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People seated donating blood in a sunlit room, all sharing smiles. World Blood Donor Day

Are you a blood donor, an organ recipient, or someone who has experience receiving blood transfusions? Would you like to learn more about our research, and help shape it?
Please fill in this form to tell us you're interested: click here.

There are lots of ways you can get involved, whether you want to stay updated, share your views, or help us run better studies that benefit more people.

  • Sign up to our newsletter: get seasonal updates on our research, events, and ways to get involved. Sign up here.
  • Come to an event: if you’re local to Oxford, join us at one of our community events to hear more about our research.  Check out the gallery below for examples of our past events! Here’s what’s coming up:
      1. Community Health Promotion Event – Weds 19th November 2025, Leys Pools and Leisure Centre, Oxford
      2. Community Health Promotion Event – Weds 3rd December 2025, Rose Hill Community Centre, Oxford
  • Join our Patient and Public Involvement Committee: work alongside researchers to make sure our studies reflect what matters to patients and donors. We welcome patients (transfusion or transplantation patients) and blood donors from across the UK. Tell us you’re interested here.
  • Take part in a research study: if you have been invited to take part in CODONET, your participation could help shape our response to a future pandemic. Invitation to take part is for selected blood donors who live in areas of the England where ticks and mosquitoes are most common. Click here to learn more about CODONET and what it involves [link to Shannah’s page on CODONET]

Register your interest in joining our network of patient and donor contributors

Patient and Public Involvement (PPI)

We’re proud to work with a dedicated group of blood transfusion recipients, blood donors and organ recipients who help us make our research better, fairer, and more relevant through our Patient and Public Involvment (PPI) committee.

Our PPI Committee meets regularly with researchers to share ideas, raise questions, and bring fresh perspectives to our work. To work with us, you don’t need any specialist knowledge, just curiosity, lived experience, and a willingness to speak up.

 How often do we meet?

  • The committee meets online once every 4 months online via Microsoft Teams, with each meeting lasting 1.5-2 hours. You're welcome to take part in additional activities outside of this schedule – such as reviewing study materials, visiting research labs, or contributing to events, but these are optional. We meet once per year in-person near London or Oxford.

 What do we work on?

  • Our members help shape everything from improving patient information and discussing new studies, to updating our website and advising on community engagement.

 Who can join?

  • We’re looking for people based in the UK who:
    • Have donated blood
    • Have received blood or a transplant
    • Have personal experience of NHS Blood and Transplant services

 

If you are an LGBTQ+ man who donates blood, or a patient with thalassaemia who receives regular transfusions, we would particularly value your voice on our committee.

 We welcome people from all walks of life. What matters most is your commitment to helping us improve NHS Blood and Transplant services and research. We value the time you generously give to us and offer a token of appreciation of £25 per hour for your involvement, in line with guidance from National Institute of Healthcare Research.

 

Meet the PPI PANEL

Photo of group of people from a wide range of backgrounds standing in a research centre. Labelled with reasons why people get involved in research (1) to be the patient voice, (2) I am interested in the research, (3) to give something back

Icon representing the silhouette of one of our patient panel members

Photo of one of our patient panel members smiling

I wanted to be a blood donor, but I can’t due to my transplant – so I want to help in other ways. It’s important for me to be involved in research, as, in my experience, not many non-white people are involved in research. I hope to be a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves and also to represent the community that’s hard to engage with - Firoza

When I found out I was having chemotherapy for cancer I knew that there was a strong possibility I would become anaemic and require a blood transfusion. I was very apprehensive about receiving blood from an unknown source. Working with the Genomics to Improve Microbial Screening project has opened my eyes to the many issues around providing blood, blood products and transplantation with care and precision. - Steve

Want to learn more?

Read our PPIE strategy here [INSERT LINK]

Review our PPI terms of reference here  [INSERT LINK]

Email us at gems-btru-ppie@ndm.ox.ac.uk

Try out our quiz!