In this issue
News from around the Network
- Programme Manager’s Update
- Changes to the Network website
- Review of the June 2024 Directors’ Meeting
- Network involvement in national activities
- The Network’s 2023 in numbers
- NEW Guidance and Information for CTUs
- Good Statistical Practice Training
- Data Archiving Guidance
- QA Oversight of Laboratories
- Report on the use of ESR systems in CTUs
- Training for Chief Investigators
- Operations and T&F Group Updates
- Training & Development Opportunities
Updates from collaborators & stakeholders
- MRC-NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership Update
- UK Trial Managers’ Network Update
- NHS DigiTrials Update
- NIHR CRN Coordinating Centre Update
- NIHR Academy Update
Programme Manager’s Update
It’s been yet another busy period for the Network, with Operations and Task & Finish Groups influencing the national agenda (see Policy Group update) and publishing some important new outputs on Laboratory oversight (QA), data archiving guidance (DISOG), and a report on the use of electronic safety reporting systems in clinical trials from our Smarter Working Task and Finish Group. The specialist GCP training for statisticians was also released (see here for more details), there were three national meetings with a lot of interesting talks, networking and discussions; and two training workshops for new Chief Investigators, a dozen webinars, and there is planning in hand for a whole range of other meetings, events and new guidance yet to come! (info on these in the group updates)
In order to help promote the career and training opportunities provided by CTUs, we have set two new pages on the Network website. You can find out more about advertising your CTU’s vacancies and events below. This will be followed by updated guidance and resources pages that should make it easier for people to find the information that they need. These will be released over the summer.
At the June 2024 Directors’ Meeting, which coincided with World Environment Day, we announced that we had become a supporter of the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice. This is a fabulous initiative led by colleagues from across the research and innovation sector. The Concordat aims to ensure that future research endeavours are environmentally stable. whilst maintaining the UK’s position as a leader in research and innovation. You can find out more here.
One of our big projects of the year is to create and publish our strategy for 2025 – 2030. We will be running a number of surveys and engagement meetings with stakeholders to help us identify our vision for the future and the priorities and deliverables that will help to make this a reality. Our June 2024 Directors meeting was a great way to start these discussions and hear important feedback from our members. Our current strategy can be found here.
At the request of the International Registration Review Committee, the Secretariat has established a working group to review the existing registration criteria to ensure that they are still meaningful and that any new themes are captured. This group includes director representatives, specialists from key functional areas, and other stakeholders. The review process will include a consultation with all key stakeholders via an online survey and some targeted roundtable sessions. More information on this will be circulated over the next month or so. We are also looking for a new chair for the International Registration Review Panel. More information can be found here.
We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who responded to the survey on what people value about working in an academic CTU, and why people return to them. We received over 500 responses, which is a phenomenal number.
Helen Evans
UKCRC Registered CTU Network Programme Manager
Changes to the Network website
Over the last few months we have added two new pages to the Network’s website: a jobs page, and an events page. We hope that these will help spread the word about careers and development opportunities for those interested in non-commercial research.
Jobs page
Any vacancy based wholly or in part in a registered CTU can now be added to the jobs page, as well as being circulated to the jobs and training mailing list.
To advertise a vacancy, please email the details to regctus@leeds.ac.uk. Alternatively, if you are a member of the mailing list, please continue to circulate the details as before. The information will be picked up and added automatically.
Positions on committees, funding boards, and other bodies may also be considered for inclusion. Contact the Secretariat for details.
Events page
This page is intended as a one stop shop for learning and development opportunities for researchers and trialists across the UK. Any event being run with member CTU involvement can be included.
As with vacancies, you can either email the details to the Secretariat on regctus@leeds.ac.uk or continue to post them directly to the jobs and training mailing list.
We are also planning further changes to make it easier to locate and access guidance. We’ll let you know when this is ready.
Directors’ Meeting – June 2024
Our most recent Directors’ Meeting took place in London on 5 June 2024 and we were pleased to welcome delegates from across the UK for a day of thought-provoking presentations, roundtable discussions, and networking.
The day included discussions on CTU business models and the Network’s strategy for 2025 – 2030, as well as updates on the NIHR Research Support Services, and the work of the Network’s Clinical Director, Prof Rustam Salman.
We were also delighted to have a speaker from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, Dr Janet Valentine, who discussed some of the key developments in the clinical research environment from pharma perspective including additional information about a new funding commitment linked to the VPAG Investment Programme.
