Dr Steven Blackburn Ph.D.

• PhD in Biomedical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 2013
• MSc in Bioengineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 2000
• BSc (Hons) in Sport Sciences, University of Sunderland, 1998

Steven has a growing reputation as leader for PPIE locally, nationally and internationally, with specific expertise in the role of PPIE in shaping and co-producing research. Currently, Steven is regional lead for public involvement in NIHR Research Design Service (RDS) West Midlands and academic lead for Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) in Research in the Department of Applied Health Sciences, Birmingham University.

In his RDS role, Steven has regional and national roles, including Chair of the national RDS Public Involvement Community and Public Involvement Lead for the RDS National Office.

Throughout his academic career Steven has embraced public partnerships in research activities, including:

• embedding patients and the public through research studies
• co-designing and evaluating assistive and digital health technologies with end users
• developing public involvement and engagement in global health research
• co-developing patient reported outcome measures with patients for clinical trials in the pharmaceutical industry.

Steven has contributed to several NIHR initiatives to improve the quality of PPIE. Steven successfully led a pilot site for the new UK Standards for Public Involvement, from which he is now developing a national Quality Recognition and Awards Programme. He has also contributed to NIHR guidance for PPIE in the Standard Application Form and Trial Steering Committees.

As part of a European implementation project on osteoarthritis care, Steven convened an international patient panel as part of the project’s successful Community of Practice. With the Institute for Research and Development in Colombo, Steven is helping to introduce and develop PPIE in Sri Lankan research, holding workshops and seminars with different institutions and research communities. During the COVID pandemic, Steven supported research institutions to adapt processes  to continue PPIE virtually and co-authored NIHR’s Shared Commitments statement to encourage others to maintain their activity.

Steven has have successfully obtained funding for PPIE-related projects and published numerous articles describing the role and impact of PPIE in research.

Current

Development of a national quality recognition and awards programme for public involvement in research

 Qualitative narrative review of public involvement quality reported in annual reports of NIHR infrastructure organisations.

 Strengthening regional infrastructure and collaboration for public involvement in research

 Multi-centre randomised open-label assessor-blinded two arm parallel group trial of subcutaneous versus oral methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with feasibility assessment, economic evaluation and qualitative study. (Public Involvement Lead)

 JIGSAW-A: Joint implementation of guidelines for osteoarthritis in West Africa

 Causal mechanisms behind intergenerational transmission of nutritional choices and their association with metabolic risk indicators in Sri Lanka

Previous

Implementing the New Standards for Public Involvement in Research Environments (INSPIRE)

 Engaging underserved ethnic communities to improve the diversity of Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement and support the collaborative transformation of evidence-based primary care services

 Co-design and evaluation of the MSK-Tracker platform to implement the MSK-HQ patient questionnaire to empower patients and improve services

 'Student-Link': development of a new pathway to engage ethnic minority populations in patient and public involvement and engagement in research

 Understanding the experience, costs and consequences of patient and public involvement (PPI) in Primary Care Research

 Getting sustainable, person-centred musculoskeletal health intelligence from primary care electronic health record linkage and modelling: the PRELIM initiative

 Optimisation of adrenal incidentaloma patient management pathway using a novel IT Management System

 Back pain prevention in multiple myeloma using an external spinal brace - a feasibility study

 Co-development and evaluation of a Post-stroke Checklist with stroke survivors, later endorsed by the World Stroke Organization

Research Groups and Centres

NIHR Research Design Service West Midlands

Vice Chair of Woore Primary School Governors