INVOLVE
www.invo.org.uk/index.asp
The NHS National Institute for Health Research funds an organisation called INVOLVE, which aims to “promote and support active public involvement” in health and social care research. Their website lists current opportunities to get involved, for example serving on ethics committees or trial steering groups, commenting on information leaflets, or advising research bodies on priorities for future research. INVOLVE defines active involvement as different from simply taking part in a study. It means:
- research done with members of the public, not to or about them
- getting involved in the research process itself
- making sure that publicly funded health and social care research is relevant and useful to the public.
People in Research
www.peopleinresearch.org
As a UKCRC partner, INVOLVE has also led on the development of People in Research - a web resource for members of the public who want to get involved in shaping and influencing research.
James Lind Alliance
The James Lind Alliance aims to identify the most important gaps in knowledge about the effects of treatments, and has been established to bring patients and clinicians together in 'Working Partnerships' to identify and prioritise the unanswered questions that they agree are most important.
ThinkWell
The International Network for Knowledge about Wellbeing (ThinkWell) is a not-for-profit organisation which aims “To help people find health information and know whether it is trustworthy, and, where information is not available, help people design and participate in research studies that will answer their questions.”
Get Randomised
The ‘Get randomised’ campaign was set up by universities in Scotland to improve awareness and opportunities for taking part in research. The links page has a selection of resources where you can find about more about available trials.
Mental Health Research Network
SUNLOWS, the user website of the North London Mental Health Research Network, offers information on what's happening in mental health research in North London, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and North Essex. SUNLOWS has been developed by service users for service users.
The UK-wide Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) runs Service Users in Research (formerly SURGE) to support mental health service users, clinicians and academics as they work together on mental health research.
Service Users in Research plays an important part in making sure research across the MHRN is valuable for and makes sense to service users. Service Users in Research supports service user input into the MHRN through service user involvement in local hub committees, research project teams and at a national level.
The UK clinical trials gateway
www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk
Trial registration, unique identification scheme and international databases.
