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Get involved

Involvement in research can take many forms. You can become a healthy participant in studies into conditions such as diabetes or multiple sclerosis, which may involve scans and tests, or take part in research into a condition that you are living with.

See trials seeking volunteers through the Trust or the UK Clinical Trials Gateway.

You can be part of a panel that has a say in how research is carried out, through the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership, or you can help by filling in surveys and questionnaires.

Further information is available on the Patients Active in Research: Thames Valley website.

Could you become a Patient Research Ambassador?

  • Are you passionate about promoting the importance of taking part in research to the public?
  • Could you help researchers with their research projects to ensure patients' voices are heard?

A Patient Research Ambassador (PRA) is someone who promotes health research from the point of view of someone who has taken part in research to patients, the public and healthcare professionals.

Activities include:

  • talking about your experience of research at events;
  • talking to the media about your experience of research;
  • supporting training of researchers so they see their role from a patient point of view;
  • promoting research through social media such as Twitter.

The initiative is managed by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which helps the NHS, public health and social care carry out research.

Information: tvsmpra.nihr.ac.uk | 01865 227252 | comms.crnthamesvalley@nihr.ac.uk

Trials seeking volunteers

Body bequests

The School of Anatomy at the University of Oxford, which is responsible for training medical students, may accept body bequests.

For important information about the donation process, and a list of individual contacts for the department, please visit the Human Tissue Authority website.

Organ and tissue donation

The Thomas Willis Oxford Brain Bank accepts brain and spinal cord tissue donations for research from healthy donors and those with neurological disease.

For general enquiries, please contact:

UK Brain Bank for Autism is also looking for volunteers to donate their brains to autism research.
Last reviewed:14 April 2022