You can get involved in research by participating in a study or trial, or by becoming actively involved in deciding research priorities, what research is funded and how individual studies are designed.

Being a participant in a research trial

Before new treatments can be used in clinical practice they must be carefully tested for their effects on patients. Clinical trials use volunteers to assess whether treatments are safe, what the side effects are and whether they are more effective than existing treatments. By participating in a clinical study or trial you could play an important part in helping to prevent diabetes, develop new and better treatments, or even one day find a cure.

You can find current research trial involvement opportunities listed on our Diabetes research trial opportunities page. You can also go to the Diabetes Research Network website to register your interest in becoming involved in a clinical study or trial. The DRN will get in touch with you when a trial which matches your interests is recruiting for participants. (You can find out more about the Diabetes Research Network and its work here.)

Involvement in funding and strategy decisions

Diabetes UK works hard to ensure that the day-to-day experiences and insights of people living with diabetes are taken into consideration throughout the research-funding process and when setting research priorities. Read more about how we do this.

Science and Research Advisory Group

The Science and Research Advisory Group monitors the current Research Strategy and identifies and prioritises areas of research for the Targeted Research Fund.

Read the current research strategy (PDF, 307KB).

To register your interest in applying to join the Science and Research Advisory Group, please contact governance@diabetes.org.uk.