Following the fabulous success of the inaugural #WhyWeDoResearch Tweetfest in 2016, here’s to a bigger and brighter #WhyWeDoResearch Tweetfest, which begins on Monday 15 May 2017 for two weeks!
The #WhyWeDoResearch campaign was established in December 2014 by Claire Whitehouse, Lead Research Nurse at The James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The aim of #WhyWeDoResearch is to raise awareness of research and opportunities for patients, carers, staff and members of the public to participate, engage and become involved in research. The campaign has reached 22 countries since its inception, with over 250 million impressions and 150,000 tweets. Using Twitter as a platform for promoting the campaign has enabled rapid and global connectivity, and the Tweetfest exists to celebrate healthcare research across the globe. It aims to give patients, carers, staff and members of the public a vehicle to say why they do what they do, and is used as a platform to share research opportunities for all. As such, the content of each tweetchat has been carefully selected to provide as wide a coverage as possible within a two week time-period. To join, all you need to do is type #WhyWeDoResearch into the Twitter search box at the time of each chat and the expert hosts will launch their first question at the specified time. If this sounds new to you, there are lots of great resources out there to help you to get to grips with Twitter. I would recommend the #WeCommunities Twitterversity guidance if you would like to brush up your Twitter skills. There are also lots of useful materials about social media on my website, which you may find helpful. So, here is the exciting line up for the #WhyWeDoResearch Tweetfest. While it may be impossible to participate in them all, you will certainly be able to read the tweets afterwards to at least see the conversation. I hope to see as many of you as possible at our patient research ambassador tweet chat on Thursday 18 May 2017 at 8 pm (GMT+1, BST), hosted by Jen Preston and I. We’ve got some excellent questions about the Patient Research Ambassador Initiative, which we hope will encourage healthy discussion and debate!