Remembering Alan Meudell: a champion for lived experience voices

Posted August 12th 2026

It is with great fondness that we remember Alan Meudell, a tireless advocate for people with lived experience of mental ill health and a deeply respected figure within Wales's mental health research community.

For decades, Alan dedicated his time, expertise and energy to ensuring that the voices of service users and carers were not simply heard but valued as an essential part of research and decision-making.

Equal partners in research

Long before public involvement became widely recognised as a cornerstone of high-quality research, Alan understood that meaningful change could only happen when those with lived experience were treated as equal partners.

Alan brought both professional expertise and personal insight to his work. Drawing on his experiences as both a service user and a carer, he became a leading advocate for public and patient involvement in mental health research, helping organisations understand how people with lived experience of a mental health condition can improve services, policy and research outcomes.

His commitment to public involvement was evident through his leadership of the Service Users and Carers Research Partnership (SUCRP), established in 2012.

When Partnership in Research (PÂR) became part of the National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH) in 2019, Alan continued as Chair, providing steadfast leadership until his retirement in 2024. Throughout this period, he worked tirelessly to champion unheard voices and create opportunities for people to influence the research that ultimately affects their lives.

Alan said, “The biggest challenge is increasing the number of opportunities for people to be involved in research and solving that problem is what gets me up in the morning.”

Developing our Partnership in Research (PÂR) group

One of the highlights of Alan’s leadership came in 2018, when PÂR received the Health and Care Research Wales Public Involvement Achievement Award. The award recognised the group’s pioneering work in bringing together people with lived experience of mental health difficulties, carers and researchers to shape research across Wales.

Alan’s response to the award captured both his vision and his appreciation for genuine partnership: “It would have been easy for NCMH to support PÂR as a standalone group, however, not only have they embedded PÂR into the structure of NCMH, but they have also supported it to develop into an All-Wales group, promoting it widely and helping develop PÂR’s research clinics, which are of benefit to both researchers and service users and carers alike.”

A champion of marginalised voices

That belief in partnership became a defining feature of Alan’s work. He understood that involvement was not a box-ticking exercise. It was about bringing people together, building trust and ensuring that research reflected the realities of people living with mental health conditions and those who support them.

Dr Sarah Rees, Public Involvement Lead at the National Centre for Mental Health, said: “I don’t think anything I can say about Alan would do him justice.

“He was a champion of marginalised voices and was a driving force behind public involvement in mental health research in Wales and beyond. He believed passionately that people with lived experience should be equal partners in research, and he worked determinedly to make that vision a reality.

“Alan’s legacy lives on in the countless researchers and lived experience experts he inspired, and in the culture of meaningful involvement that he helped build.”

Significant contributions to research and beyond

Alan co-authored 16 publications and has been cited over 220 times in academic papers. Alan’s influence also extended far beyond individual projects.

Through PÂR, Alan helped establish opportunities for people with lived experience to contribute throughout the research process, from shaping ideas and setting priorities to advising on study design and helping share findings. The group became a model for inclusive, collaborative research in Wales.

Professor Jon Bisson, NCMH director, added: “Those who worked with Alan will remember not only his commitment and determination, but also his generosity, wisdom and unwavering belief in the value of every person’s experience.

Alan encouraged researchers to listen more carefully, challenged systems to do better and supported countless individuals to find confidence in sharing their perspectives.

The impact of his work can be seen in the stronger culture of involvement that now exists across mental health research in Wales. More importantly, it can be seen in the many people whose voices have been amplified because Alan believed they mattered.

Dr Rees concluded: “Alan’s contribution will not be forgotten. We are deeply grateful for his leadership, his friendship and his enduring commitment to improving mental health research through the power of lived experience.”

Our thoughts are with Alan’s family, friends and colleagues. He will be greatly missed.

Thank you | Diolch yn fawr, Alan.