Decision Making and Co-productionhttps://arc-em.nihr.ac.uk/research/strategic-decision-making-and-co-production; Equality Impact Assessment project, and Public Involvement Advisor to the Management Committee of the Supporting Adult Social Care Innovation Study, London School of economics https://www.sasciproject.uk. I was a service user member of the Department of Health's Advisory Group for implementation research for the National Service Framework for Long Term Neurological Conditions (2004-2011)

I began my working life as a medical secretary at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, London and was involved in setting up the Newcomen Centre’s Toy Library for children with physical and sensory disabilities. I initiated the original Buckinghamshire Neurological Alliance which was a grassroots network of local support groups for neurological conditions I was elected to the Executive Committee of the Neurological Alliance to represent Regional Neurological Alliances (2004-2005).

I am interested in research and education into “quality of life” issues relating to disabled people and how we can participate and influence research topics. I believe that public understanding and communication of science are vital to the progress of research, especially research to support policy. I have lived and worked in, Leicestershire, London, Swansea, Cardiff, Merseyside, Buckinghamshire and Geneva, Switzerland, and now live in Leicestershire.