Student Patient Alliance (SPA)

As part of the OPEN ARMS patient and public involvement group we are looking for people to become involved with The Student Patient Alliance (SPA), a scheme which partners up members of the public with DPhil research students based at NDORMS. We hope that these valuable collaborations will help researchers of the future to have a good understanding and appreciation for patient and public involvement in the research of musculoskeletal and inflammatory conditions.

The aim of the project is to build a relationship between and within members of the public and researchers. 

You don’t need any specific diagnosis to join the SPA project, but we aim to create partnerships between each student and someone with real-world experience in the disease that they are studying. If you are you interested in joining the Student Patient Alliance project please complete the following secure online form.

What can partnership bring to DPhil students?

Partnering with a patient or member of the public can be a valuable experience for DPhil students. Students have found that this kind of 1:1 partnership can help them see the big picture of their research, keep them motivated, build their communication skills, and enable them to understand what matters most to patients with the conditions they are studying.

You can read about what patient partnership has meant to DPhil student Julia Salafranca Gomez in an interview with her.