Consumer and Community Advisory Panel

What is a Consumer and Community Advisory Panel?

A Consumer and Community Advisory Panel (CCAP) is an independent group of people with lived experience of health issues — including patients, carers, family members and community representatives — who provide feedback on research proposals from a participant perspective.

Unlike a Human Research Ethics Committee, a CCAP doesn’t assess whether research should be approved.

Instead, it reviews study proposals at the design stage and provides practical input to help researchers shape their studies before they go to formal ethics review.

The goal is to make research more relevant, accessible and respectful of the people it involves.

Bellberry’s independent CCAP

We established our first Consumer and Community Advisory Panel in 2025, recognising the importance of embedding participant and community voices directly into the design of clinical trials and human research studies — offering a lens that researchers alone often can’t provide.

Our CCAP is an independent panel providing consumer input across a broad range of therapeutic areas.

CCAP review is entirely separate from HREC review — it’s an open service available to any researcher or sponsor seeking consumer input, with no requirement to submit to a Bellberry HREC.

Types of studies our CCAP can review

The Consumer and Community Advisory Panel can review proposals at any stage of study design — from an early concept through to near-final protocols, Participant Information and Consent Forms (PICFs) and other participant-facing documents.

The earlier you engage, the more opportunity there is for consumer perspectives to shape your study from the outset.

Submissions may include draft protocols and PICFs, but we allow flexibility in the process since there is genuine value in seeking input at the concept stage, before detailed documentation is prepared.

Learn more about our CCAP services for researchers.

What the CCAP offers researchers

If you’re a researcher who doesn’t have access to institutional consumer advisors, Bellberry’s CCAP can support you.

Early engagement with consumer and community perspectives can make a real difference to the quality and impact of your research.

CCAP feedback can help you:

• Make your study more appropriate and efficient for its intended purpose
• Align your research with the needs and priorities of your target population
• Consider your research from a participant’s perspective
• Adapt interventions to consumer needs and preferences, which may assist with recruitment and retention
• Strengthen your study design before ethics submission
• Support research translation and real-world impact

How our panel works

CCAP composition

Consumer and Community Advisory Panel members are people with lived experience of a health issue — this can include patients, as well as their family, friends, or carers.

The panel also requires a scientific advisor. The advisor is not a member per se, but brings scientific experience to support the member review and discussion.

Commitment to independence

Our CCAP is independent of any research organisation, operating as a stand-alone service separate from Bellberry’s HREC review activities.

This means feedback is provided from a completely independent consumer perspective, with no conflict of interest in the study’s outcome or ethics approval.

After engaging with our CCAP, you can go on to submit your study for ethics review to any HREC in Australia (there is no requirement to use Bellberry’s services).

• Meeting dates are set to provide timely feedback while allowing members sufficient time to review each application.
• Our CCAP uses an electronic submission system for applications and review.
• Meetings are held virtually, allowing members to participate from across Australia.
• Following each meeting, a written report is prepared for the applicant summarising the committee’s feedback and recommendations.