Hello, I am Janine and I am PPI Lead on the SHAPES and SHAPES-BIO studies. I am really proud of the involvement with so many mums and how their experience, perspectives and feedback has been embedded throughout both of the projects.

After previously working as a writer and editor, I retrained when I started my family and then worked as an antenatal & postnatal practitioner for many years. I now bring this combined experience to supporting meaningful parent involvement in research and helping organisations engage with parents through conversations, resources, and community.  

I am passionate about my work with parents, supporting their involvement throughout research projects. With small group discussions and activities, the mums have made valuable contributions at every stage of SHAPES: from defining the research question and advising on participant recruitment, to identifying key findings and helping to decide how these, and information about the study, are shared.

My focus is about ensuring that involvement has a meaningful impact on the research, while also creating a positive and empowering experience for the mums. I want them to feel confident and comfortable about using their voice to share their experiences and perspectives, and to see how their input shapes a study.

My work has given me the opportunity to collaborate with a range of maternity groups, supporting the development of research-informed communities and group leaders.

I am driven to continue raising awareness of PPI, highlighting its importance in research and the difference it can make to research teams, studies, and the families involved. Speaking with mothers from a range of different communities has given me a deeper understanding of how parents access, interpret and use information. This has helped to strengthen my focus on bringing research to life by talking about projects, how to be involved, potential findings and what this might mean for parents. 

I am also a mum of three and an aunt to four and throughout my career as a practitioner I worked with thousands of parents during their pregnancy, as new parents and throughout life as a young family. My approach is to bring parents together for conversations, and for me to listen.

Qualifications & skills: I possess a unique combination of qualifications, which include Journalism, Antenatal Education, Postnatal Groupwork and Public Innovation and Co- Production in Research.

My core skills include communication, facilitation, listening and leading conversations, alongside project planning and co-ordination. I also specialise in creating clear, accessible content and resources.

I am passionate about facilitating conversations, creating spaces for people to talk openly and share their experiences and to offer valuable feedback and ideas for research projects.

Teaching/training: For almost 25 years, I have developed and facilitated antenatal and postnatal workshops and sessions. Since also working as a PPIE Lead in research, I have developed and facilitated PPIE training sessions for the Newcastle Health Research Partnership and I have led PPIE training for MA Midwives at Northumbria University.

Research Projects: My involvement in maternity and family research began in 2015 when I began facilitating sessions with researchers and members of my postnatal community groups. I have been able to use this experience, along with my skills as an antenatal and postnatal practitioner, to work on a range of projects. 

• PPI Lead on the SHAPES maternity research projects
• PPIE Lead on the NECTAR dental research project
• I contribute to the NEST and Co-Prepare research projects
• PPIE facilitator for maternity research projects
• PPIE Lead to develop a community engagement project with NIHR RSS
• Project Manager on the Lived Experience Academy project

Working with organisations: Alongside my PPI roles, I also design and facilitate antenatal and postnatal programmes for national organisations, which includes content, resources, and leading discussion sessions with parents and service providers.

If you would like to know more about maternity research PPI opportunities or you are interested in the SHAPES PPI activities you can contact Janine for more information at: hello@janine-smith.com

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