Collaborate with us

At BCNA, we connect researchers, clinicians, policymakers and service providers with people who have a lived experience of breast cancer.

These partnerships make sure that research and decisions include the voices of those most affected. This helps create better and more inclusive outcomes.

Whether you're planning a research project, developing new support resources or preparing a grant application, BCNA can help you involve consumers in a meaningful, supported and credible way.

Why collaborate with BCNA?

At BCNA, we work to ensure that people affected by breast cancer have a voice in the decisions that shape research, care and policy. We do this by supporting our partners to meaningfully involve people with lived experience. With more than 25 years of experience, BCNA is a trusted national organisation and a leader in consumer involvement.

Working with BCNA gives you

• access to trained Consumer Representatives, ready to join your team or project
• a strong support system to make sure consumer involvement is respectful and useful
• help with finding participants for research projects
• a way to reach people from many different backgrounds and experiences
• the trust and credibility of working with a well-known national network.

Ways to collaborate with BCNA

There are three main ways you can work with our consumers and collaborate with BCNA

Trained Consumer Representatives

The best partnerships include trained consumer representatives as part of the team. Their lived-experience and specialised training through our Seat at the Table program gives them a unique point of view that adds value to any project. They engage in research projects, help design services, or advise on policy. 

Use this option when you need ongoing input from a trained consumer.

Request a Consumer Representative

Review & Survey Group

This is a group of over 1300 people who have, or have had, breast cancer. They have agreed to receive invitations to take part in research. This may include surveys, interviews, clinical trials, or testing new resources.

Use this option when you want to gather feedback or recruit participants.

Submit a research invitation

Partner with BCNA

BCNA also partners with researchers and organisations to improve breast cancer outcomes. 

We collaborate with universities, hospitals, health services and other professional organisations to: 

• Develop collaborative projects that support more connected, person-centred care 
• Share lived experience in public consultations 
• Tackle key issues like improving outcomes, reducing disparities, and enhancing support. 

As part of these partnerships, BCNA supports consumer involvement across all stages of your work, including: 

• Helping shape project or research priorities 
• Co-designing resources or services 
• Supporting project delivery and evaluation 
• Sharing and promoting results.

Timelines for collaboration with BCNA

If you’re interested in partnering with us, we encourage you to get in touch early. This gives us time to understand your goals and explore how we can support you. 

Please note: It can take up to four weeks to finalise our involvement, depending on your request and our internal review process. 

Contact us to talk about your idea. When completing the Contact us form, select ‘Work with us and our consumers’ from the dropdown menu.

What we look for in your request

We want to make sure every project we share with our community is safe, respectful and helpful. Before we approve a request, we check:

• Does the research match our goals and values?
• Does the project have ethics approval, or is it in progress?
• Has the research team already engaged with consumers during planning?
• Will the results help people affected by breast cancer?

Acknowledgment

We ask that researchers thank and acknowledge our Consumer Representatives and Review & Survey Group members in any publications, presentations or results.