We would like to say a big thank you to the planning committee, Amanda Adler (Diabetes Trials Unit), Carrol Gamble Liverpool Centre for Trials Research), Pollyanna Hardy, Fiona Hogarth (Tayside CTU), and Claire Peckitt (Royal Marsden Collaborative CTU) for helping to pull together such a diverting agenda.
If you would like to join the planning group for November 2024, please email the Secretariat on regctus@leeds.ac.uk.
Network involvement in national activities
The Network continues to play an important role in ongoing conversations with national stakeholder on various themes and areas of work. This includes the DHSC, HRA, MHRA and others on the shape and direction of future national activities. It is great to see the recognition of the continuing value of CTUs and the Network voice.
DHSC’s Recovery, Resilience, and Growth (RRG) Programme
We continue to highlight where there may be inefficiencies for units and where CTUs are leading, in the way in decentralised and innovative trials, via both RRG Advisory Board meetings and regular informal meetings (below).
DHSC
The Network Director and Programme Manager have been meeting regularly with colleagues at the DHSC over the last 18 months and will continue to do so. These meetings have been a useful opportunity to showcase how the Network and Registered CTUs can help address some of the challenges that research faces. We look forward to providing some more detailed information on these discussions in future.
MHRA
The Network continues to maintain its strong relationships with the MRHA through regular meetings with our contacts, MHRA attendance at national Network meetings, and through their valuable advice and input on some of our most significant deliverables.
HRA
The Network now has increased representation on the HRA Partnerships board. This allows the CTU perspective to have greater weight during discussions there. Work continues with the HRA on reducing NHS R&D follow up after HRA approval and ways of creating efficiencies for NHS and CTUs there.
Our PPIE group are helping shape HRA guidance for involvement that will support the update to the clinical trials regulations.
NIHR Methodology Incubator
The Network continues to have involvement in to raise awareness of methods research, building capacity via the internships and training workstream and the statistics workstream.
The Network’s 2023 in Numbers
2023 was an exciting time for the UKCRC Registered CTU Network with changes in the research environment and opportunities to build on learning from the pandemic and transform the design and delivery of trials. There were also changes within the Network Secretariat.
From a new Network Director to hundreds of delegates attending meetings, training sessions, and webinars, click here to see some of our favourite numbers.
New Guidance for CTUs
We are exceptionally pleased to announce the release of a number of new and updated resources for CTUs. All items are available via the links below.
We are very grateful to everyone involved in the production of the pieces.
Good Statistical Practice – Tailored GCP Training for Statisticians
This Good Statistical Practice training has been developed by the UKCRC CTU Statisticians Operations Group and was funded by the NIHR Clinical Trials Unit Efficient Trial Conduct Funding scheme.
It is a suite of 5 training modules which has been developed as stand-alone GCP training tailored to statisticians, incorporating relevant regulatory aspects in the first module. It is primarily intended as a resource for statistics teams to access for group training where discussion can pull in local practice, but has also been formatted to enable self-led training through the inclusion of additional notes.
An associated publication of the training overview and development process is under review and will be circulated across the Network once in press.
The modules are:
Module 1 – Core Good Clinical Practice training
Module 2 – Record keeping and documentation
Module 3 – Trial design, randomisation and blinding
Module 4 – Data Management
Module 5 – Statistical analysis and reporting
The project lead, Prof Deborah Stocken of the Leeds Clinical Trial Research Unit, said:
“I would like to thank my co-authors for their commitment in bringing these resources together, the statisticians from across the Network and NIHR who took part in piloting and providing feedback on the individual modules, and specifically the Network’s Statistics Operations Group who instigated the project. We are also grateful to NIHR Learn and the MHRA for their engagement and support. We hope all statisticians involved in clinical trials and medical research will find these resources helpful”.
A webinar providing the background to the project, the process that was taken in developing and piloting the resources, and the training modules themselves can be accessed via NIHR Learn.
Data Archiving Guidance
Clinical trials units (CTUs) are involved in the running and oversight of clinical trials and other research studies. Documentation and data are produced for each study, and it is important to retain this for a period after the study ends to demonstrate good clinical practice. Wherever possible these documents and data should be stored in a format to facilitate more efficient reproduction of results.
This guidance outlines important points for CTUs to consider when creating an electronic archive for study-related data, metadata and associated documentation and may help units assess the ongoing suitability of their archiving policies and procedures.
You can download your copy of the guidance here.
