Why volunteer?

Research As One

Explaining what it means to register with us

Why do we need your help?

People take part in research for a variety of reasons, whether it is to help others, to find a cure, or to have access to the latest treatments.

Research is important to help prevent ill health and find better care and treatments for health conditions.  Taking part in research means you are helping to improve care and treatments for the future.

City of Research connects people who are interested in participating in research, with research teams who are looking for people to take part.

What does joining our City of Research mean?

When you join the City of Research registry you are agreeing that we can send you information about health research that you may be suitable for and to see if you would like to participate. This is entirely optional and you can get involved in as much, as little or no research. It’s all up to you.

When there is a research study that relates to one of the areas of research you have indicated an interest in, we might send you an email to see if this is something suitable for you. You will also receive our research newsletter so you can read more about what we are doing.

If you decide to join our City of Research Registry, you will be asked to provide your contact details along with some basic information about you. We will use this information to send you relevant information about research studies that you might be interested in.

If you wish to register please click below

Click to Join

You will also see that in each individual research call on the site there is also the option to directly ring or email the research team.

What happens next when I join the Research Registry?

Email or Phone notification

When you join our registry we will send you an email straight away to confirm you have been successfully added to our research list. We use a secure mailing list client called Mailchimp to do this. It is highly secure and your email details will never be passed on or used other than for City of Research purposes.

If there is a research project in the future that requires your help and is looking for research volunteers, then we might use your phone or email details to send another follow up message about next steps. You can read more in the section below on this page of our website about some of the ways in which we might like you to help with the research.

E-newsletter

We are very grateful for your participation and interest in research so we’d like to keep you updated on what we are doing at City of Research with occasional newsletter updates sent to your email address. You can opt out of this at any point by simply clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button on one of these e-newsletters.

What about my confidentiality?

The information you provide (contact details, etc.) will be stored electronically and securely using Mailchimp.  We will not share these details outside of the health research collaboration that is the City of Research. You can opt out at any time.

If you become involved with a specific research project the relevant research team will consult with you about what information will be collected and managed and your consent to take part will be required.

For more information about how we store, protect and use the details you have provided please see our Privacy Statement here and Mailchimp’s Privacy Policy here.

Join our
Research Registry

Once you have read through all the information on this page, please click on the button below to join our Research Registry.

Click to Join

Ways in which we may ask you to help

Questionnaire

Taking part in a questionnaire study would involve completing questions – on a form, either on paper or electronically on a device such as a computer or telephone.

 

Telephone Interview

To complete a telephone interview you would have a conversation over the phone where you will be asked questions about yourself.  You can then provide the information that you are happy to share.

Face to Face Interview

A face to face meeting would be arranged at a time and place suitable for you either in person or virtually.  You would have a conversation and be asked questions by a member of the research team.

Focus Group

The member of the research team arranges to meet a small group of people together to ask questions on a particular topic. You will be able to give your opinion and discuss the topic with other people in the group as well as the member of the research team.

Observational Study

An observational study looks at information from people who are happy to take part and share their data.  It does not involve changing their care but looks at their current situation and uses the information to look at links and trends. e.g. between health conditions and outcomes.

Clinical Trial: Current Treatments

This kind of study involves using a treatment that is already available but is being looked at again regarding the best way to use it. For example, the best dose of a medicine to use or using it to treat another condition or a dietary or activity programme which is currently recommended by healthcare professionals.  Some of these studies involve placebo treatment (which is a treatment that looks the same as the medication but has no active ingredient) so that some of the volunteers will get the treatment and others will not which then allows us to compare the groups.

Clinical Trial: New Treatments

You will be asked to take a treatment (tablet or medicine) that is not yet available for doctors to prescribe. The treatment will have been successfully tested in the laboratory and on healthy volunteers. It is now ready to be tested on people with specific health condition. A new treatment could also include taking part in a dietary or activity programme which does not currently form part of recommendations by healthcare professionals.

Clinical Trial: Testing Medical Equipment

This would involve trying out a new piece of equipment such as a blood pressure monitor, inhaler, a blood glucose meter, smartphone app or other piece of medical equipment used to monitor an aspect of your health condition.

Getting involved in City of Research

Click through our gallery to show how you are already getting involved in City of Research

We have compiled some stories and features on just a small selection of the amazing people in the District who have given their time and expertise to help our health research teams. They are real ambassadors for City of Research.

Please take a moment to click through the gallery and listen to, see or read about some of their experiences and to get a sense of why they have chosen to participate. If you decide to get involved in research we’d love to hear your story too.