Get Involved with health and medical research through your lived experiences

Consumer and Community Involvement is about recognising the importance of lived experience in research.

Get involved in research as a person with lived experience of a health condition, either personally or as a carer, family member, or friend, to help shape decisions today.

We study different health conditions like cancer, mental health, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cardiovascular diseases. We also look into topics like the environment and how to make healthcare services better.

Register to get involved

If you have any questions, please contact CCI@Menzies.utas.edu.au or call +61 3 6220 7873.

Impact feature: Menzies Prostate Cancer Research Group

Our approach to working with consumer and community members

We are committed to ensuring that consumers and the community are at the heart of our research.

Consumer and community involvement is where consumers and community actively work with researchers or research organisations to help shape decisions about health and medical research. This partnership is important to ensure decision-making is with or by consumers, rather than ‘to,’ ‘about’ or ‘for’ consumers.

By involving consumers at Menzies, we will make sure research is relevant and addresses the concerns and priorities of the community. We will tackle the most important questions from the perspective of those who are most affected by the research outcomes.

Our vision

To promote and support consumer and community involvement in all stages of research to improve research focus, feasibility, outcomes, and impact.

Our values

Respect, Participation, People Centred, Partnership, Influence, Accessible, Transparent, Responsive, Accountable, Supportive, Diversity and Continuous Improvement.

Our plan

Menzies partnered with consumers to set our future vision and goals to make consumer and community involvement is at the heart of everything we do.

Menzies Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2024 (PDF 333.2 KB)

Consumer and Community Involvement Committee

At Menzies, we include people with real-life experiences and community members in our decisions. In 2024, we formed a team of researchers and consumers with the health conditions we study to lead and improve how we involve consumers in our work.

If you are interested in learning more about the committee’s work, please contact the Consumer and Community Coordinator.

What is Consumer and Community Involvement?

A consumer is a person with lived experience of a specific health condition, either personally or as carer, family member or friend. A community is a group of people sharing a common interest, cause, or identity.

Consumers and community members can get involved in a variety of ways depending on experiences, interests, and availability.

Some examples of involvement are:

  • Help plan research studies and clinical trials.
  • Review and help with writing funding applications or other research papers.
  • Join consumer advisory groups or lab meetings.
  • Present research findings at conferences together.
  • Work together on how to use research results in real-world settings like policy, education, and practice.
  • Assess how the research was carried out with other researchers.

Why should you get involved?

The benefits and impact are endless. By getting involved in health and medical research activities consumers and community members will be helping to:

  • Make sure money for research goes where it’s needed most in the community.
  • Make sure research results help the people who need it most.
  • Make research better and more ethical.
  • Help people understand and support research.
Figure 1: This diagram illustrates how consumers are involved at every stage of health and medical research.
Figure 1: This diagram illustrates how consumers are involved at every stage of health and medical research.
Figure 2: This diagram shows how consumers, and the community can get involved in different ways, leading to shared decision-making.
Figure 2: This diagram shows how consumers, and the community can get involved in different ways, leading to shared decision-making.

How can I get involved?

We invite you to join our community at Menzies and get involved in meaningful health and medical research. By registering below, you will receive regular email updates on various opportunities for involvement with projects, programs, and strategy.

Stay informed and contribute to research that can save lives.

Register to get involved

How do I find out more?