QA Oversight of Laboratories
This revised suite of materials provides guidance to CTUs assessing the suitability of laboratories processing and/or analysing samples used in clinical trials. It includes:
- Guidance for CTUs assessing the suitability of Labs processing research samples
- Guidance on training requirements for labs processing research samples
- A flowchart for oversight of laboratories by CTUs
- A Self-Assessment Questionnaire
We are very grateful for the assistances provided the MHRA in reviewing and updating this guidance, as well as the helpful feedback given by those who used the original versions.
Report on the use of electronic safety reporting systems in clinical trials
The “Smarter Ways of Working” Task and Finish Group was formed to address the need to develop and share best practice across the UKCRC Network in relation to electronic serious adverse event (SAE) reporting systems.
One of the key objectives of this group was to understand current practice and share these findings with the wider UKCRC community.
This report summarises key findings from from a survey conducted in late 2022 to enable a comparison of different approaches, which will form the basis for future discussion on opportunities for development and collaborative work in this area.
You can download a copy of the report here.
Training for Chief Investigators
How to be a good Chief Investigator for clinical trials
In association with Leeds CTRU and Nottingham CTU, the Network has now run two in-person workshops for current and aspiring Chief Investigators (CIs).
The sessions aimed to improve collaborations between CIs and CTUs in order to deliver more efficient and effective clinical trials
Over 60 delegates attended these very successful events, which combined informative presentations from CTU professionals, group work, and keynoted sessions by existing Chief Investigators.
Attendees received CPD points from the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK.
You can find some of the feedback from delegates on the right hand side.
A third online session led by the Centre for Trials Research in Cardiff is currently being scheduled for Autumn 2024.
For more information email regctus@leeds.ac.uk.
QA Group Update
QA National Meeting
We are pleased to announce that the next QA national meeting will be taking place in Birmingham on 7 November 2024. Work on the agenda is ongoing and further details will be circulated in due course. However, in the meantime, please save this date in your diaries.
Webinar on Research Governance for Routinely Collected Health Data
On 9 July 2024, the Group will be hosting a webinar looking at research governance, The session will be led by Nagheen Ahmed, from the Centre for Trials Research, University of Cardiff.
Nagheen will present on TOP-CAT: Towards Optimising Practice: Courses for heAlth systems data in Trials.
Attendance is free to all colleagues based in a registered CTU (max 3 delegates per CTU). For further information, and to register, click here.
More about TOP-CAT can be found here.
Release of updated laboratory guidance
The updated guidance for CTUs with QA oversight on laboratories has now been issued.
Following feedback from users, and with input from the MHRA, new versions of the ‘Guidance for CTUs assessing the suitability of laboratories processing research samples’ and the ‘Self-assessment Questionnaire’ have been produced. It is hoped that these will now be more intuitive and lead to enhanced completion by laboratories.
The ‘Guidance on training requirements for laboratories processing research samples’ and the oversight flowchart remain unchanged.
You can download the updated documents here.
New planned guidance about running clinical trials of investigational medicinal products (CTIMPs) outside of secondary care
Many CTIMPs are run in secondary care settings, where there is often a relatively high level of research experience and resources to meet the specific regulatory requirements of this type of research. Those who have run CTIMPs in other settings (e.g. primary care, dentistry, prisons or others) may have found that it is challenging to meet the regulatory requirements and that there is not much guidance available regarding how to achieve a good enough standard within the regulations.
A new group has been set up with in the QA group to discuss this issue further, and produce a short guidance for trials units setting up new trials in non-secondary care settings. This may become more relevant if we see the expected drive to conduct more trials in primary or community care over time, as suggested in last year’s O’Shaughnessy report.
We may seek the input from members of other groups within the Network as we develop this work. We would be interested to hear from anyone with particular experiences in this area. If you would like to contribute, please contact the Chair of the QA Group, Will Cragg, at w.cragg@leeds.ac.uk
QA Group Membership update
We are pleased to be able to confirm that three new members have been appointed to the Group. These are:
- Conor McKee – Northern Ireland Clinical Trials Unit
- Jill Fleming – CaCTUS
- Eloise Britten – Imperial Clinical Trials Unit
We are sad to announce that Claire Johnson, Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre, is stepping down as Deputy Chair of the QA Operations Group. She has been a wonderful Chair and Deputy Chair during her years on the Group and her input and insight will be missed.
– Will Cragg (Leeds Clinical Trials Research Unit)
Data & IS Group (DISOG) Update
Plans for the Data & IS National Meeting
Following the success of 2023’s face-to-face National Meeting, we are starting preparations for the next one, which will be held in Autumn 2024.
