Case study: “I wanted to contribute in any way I could” – HR Manager lends their voice in Public Contributor role

Jenny Green, a Human Resources and Operations Manager at a logistics and warehousing company, has been helping to guide health and care research as a Public Contributor on the Partnership Board for the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) East of England since 2021.

Alongside her role within the NIHR, Jenny, who lives in Norwich with her fiancé Ben and their three cats, works full time and is also in her final year of a business management degree at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

In her current role HR role, Jenny deals with several big corporations’ distribution and supply chains, a job she finds satisfying as she enjoys working with people and being able to invest in their development and upskilling. It’s this desire to help people that drew Jenny to the world of health and care research after receiving an email during her studies at UEA.

“I remember receiving an email about the Public Contributor role and reading about the NIHR research behind the COVID vaccines which saved people's lives and I wanted to contribute in any way I could.

“My skillset is not in science or in research, but this was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be able to help people. I thought, wow, this is an amazing thing where I can be a very small cog in a big machine, but it's still a part of it.”

Jenny’s role as a Public Contributor on the CRN East of England Partnership Board involves attending meetings and reviewing important documents which are then discussed by the board, interactions that she describes as “interesting” and “inspiring”.

Jenny has also been assisting the CRN East of England Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) team with engaging rural communities in research.

Jenny has helped to introduce NIHR research to this group using her link as a club leader with the National Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs (NFYFC), a club she has been involved with since the age of 15.

The NFYFC are one of the largest rural youth organisations in the UK dedicated to young people who have a love for agriculture and rural life. Led by young people, for young people, the Young Farmers' Clubs provide their members with a unique opportunity to develop skills, work with their local communities, travel abroad, take part in a varied competitions programme, and enjoy a dynamic social life.

Alongside her role on the Partnership Board, Jenny and the PPIE team are working together to help ensure research is accessible for the rural communities that historically have had fewer opportunities to be involved in research.

“Without research we wouldn't have any of the medication or the knowledge that we have now. Beforehand I didn't really understand what research was, but then as soon as I became a Public Contributor and learned more about it, I realised that there's this window to a whole world that I didn't even comprehend.”

To find out more about how you can get involved in research visit www.bepartofresearch.uk.