There is a policy drive in the UK National Health Services (NHS) towards public involvement in service, education and research, with a number of national initiatives such as INVOLVE that have championed effective user input on research and development (R&D). The requisites of research governance include a balance of professional and public input, and the structures for this now exist at primary care level. There is a need for examples of how such policies can be implemented in Primary Care Trusts, and this article aims to show in detail the way in which a systematic approach to user involvement in R&D has been implemented. The PPIRes (Public and Patient Involvement in Research) project, whose progress over two years from 2003 to 2005 is reported, has been funded by NHS R&D monies allocated through a research consortium in Norfolk, and has been hosted in an NHS – academic partnership between Norwich Primary Care Trust and the Institute of Health at the University of East Anglia. The profile of volunteers, recommendations for good practice in public involvement, and the ‘facilitators and challenges’ to the programme are described.