Once again, we are keen for all CTU representatives to have the opportunity to participate, we therefore invited expressions of interest from anyone who was interested in leading a session. Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an idea. We hope to contact you all over the next few weeks.
We will also be holding another poster session over the breaks.
eDC Webinar Series
Throughout February and March 2024, we hosted a successful series of webinars on various EDC systems in active use at UK CTUs. Volunteers from across the network have spoken about their experiences with OpenClinica 4, Medidata Rave, REDCap Community, Castor, REDCap Cloud, and Red Pill.
The webinars have been very well attended, attracting excellent feedback, and generating a lot of interesting discussion. Thank you to all our speakers for their hard work!
If you would like to listen to recordings of any of the sessions, please contact the Secretariat on regctus@leeds.ac.uk.
Data Management Update
The data archiving guidance has been reviewed and approved by the Executive Group and has been published on the Network website:
Find out more here.
We have several working groups running concurrently: CRF/eCRF development, study database lifecycle, data cleaning and query process, and working with external/third-party data. These groups enable collaboration and help build a community of data managers, providing peer-support and information sharing across the network. The outputs will be guidance to share best practice as agreed within the groups.
DISOG Membership update
We are pleased to be able to confirm that two new members have been appointed to the Group. These are:
- Vanessa Gregory – Diabetes Trials Unit, University of Oxford
- Nigel Kirby – Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University
– Tim Chater (Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre), Amanda Loban (Sheffield Clinical Trails Research Unit), and John Turgoose (Hull Health Trials Unit)
Trial Management Group Update
Trial Managers National Meeting
In May 2024, the Trial Management Group held its second ever national meeting. We were very pleased to see an increase in the number of delegates and CTUs represented, and even more pleased by the level of engagement on the day.
Sessions included an update on the MANGO project as well practical experiences of working with novel trial designs (including the PlasmaMATCH Trial) from Laura Moretti (ICR-CTSU) and Francesca Schiavone (MRC CTU at UCL).
The day finished with a presentation from Mikayala King, R&D Governance, QA Sponsorship Manager at University Hospital Southampton NHSFT on the R&D experiences of platform trials. This included some interesting and though-provoking comments from CIs, sponsors, nurses, and pharmacists, particularly around some of the challenges.
The roundtable focused on issues around the collection of EDI data in clinical trials. One thing is for sure, 70 minutes on such a complex topic was nowhere near enough. We could easily have spent the whole meeting on it – and barely have scratched the surface. Nevertheless, lot of interesting information was captured and this is now being reviewed.
Report on priorities for UK Trial Managers
The Group has recently finalised a report outlining the results of some of the scoping work done to identify what issues were priorities for UK Trial managers, and whether these changed as a result of the pandemic. We hope to be able to circulate this, and a follow-up report drilling down into specific resource intensive areas, shortly.
Trial Managers Operations Group Membership update
We are pleased to be able to confirm that four new members have been appointed to the Group. These are:
- Carla Richardson – Leicester Clinical Trials Unit
- Alison Jenkins – NWORTH
- Vicki Barber – Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit
- Gina Cranswick – Edinburgh Clinical Trials Uni
– Jaclyn Bailey (Warwick CTU)
Statistics Group Update
April 2024 saw the most recent Stats national meeting take place in Leeds.
There were a number of interesting themes for the day including the move towards personalised medicine in cancer trials, complex intervention optimisation, and statistical innovation and guidance on methods and analysis in surgery.
There were also the usual opportunities to network and share experiences, as well as a roundtable on issues around EDI data collection and analysis.
A big thank you to our colleagues at Leeds Clinical Trials Research Unit for hosting such an interesting and informative day.
At the meeting, the Group announced that the national meeting would be moving to once rather than twice a year. This is in line with other operations group. In place of the autumn meeting, the Group is planning to run a number of CTU-led seminars to help spread awareness of some of the exciting work that takes place around the Network.
These seminars will take place online to ensure that attendance can be as wide as possible. If you would be interested in sharing your work and delivering a webinar, please contact the Secretariat on regctus@leeds.ac.uk.
A number of activities around learning and development opportunities for statisticians are currently in their early stages. This includes a project to create a repository of materials that can be shared across the Network. A scoping survey and an invitation to join a working group will be circulated shortly. Additionally, there have been early discussions with the statistics workstream of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA) around the possibility of providing reciprocal access to online training events and webinars. More information on this will follow in due course.
