LDUK Trustee and Press and Community Outreach Manager, Julia Knight, has recently accepted a position on a key NIHR Public Advisory Panel. This panel brings together volunteers to give their thoughts on a range of studies focused on emerging and zoonotic infections.
Julia Knight
Julia’s expertise in tick-borne diseases and associated conditions, her lived experience, charity work with LDUK, and professional background as a paediatric nurse will help ensure that the Lyme community’s perspectives are reflected in discussions informing UK public health research.
NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections
This NIHR research unit brings together researchers from the University of Liverpool, University of Oxford, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the UK Health Security Agency. It studies infections that are new, increasing, or spreading – such as Lyme disease, dengue, respiratory viruses (e.g. COVID-19, influenza), and diseases transmitted from animals.
Understanding Community Perspectives
Research is strongest when it reflects real experiences. As part of a new five-year programme (2025–2030), the unit has recruited a small, diverse group of members of the public with relevant personal experience to join this new public advisory panel. Panel members are from a variety of backgrounds, helping to ensure that research considers multiple viewpoints.
The panel’s purpose is to bring lived experience and community perspectives into research on emerging and zoonotic infections. Panel members will work directly with scientific researchers, helping to ensure that studies reflect what truly matters to patients, families, and communities in the UK.
There will be particular focus on understanding the views of people often missing from research and gaining insight into health inequalities and barriers to accessing care.