Personal Statement
Selina Wallis is a public involvement and co-production lead in applied health research. She is Public Involvement Manager for NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast at the University of Liverpool.

She began her career as a science teacher and later completed a Master of Public Health. She has more than 17 years’ experience in public health research, public involvement and partnership working across universities, NHS organisations and public bodies. Her work has included roles in higher education, NHS commissioning and provider organisations, and cross-sector collaboration in the North West.

Selina’s interests sit at the intersection of public health, ethics and involvement. She is particularly interested in how research can be designed and carried out with, and not just about, the people and communities it is intended to serve. Her work focuses on meaningful public involvement, co-production, research inclusion, patient and public experience, and communicating evidence in ways that are clear, accurate and useful.

She also has a growing body of work on neurodiversity, adolescence, safeguarding and complex risk. This includes interest in how systems respond to young people whose needs sit across mental health, education, family support, digital environments and public safety, and how research can support more relational, trauma-informed and neurodiversity-informed approaches. She is also interested in creative and participatory approaches that help people reflect on experience, communicate complex issues and contribute to research in accessible and meaningful ways.

Alongside her academic and public health work, Selina trained as a doula in 2005 and has supported more than 50 women in labour and birth. This practice experience has shaped her interest in compassionate care, embodied knowledge, service design and the relationship between evidence, experience and practice.

Across all her work, Selina is committed to ethical, inclusive and evidence-informed approaches to research and service improvement. She is interested in building connections between disciplines, professionals and public contributors to improve the quality, relevance and impact of health research.

Research Overview
Selina’s work focuses on public involvement and co-production in applied health research. She is interested in how research can better reflect the priorities, knowledge and experiences of patients, service users and communities.

Her areas of expertise include public involvement strategy, research inclusion, co-production, patient experience, public health ethics and knowledge exchange. She has a particular interest in how ethical principles such as justice, autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and proportionality apply to research and public health practice.

She is interested in creative, participatory and narrative-based approaches that support involvement, reflection and knowledge exchange, particularly where topics are sensitive, complex or shaped by lived experience.

She also works on questions of neurodiversity, adolescence, safeguarding and complex risk. This includes interest in how services respond to young people whose needs sit across mental health, school exclusion, family stress, digital environments and harm prevention, and how more practical and relational responses can be developed.

Her background across universities, NHS organisations and public bodies informs her work on improving research design, strengthening partnerships and supporting more inclusive and meaningful approaches to evidence generation.