– Catherine Hewitt (York Trials Unit)
Policy Group Update
The Policy Group continues to work with key national stakeholders such as the DoH, MHRA, HRA and UKRI MRC Regulatory Support Centre. We continue to re-establish links with the MHRA Clinical Trial Unit following the departure of Martin O’Kane in order that we are able to influence the development of the guidance that will support the new clinical trials regulations.
In January 2024, we attended an MHRA workshop on the Clinical trials Notification Scheme where we were able to provide insights into risk proportionality and risk adaption. The workshop was attended by members of the MHRA CTU, the MHRA Inspectorate, industry and academic colleagues and generated some interesting discussions around risk.
We have also recently responded on behalf of the Network to the World Medical Association (WMA) consultation on revisions to the Declaration of Helsinki. You can find out more about the declaration and the consultation process here.
– Claire Snowdon (ICR-CTSU)
Monitoring Group Update
Monitoring Clinics
The MHRA has stated that it will now ask more questions about monitoring during inspections. We can therefore expect dedicated sessions on this in future. Sharing our experience in this area will be helpful to all so this was the theme of our first monitoring clinic of 2024. Southampton CTU recounted their recent experiences, and all had a chance to ask questions. Thank you to Southampton CTU!
Our last monitoring clinic, which took place on 29 April 2024, was about worksheets and a recent paper clarifying when code written for monitoring needs to be validated. The next session on 17 July 2024 is themed around discussing the carbon footprint with respect to monitoring. Ask your CTU monitoring lead for the TEAMS link if you would like to join in the conversation.
Please email s.love@ucl.ac.uk if you would like a particular subject to be covered in future clinics.
National Monitoring Meeting
Registration is underway for our annual meeting in June 2024. For the first time, it will be F2F and we will ask afterwards for feedback as to whether this would be the preferred format in the future. Due to limited space, one person from each CTU will be able to attend and a further 3 can join online.
Publication of ongoing deliverables
We are pleased to say that our work on metrics is awaiting approval for dissemination and our risk assessments work will be released this summer. We are starting projects in greener monitoring, protocol deviations/non-compliances, and creating a template of the monitoring section of a protocol. We will discuss these at the annual meeting and invite others to give their input.
Do contact the UKCRC network at rectus@leeds.ac.uk if you want to become actively involved in any monitoring projects.
– Sharon Love (MRC CTU at UCL)
PPI&E Group Update
The PPIE Task and Finish Group previously published a scoping report and along with public contributors, reviewed PPI&E documentation on all aspects of trial design, management and dissemination which was kindly supplied by CTUs across the country. You can view the scoping report here.
Over the last 18 months, the group has re-formed following a competitive recruitment process to deliver on two selected recommendations of the report:
- A central repository of the aforementioned documents which will be made available to all UKCRC registered Trial Unit staff
- To identify the training needs of trial management teams in relation to PPI&E and provide recommendations for future training resources and materials.
We look forward to sharing news on these outcomes in future newsletters.
– Sally Hopewell (Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit)
Training & Development Opportunities
- Building Partnerships with Creativity and Justice: Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) in Health and Care Research Summer School – July 2024 [Exeter]
- Essentials of Clinical Trials – July 2024 [LSHTM]
- GMP for IMP – July 2024 [UCL]
- Trial outcomes: what are we trying to measure? – July [UCL]
- Contemporary Clinical Trials ONLINE course – September 2024 [ICTU]
- Adaptive methods in clinical trials – September 2024 [Cambridge]
- Response-Adaptive Methods for Clinical Trials – October 2024 [Cambridge]
- A practical introduction to running randomised clinical trials – November 2024 [Keele]
- Statistical and practical aspects of the design and analysis of Multi-Arm Multi-Stage (MAMS) Platform Trials – November 2024 [ICTM]
- Clinical Trials – MSc/PGDip/PGCert – A programme designed to produce skilled specialist clinical trial staff and expert chief investigators [Birmingham]
- MSc in Clinical Trials / MSc in Statistics for Clinical Trials [UCL]
THE INFORMATION INCLUDED BELOW HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
AND IS INCLUDED WITHOUT EDITS
Trials Methodology Research Partnership Update
International Clinical Trials Methodology Conference 2024
The ICTMC, which is presented by the MRC-NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership, is the leading international platform for researchers and practitioners to present the very latest in trials methodology research. The meeting also offers valuable networking and training opportunities, with over 900 delegates from 17 countries attending in 2022.
