Consumer engagement strategy
Build a practical framework for partnership, with clear roles, governance and a plan your organisation can put to work.
Consumer engagement consultancy · Adelaide & Australia
Lived experience. Better healthcare.
Consumer engagement, co-design and research involvement that help health services, researchers and communities work better together.
Led by Dr Shyam Muthuramalingam · Consumer leader, scientist & research executive
01 Consumer involvement02 Research partnerships03 Co-design
Lived experience at the centreScientific & health-system expertisePractical support, tailored to your context
How we help
Partnership
with a purpose.
From an organisation-wide strategy to a specific research project, choose the support that fits your next decision.
↗
Research & clinical trials
Bring consumer and community involvement into priority setting, study design, participant information and research translation.
Workshops & masterclasses
Develop the skills to involve consumers meaningfully through one-day workshops, focused masterclasses and tailored learning.
Co-design & facilitation
Create an inclusive process for consumers and teams to explore a challenge, shape options and agree what happens next.
Who we work with
Your context.
Our starting point.
We work alongside the people responsible for making involvement meaningful, and the consumers and communities whose expertise shapes it.
Put partnership into practice.
Develop a consumer engagement framework, strengthen an advisory group or co-design a service improvement.
Support for your organisation ↗Bring lived expertise into research.
Plan consumer involvement across study design, participant experience, governance and translation.
Support for your research ↗Build confidence and influence.
Prepare for partnership, develop consumer leadership and learn practical approaches to involvement together.
Learning for your team ↗Experience behind the advice
Lived expertise.
A national perspective.
Shyam brings scientific training, health-system leadership and consumer advisory experience to each engagement.
Meet your consultantNHMRC Consumer Advisory Group
Listed on NHMRC's Consumer Advisory Group for 2024–2027, contributing a consumer perspective to health and medical research.
View NHMRC profile ↗The George Institute for Global Health
Former member of its Consumer and Community Advisory Committee, bringing lived experience into research involvement.
View committee profile ↗Workshops & masterclasses
Good intentions.
Practical skills.
Make meaningful involvement part of how your team works.
Interactive learning grounded in lived experience, research and health-system leadership. Build the foundations or focus on a challenge of your own.
01 / One-day workshop
One day · Tailored to your team
Consumer involvement in practice
A practical day for researchers, health services and consumer partners to build meaningful involvement into their work.
What we'll work on
- Map where consumers can influence your project
- Explore inclusive recruitment and shared decision-making
- Develop an involvement action plan for your team
For Research teams, health services and consumer partners
Book a workshop02 / Masterclass
Focused session · Scope agreed with you
From involvement to influence
Go deeper into the challenges that shape genuine partnership: power, representation, governance and demonstrating impact.
What we'll work on
- Work through a real engagement challenge
- Strengthen how lived expertise informs decisions
- Identify practical ways to assess and communicate impact
For Consumer leaders, researchers and engagement practitioners
Enquire about a masterclassTailored team sessions
Your team. Your challenges.
Co-design, advisory groups, consumer leadership or research governance. Shape the learning around your priorities.
How we work together
A clear scope.
A shared way forward.
Choose focused advice, support across a project, or a workshop to build your team's capability. Every engagement starts with a conversation and a written scope.
- 01
Understand the brief
Discuss your context, the people involved and the decisions you want to improve.
- 02
Agree the scope
Receive a tailored proposal with deliverables, timing, fees and responsibilities.
- 03
Work in partnership
Bring consumers and your team into a clear, accessible process with regular check-ins.
- 04
Make the next steps clear
Leave with practical outputs, a record of what changed and an agreed way forward.
Meet your consultant
Where lived experience meets system leadership.
Shyam brings the perspective of a consumer, scientist and health-system leader to the same conversation.
His experience of kidney disease and transplantation shapes his commitment to consumers and communities being partners in healthcare and research. His work spans research governance, clinical trials, consumer leadership and national advisory groups.
Through Consumer Engagement Matters, he helps teams build practical partnerships grounded in trust, inclusion and a clear purpose.
PhD ChemistryClinical research leadershipNational consumer advisor
Explore Shyam's experience A useful place to start
Start with
better questions.
Before your next engagement activity, get clear about what consumers can influence and what will help them participate.
Eight questions for meaningful consumer involvement.
Purpose, perspectives, participation and a plan for what happens next.
Read the guideBefore we work together
A clearer
starting point.
What is consumer and community involvement?
It means people affected by health services or research help shape the work, including its priorities, design, decisions and how findings are shared. The approach should make their influence and role clear.
Who can work with Consumer Engagement Matters?
Health services, researchers, universities, research institutes and consumer or community organisations. We can scope support for an individual project, an organisational priority or a learning session.
Are you based in Adelaide or available nationally?
Consumer Engagement Matters is based in Adelaide, South Australia, and works with organisations across Australia. Online, in-person and hybrid options can be discussed around the brief.
How are scope and fees agreed?
Start by sharing your goals, project stage and timing. A proposal can then set out the deliverables, approach, responsibilities, fees and any travel before work begins.
Can you help us plan consumer involvement for research?
Yes. Support can include involvement planning, advisory groups, reviewing study information with consumer partners and recording how involvement shapes decisions. Explore research and clinical trial support.
How do I request a workshop or masterclass?
Choose a session, share your goals and preferred timing, then review and email your enquiry. The date, scope and fees are confirmed directly with Shyam. Explore workshops and masterclasses.
Start with a conversation
Let's make
involvement matter.
Bring your brief, your questions or the challenge you are still defining. We can work out the right next step together.