Frequently Asked Questions

WINRS consults with anyone who wants to effectively engage community advisors and study participants, especially people from communities historically under-represented and under-served in research.

We work with researchers across Health Sciences and other disciplines, both at and outside the University of Wisconsin.

Our clients have also included businesses, state government agencies, school districts, and academic institutions across the country.

No! We consult with anyone who wants to effectively engage community advisors and study participants.

We have considerable expertise engaging patients and community members through virtual meetings, so we are not restricted to working locally.

• Please help us provide services tailored to your project by filling out the request services form.
• We provide initial consultations at no cost. In this consultation, we will:
  • Determine if there is a fit between your needs and WINRS services
  • Share strategies for planning and conducting effective community/patient advisory meetings
  • Offer advice on budgeting for successful community/patient engagement
  • Suggest resources or strategies that might benefit the community/patient engagement component of your research
• If you are developing a grant or project proposal and want to include WINRS services, we will work with you to:
  • Review and provide detailed recommendations on grant sections related to study participant/community advisor recruitment and ongoing engagement
  • Prepare detailed scope of work document and budget for WINRS consultation services
  • Provide a letter of support that can be included in your grant application

If you are developing a grant or project proposal and want to include WINRS services, we will work with you to:

• Review and provide detailed recommendations on grant sections related to study participant/community advisor recruitment and ongoing engagement
• Prepare detailed scope of work document and budget for WINRS consultation services
• Provide a letter of support that can be included in your grant application

• We offer up to 20 hours of FREE consultation for any community/patient-engaged research or advisory board project at UW-Madison.
• For longer engagements, consultation services are provided “fee for service” or by including a percentage of WINRS staff time in grant budgets.
• CARDS meetings are offered on a per-meeting basis. Meeting costs include all services described in the CARDS section, as well as compensation for CARDS members who attend the meeting.
  • When scheduling a single meeting: $2,300
  • When scheduling multiple meetings: $2,000 per meeting
  • We also offer discounted CARDS meetings for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and early-stage investigators. Please contact us for more information.

Yes! IRB review is an essential aspect of research involving human participants and focuses on participant protection. However, IRBs do not specialize on the suitability, legibility, or inclusivity of public-facing materials.

WINRS can help you create materials that are more inviting, accessible, inclusive, and relevant to your patient or community group.

Don’t let the prospect of additional cost stop you from reaching out – we offer 20 hours of free consulting for any community-engaged research or advisory board project at UW-Madison.

Absolutely! We can help in several ways:

• Working with your team, we can co-develop a tailored orientation plan for any patient or community advisory board
• Advise on common challenges with community/patient advisory board meetings (such as managing group dynamics, provide facilitation advice, discussing sensitive topics)
• Co-develop agendas for advisory board meetings
• Facilitate or co-facilitate advisory board meetings
• Work with CARDS and/or BOAAs as a complement to your standing advisory board. For example, a project-specific patient advisory board can provide great insight into the lived experience of patients, helping you develop patient-centered study instruments and educational materials. In contrast, CARDS/BOAAs can help you understand how a person who is new to the condition will react to your materials. Their detailed feedback often differs in key ways from the perspectives of patients who have already lived the experience of their condition.
  Meeting with CARDS/BOAAs also gives you access to the voices of socioeconomic groups who are under-represented in research activities.

If you attend a CARDS/BOAA meeting you are welcome to let members know how they can sign up for your study. You may also send recruitment materials to the WINRS team, and we will distribute them to the CARDS/BOAA members.

We protect advisory board members’ personal and contact information, and do not share those details without their permission.