More opportunities to ‘Be Part of Research’
9th August 2024
More opportunities to be part of research boosted through a new ‘research matchmaking service’
Be Part of Research is a free online service which matches people to suitable health and care studies, based on their interests and where they live. It is the first UK-wide research volunteer registry covering all health conditions, including public health and social care studies and is designed to make it easier for researchers and potential study participants to find each other.
The online service is run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in collaboration with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Volunteers sign up using their email address - and choose the areas of health and care research that they are interested in. They are then matched to suitable studies based on their interests and location, and sent information on how to take part. Be Part of Research identifies suitable volunteers based on age, ethnic group, sex, location and areas of research.
There are 40 studies actively using the service. A further 14 have already used the service and are now closed to recruitment. These range from large-scale interventional studies (including vaccine trials), to lifestyle questionnaires and observational studies.
To learn more about taking part in research and to sign up for a free Be Part of Research account visit www.bepartofresearch.uk.
Anyone in Scotland aged 11 years or older can also sign up to SHARE, the Scottish Health Research Register. This is a register of adults and children aged 11 years and over, who are willing to be invited to take part in medical research projects in Scotland. Participants agree to allow SHARE to use the coded data in their various secure NHS computer records to check whether they might be suitable for health research studies.
To sign up visit www.registerforshare.org/register.