Early bird registration is available until 23 August 2024. Reduced registration fees for Student, Patient/Member of the Public and Researchers from LMIC are also available.
ICTMC 2024 is taking place at the EICC in Edinburgh between 30 September and 3 October 2024.
To find out more, and to register, visit.
UK Trial Managers’ Network Update
Annual Conference
Our annual conference is taking place in Birmingham on 4 June 2024. We are pleased to say that interest in the event was huge – and we are still operating a waitlist despite increasing capacity. Sessions for the day include presentations from UKTMN members and three themed discussion sessions for international trials, PPI and social media and marketing. There will also be several posters on display and lots of opportunities for networking.
Training and events
The UKTMN continues to run a wide range of events for both members and non-members. You can find out about the latest development opportunities here.
Join the UKTMN
It is free to join the UKTMN. Find out more about membership here.
To find out more about the UKTMN
Email: uktmn@nottingham.ac.uk
Web: www.tmn.ac.uk
Do you use X? Then follow us for our latest news: @UKTMN
NHS DigiTrials Update
Update to the DigiTrials Self-Service Tool
The NHS DigiTrials Feasibility Self-Service tool has been improved following user feedback.
The tool allows researchers to independently search over 63 million potential people to count and locate those eligible for their clinical trials without identifying individuals. A subscription charge covers the costs of running and maintaining the system.
Click the image to download a presentation
on NHS DigiTrials.
NHS England is keen for anyone who’s planning a clinical trial to take a look and see if it can help them. The Feasibility Self-Service tool can be accessed here: Feasibility Service webpage.
NIHR CRN Coordinating Centre Update
Research Delivery Network
The Research Delivery Network starts from 1 April and the CRN is progressing through the transition and transformation programmes to the new RDN. This includes:
- Appointments have been made to the Network Director roles within the Regional Research Delivery Networks
- A new series of videos – ‘Talking Transformation‘ has launched where you will hear from different voices across the Network and Department of Health and Social care talking about what transformation means to them.
- There is a RDN microsite available for stakeholders and staff to keep up to date on the RDN transition and transformation. It includes monthly updates and developments within the RDN.
Transforming the NIHR CRN Study Support Service
The NIHR CRN is transforming its services and ways of working to meet the future needs of the Research Delivery Network (RDN). This involves supporting studies to be effectively delivered across the system and building strategic capability in a different way. The transformation programme is currently focussing on:
430,000 volunteers sign up with Be Part of Research
Over 430,000 people from every corner of the UK have now signed up to the new research registry from Be Part of Research.
The new service, which is set for a full public launch later this year, makes it easy for people to find and take part in suitable health and care research.
It also provides vital tool for researchers – offering the potential to fast-track recruitment to studies through access to an engaged and research-ready pool of volunteers from across the country.
Watch this short video to find out how Be Part of Research can accelerate recruitment to your study. Or visit Be Part of Research to find out more.
NIHR CRNCC – Public perception and awareness of commercial research
In October 2023, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network Coordinating Centre (CRNCC) commissioned Kohlrabi, an independent research consultancy, to carry out a scoping exercise. The aim was to explore public perception and awareness of commercial research, and in particular, that of groups under- served by health and care research. The scoping exercise took two forms:
A review of the existing evidence on public awareness and perceptions of life sciences companies and commercial research was undertaken. 17 members of the public from communities under-served by health and care research across England took part in a 2.5-hour workshop, discussing their awareness and perception of commercial research.
The findings from both strands highlight five areas for consideration to improve the inclusion of groups under-served in commercial clinical research.
- Build a clear visual picture of what commercial research means.
- Meet people where they are.
- Forge emotional connections though public good values.
- Respect the good faith of the public with transparency.
- Value and protect the public as collaborators.
The full review of Public perception and awareness of commercial research
For any questions or further information please contact crn.ppie@leeds.ac.uk
NIHR Academy Update
NIHR support for health and care professionals pursuing research careers
The NIHR is helping more health and care professionals become skilled researchers and research leaders. There are opportunities for a wide range of professions, including nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and healthcare scientists.
The NIHR is funding a number of new and expanding opportunities across career levels. Find out what career development opportunities are available to help health and care professionals in your network.
A new, free online masterclass is now also available to support health and social care professionals into research careers. Find out more about the NIHR Research Masterclass.
To receive updates on NIHR funding opportunities, sign up to receive the NIHR Funding and Support newsletter.
