Aim
To evaluate and refine a structured training and support program enabling people with lived experience of childhood cancer to meaningfully contribute to Children’s Cancer CoLab (CoLab) project grant and fellowship funding processes, and to assess how their involvement can improve the clarity, relevance and real‑world impact of funded research.
Methods
CoLab co-designed and delivered a multi-component training for lived experience reviewers covering the research review process, scoring guidance, and how to assess and provide feedback on plain language summaries. Reviewers participated in grant and fellowship review using an online grant portal with standardised rubrics and written feedback. Post-review surveys captured ratings of training clarity, relevance and confidence, and feedback on process, workload, support and experiences of researcher response to lived experience comments.
Results
Reviewers reported high agreement that training was clear and relevant and that their confidence increased, particularly in understanding what constitute a strong plain language summary, identifying key elements and providing constructive feedback. Reviewers described the training as valuable for clarifying expectations, scoring and their role in funding decisions, and most found timelines and workload manageable. Qualitative feedback highlighted the need for consistent training, clear visibility of researcher responses between stages, refreshers and opportunities for peer connection and debriefing. Reviewers also noted that seeing their feedback reflected in full applications increased their sense of being heard, shaping funding impact and supporting more patient- and family‑centred applications.
Conclusions
This evaluation suggests that a structured training and support model enables people with lived experience of childhood and adolescent cancer to contribute meaningfully and sustainably to CoLab’s project grant and fellowship funding decisions. Embedding their perspective in application review and refinement helps CoLab fund projects that are clearly communicated, grounded in real-world needs and more likely to deliver outcomes that support children and families to survive and thrive.