Live Illustration for University College London: Nerve Injury Community Day
Live illustration for University College London's Nerve Injury Community Day, capturing conversations between people with lived experience, clinicians and researchers to help shape the future of peripheral nerve injury research.
One of the things I enjoy most about live illustration is working at events where I get to draw on my background in advocacy. I'm a trained independent advocate and have spent many years supporting individuals and families to navigate health and social care services. Helping people have their voices heard, access the support they need and influence the future of healthcare and research is something that has shaped much of my career. That's why events like the Nerve Injury Community Day are especially meaningful to me.
Held at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham, the event brought together people living with peripheral nerve injuries, their families, clinicians and academic researchers for a day of shared learning and discussion.
Rather than presenting to people with lived experience, the day was designed to ensure they played a pivotal role in shaping future research priorities.
About the event
Organised by University College London (UCL), the Nerve Injury Community Day welcomed around 60 attendees from across the nerve injury community.
Through a series of workshops, discussions and interactive sessions, participants explored topics including:
Living with peripheral nerve injury
Pain management
Ethics in nerve injury research
Innovation in treatments and rehabilitation
Future research priorities
Collaboration between patients, clinicians and researchers
Each workshop was co-facilitated by people with lived experience alongside specialist peripheral nerve surgeons, creating a collaborative atmosphere where every perspective could be heard.
Capturing the conversations through live illustration
The organisers wanted a visual summary that would help attendees remember the day's key discussions while also creating a lasting resource for future engagement.
Throughout the event, I created a large live illustrated graphic recording, listening carefully to conversations as they unfolded and translating complex ideas into a clear, engaging visual.
The finished illustration brought together:
key themes from each workshop
insights from people with lived experience
emerging research priorities
memorable quotes
shared challenges and opportunities
ideas for future collaboration
By the end of the event, the illustration had become a visual record of the collective knowledge and experiences shared throughout the day.
Why live illustration is valuable for patient and public involvement (PPIE)
Events that bring together researchers and people with lived experience generate rich discussions that can be difficult to capture through traditional note-taking alone.
Live illustration helps by:
making complex medical and research discussions easier to understand
ensuring diverse perspectives are represented visually
highlighting connections between different conversations
encouraging reflection and discussion throughout the event
creating a lasting resource that can be shared beyond the day itself
For research organisations committed to meaningful patient and public involvement (PPIE), graphic recording offers an engaging way to document conversations and demonstrate the value of collaborative research.
Client feedback
"It was a great pleasure for me and my colleagues to work with you, thank you very much for your fantastic work! We would love to stay in touch."
Looking for a live illustrator for your healthcare or research event?
I regularly work with universities, NHS organisations, charities, research groups and public sector organisations to create live illustrations that make complex conversations accessible, memorable and engaging.
If you're planning an upcoming event, I'd love to help you create a visual anchor that supports your research goals. Live illustration can help bring together different perspectives, highlight key themes and make important conversations easier to understand, remember and share. This ultimately helps your research reach and engage the people who matter most.
