The Volunteer Advisory Panel
A Volunteer Advisory Panel will be a group of representatives from the Healthspan Connect participants. It will be established to take the opinions and views of our volunteers during the development and running of research programmes.
Membership will be for a defined period, typically three years.
Who will the panel consist of?
- VAP: A minimum of twelve VAP members who can meet online with the Healthspan Connect study team around twice a year. We may occasionally invite VAP volunteers to St Thomas’ Hospital for in-person meetings. Travel expenses will be reimbursed, and light refreshments will be provided. VAP members will also be emailed approximately 4-6 times a year for their views.
- eVAP: A minimum of twelve eVAP members who will be consulted by phone or email approximately 4-6 times a year.
I want to get involved, what does being part of the VAP entail?
The VAP and/or eVAP will provide feedback on new research protocols, opinions on new grant proposals and pilot our questionnaires before commencing the research.
They will also review newsletters and recruitment letters, discuss ethical issues, provide advice on topics such as how often we contact participants, and media requests.
The views of these two groups will be summarised as a consultation which will be available for audit. All VAP members will sign a confidentiality agreement and will be asked to sign a photo consent.
Participants aged 12-17 years old will be able to give feedback through taking part in an eVAP, consulted via email or text individually. They will also be given the opportunity of joining a Young VAP.
How do I apply?
There are no qualifications needed and everyone can apply. The panel will be selected to represent the diversity of Healthspan Connect in terms of age and location of participants.
We have sent an invitation email to all Healthspan Connect participants registered to date to receive formal expressions of interest.
We will then let you know about the outcome of your application as soon as possible.
If you have recently signed up and haven’t received this email, please let us know by emailing us at healthspan@kcl.ac.uk.