Invitation to apply to Children, Young People and Parents' Research Café by Wed 11.02.26 at 1pm
The People's Research Cafe is a café with a twist. Visitors to the café are welcomed to sit down at a table with an Imperial College researcher. Over a free drink, they find out about the researcher’s project and are asked for their opinions on the project guided by three pre-prepared questions. The researchers will then use this feedback to improve their projects.
Structure and Purpose of Event?
This event will follow a similar approach to a People's Research café (previously run by PERC in other settings including the Great Exhibition Road Festival and community venues) to involve the community in research. You can read about the People's Research Cafe organised in 2022 at the Great Exhibition Road Festival here: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/
This people's research cafe is currently being co-designed with a parent, a young person, and a group of primary school children. In the morning, the event will be attended by primary school children, and in the afternoon by young people and parents. Our aim is to bring research projects directly to them, giving researchers the opportunity to receive valuable feedback that can shape their work, while enabling children, young people, and parents/carers to gain insight into how public involvement in research operates.
Event logistics
- The People’s Research Café will be organised into different audiences. You may have a project suitable for any audience, or you may have a project that is only suitable for discussion with a particular group. Please note, the timeslots are as follows:
- Primary school children: 10:30am-11:30am
- Parents: After 1:00pm (specific slot to be confirmed)
- Young people: After 1:00pm (specific slot to be confirmed)
- Speaking with primary school children:
- There will be approximately five tables, each hosted by a researcher, and the children will visit them to discuss point 1 and 2. Please find them below:
- The activity called “Ask Me Anything": During this activity, the children will sit at your table and ask you questions about yourself as a researcher. You should prepare three questions for the children to ask you (for example: What do researchers do? or Why did you want to become a researcher?).
- Discussing your project with them: present an overall idea of your project in plain English and ask children one or two questions which could have an interactive component (e.g. draw a picture)
- Researchers will have a total of 15 minutes with the children, who will rotate between tables.
- There will be approximately five tables, each hosted by a researcher, and the children will visit them to discuss point 1 and 2. Please find them below:
- Speaking with parents and young people
- Researchers will have up to 25 minutes to present their projects and receive feedback from each group of visitors, who will rotate between tables. We recommend that researchers prepare in advance to present their projects in plain English.
- Each project will be required to prepare a lay summary and up to 3 pre-prepared questions to ask children/young people/parents to their table.
- Each project selected to host a table at the event will also have one facilitator (who may be a public contributor or member of PERC/PPIE staff). The facilitator will assist the researcher to host the table and keep conversations flowing between researchers and the visitors.
Requirements of researchers who host a table at the event:
- Comments and insights provided by visitors about the projects must be written down by researchers and/or facilitators, in order that the researcher/s can utilise these to provide feedback (to the event organisers and those visitors who consent to hear more) as to how the insights influenced their project (or not). Visitors to the event will also be asked to provide anonymous feedback on their experience when they leave via a paper or online feedback form.
- Write up a summary with the feedback provided and how it impacted the project/proposal within 8 weeks of the event to PERC. So this can be provided by PERC to those who request it.
- Attend a 1.5 hour online/in person training session on Thursday 26th February at 5:30pm (see details below)
Selection criteria for projects include:
- Projects focusing on children and/or young people's related health (i.e. aiming to improve children and young people's health).
Topics related to transition between childhood and adolescent health services and/or improving access to health services have been highlighted by young people as a priority. - For your reference, please find some health priorities outlined by the government here: https://www.gov.uk/government/
publications/youth-matters- your-national-youth-strategy/ youth-matters-your-national- youth-strategy#ministerial- foreword
- For your reference, please find some health priorities outlined by the government here: https://www.gov.uk/government/
- Projects can be at any stage of the research cycle (please see the image below). However, the project must be at such a stage that children/young people and/or parents’ perspectives are able to influence and improve/change it. For instance, if the project is at the dissemination stage, it is expected that researchers are seeking children/young people/parents' perspectives to shape their dissemination plans.
- The research project subject matter must:
- be palatable to a general audience which may include children and young people e.g. plain English, not likely to cause alarm/distress
- not be too niche so that there will be hardly any visitors who could relate to it or provide insights e.g. a rare disease
- We would like a mix of projects about different topics so visitors have different subject areas to choose from, and the organisers will select projects on this basis
How do I apply to take part?
- Please complete the following application form: (https://imperial.eu.
qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ 3Jh3PBESrTfjL6K)
Timelines for application?
Please submit your application form by 1pm on Wednesday 11th of February 2026. Please do think carefully about why you want to be part of the event and what you think visitors could contribute to your project.
Successful projects will be notified on Friday 13th of February 2026. Successful applicants will also need to attend a 1.5 hour planning and training session on Thursday 26th February from 5:30pm to 7:00pm where you will be given an overview of how the event works, be given tips on starting and ending conversations with visitors (please note this is not training on communicating with the public more generally – we expect that those applying to take part are comfortable speaking to members of the public), meet the facilitators with which you will be co-hosting your table and amend your lay summary and 3 questions (if needed).
Please note that if you are unable to attend the training session on Thursday, February 26th, but your topic is a priority for the children/young people/parents, we may consider scheduling a separate training session with you, subject to the availability of both our team and the public contributors co-designing this event.
Please feel free to share this information with others and if you have any questions, please contact us at publicinvolvement@imperial.ac.