Four interlinked expert seminars/focus groups, organised by a Steering Committee linked to the 1997 Toronto Group, discussed user involvement in research. Participants were a mix of academics, service users, user-researchers, people with direct experience of poverty, funders and policy-makers: 147 people participated in all with approximately 20 per cent attending two or more seminars. A number of key themes were discussed (user involvement in conventional research; peer review; involving people from black and minority ethnic communities in research; participatory approaches). Summary conclusions were carried forward to subsequent meetings.