A public voice in governance: Grace's experience

Grace McCorkle is a Freelance Consultant and Executive Director of Collaborative Women UK, a not-for-profit organisation supporting women in Greater Manchester. She’s been involved in the National Institute for Health and Care Research Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF) since 2017. She’s a member of the Manchester CRF Executive Committee and of the Black and Asian Research Advisory Group.

She met with Annie Keane, Vocal Deputy Director, to share her experiences of working in a governance role in health research:

How did you get involved? 

I originally got involved when I was approached by a member of the Vocal team. At that time, my interest in research was as a public contributor in public health data and research, I was speaking at an event and I was asked if I’d be interested in contributing to clinical research. I saw it as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the research establishment and the community. So that’s where I started my journey.

What were your first impressions?

Having a seat at the table connected some of the dots for me, I saw the connections between the data side and the clinical aspects of research. However, I also felt that the clinical aspect of research was quite separate and it needed more collaboration between the research sector and the communities.

My professional background is in the Housing sector and I have a real focus on inequalities where health is concerned. I wanted to see how science and the results of the research could be brought closer to the ordinary people of Greater Manchester. I felt it was an opportunity to help change the narrative.

The positive aspect is the opportunity to influence an important piece of infrastructure within our city

What do you like about the role?

My focus is strategic, to ensure that the organisation broadens its perspective in terms of its purpose and that it can say what it is doing as a whole to improve the lives of citizens of Greater Manchester. I see my role as being a critical friend who scrutinises and supports the organisation really to be more effective and more inclusive in terms of what they're meant to be doing. So that's the reason why I took on this role.

I’ve enjoyed working at the national level too, representing our work in Manchester at conferences working in partnership with staff as well at networking with people from other organisations.

What changes would you like to see?

I think there is always more that we could be doing. There is often focus on the operational aspects of delivering research. As a member of the public I want to help keep the focus on the aspirational aspect of clinical research, what is the research helping to change?

This is true for the research sector as a whole, we need more public contributors involved at the national level too and more information about research for wider audiences. It’s important for me to see the difference that we are making.

What would you say to people who might be interested in taking on a similar role?

My view is we need to have a mix of people with different personal experiences and professional ones too. I’d like to see more ordinary people of Greater Manchester, exploring these opportunities to have a voice and become an influential game changer.

We need people in this space who can bring their own unique perspectives and passion for change, matter what background they come from, for example they may have been a patient, or a community advocate or have different experience.  We need people who are interested in making a change and this can be an opportunity for everyone.