Terms and Conditions

Next review due: June 2027

This page and all pages it links to explains Be Part of Research’s Terms and Conditions  of use. By accessing and using the Be Part of Research website, you accept that you will comply with the following Terms and Conditions, that take effect from the date you first use the site.

Who we are

Be Part of Research is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) together with the UK-wide health research agencies of Public Health Agency Northern Ireland, NHS Research Scotland, and Health and Care Research Wales.

Be Part of Research provides three services:

  1. UK-wide study search to enable the public to find health research studies that may be of interest to them and provide contact details for the study team.
  2. Information for the public to learn about taking part in research.
  3. Registry function to enable volunteers to register with Be Part of Research and indicate the areas of research they’re interested in.

Acceptable use

Data within this service is owned by DHSC and they are the Data Controller. The following additional terms also apply to your use of our site:

Be Part of Research account creation

You can only create a Be Part of Research account if you are aged 18 or over. Who can take part and how to take part in Be Part of Research explain how the service works for our volunteers.

If you create an account, you are expected to follow and agree to standard information security good practice, including:

  • not sharing your account with anyone else
  • choosing secure passwords and ensuring multi-factor authentication is set up on your account
  • ensuring only you access your account; if you permit any other person to use your account, you do so entirely at your own risk
  • maintaining your volunteer record, updating the record with any change of details as and when required
  • agreeing that the study team can advise the Be Part of Research team which studies you have expressed an interest in taking part in and which you have enrolled on to enable them to measure the success of the Be Part of Research Registry
  • only accessing our service using a secure internet connection and ensuring your device has its own virus protection software

The Be Part of Research team will only contact you about studies which are supported by the NIHR. These studies may be run by:

  • non-commercial organisations (such as the NHS, universities, and academic institutions)
  • commercial companies running health research (such as clinical research organisations and pharmaceutical companies)

Please note that your medical care will not be impacted in any way by:

  • registering your details to be contacted
  • withdrawing your consent to be contacted
  • deciding whether to take part in a research study

You may stop using this service at any time. For more information, you can refer to the “Withdrawing your consent” section in our privacy notice.

Researchers using Be Part of Research

You can read information for researchers about using this service.

Only researchers approved by the Be Part of Research team may use this service. Researchers in the context of this service may be:

  • NHS staff
  • academic staff
  • researcher affiliated professionals in commercial or non-commercial organisations (for example, study coordinators or project managers)

Approved researchers will work closely with the Be Part of Research team to provide accurate, detailed and up-to-date information about their studies. They must:

  • confirm that the study is listed on the NIHR Research Delivery Network Portfolio and/or be in receipt of NIHR funding for the study
  • include Be Part of Research as a recruitment tool in their approved Research Ethics Committee application, along with the study invitation email to be sent to volunteers
  • ensure that the study is registered on ISRCTN or ClinicalTrials.gov (for commercial studies, or those not included in the NIHR RDN portfolio) and that the information on those sites is kept up to date
  • provide referral data of the Be Part of Research volunteers that have been recruited to the study - researchers must record volunteers’ unique reference numbers (shared during recruitment) and submit them to the Be Part of the Research team

Researchers also must take care that volunteers for the study have a good experience with the Be Part of the Research service. Researchers must:

  • provide an appropriate mechanism for the volunteers to be directed to (for example, a study website, pre-screening questionnaire, or named study team members) - this will be agreed with the Be Part of Research team before authorisation is given for the study to use the Be Part of Research registry
  • ensure all volunteer personal information is only used by partner organisations for the purpose of their role in administering this service
  • communicate actively with the volunteers so that they are kept updated and engaged with the study process
  • respond to volunteers within the timescales agreed for their study via the Be Part of Research team, to ensure a good volunteer experience
  • take other steps to promote a good volunteer experience of the service and the study
  • monitor the experience so that further improvements can be made
  • share the research findings with Be Part of Research volunteers once available

Failure to comply with these terms and conditions, or serious/repeated complaints from participants, may mean refusal of access to the service for current or future studies. The responsibility for ensuring use of the Be Part of Research service is in line with these terms and conditions lies with the sponsor for any given study.

NIHR staff and technical support staff

All staff managing Be Part of Research will ensure that the interests of volunteers are promoted and protected to try to ensure a positive experience of volunteering to take part in research, and to protect the integrity of the health and care research system.

Only the Be Part of Research team will access any personal information about volunteers. This is for the purpose of matching volunteers to opportunities in health research studies using the Be Part of Research registry, and any associated activities and nothing more. All information and documentation accessed through the Be Part of Research registry must be treated with the strictest confidence at all times and managed under a duty of confidence in line with prevailing data protection legislation.

Our development and service management team, PA Consulting, holds the data for the Be Part of Research registry on Amazon Cognito, as outlined in our privacy notice. PA Consulting is responsible for storing the data and will not have access to this data except in exceptional circumstances such as needing to access the system to rectify a serious technical problem.

In accessing the system in this way, PA Consulting will be expected to:

  • ensure robust security arrangements are in place to prevent unwarranted disclosure of any data
  • have regard to the high confidentiality requirements attributed to any sensitive data they may have sight of during such access

Linking to other sites from Be Part of Research

We are not responsible for the content of any third-party website that we link to. Linking to a site from Be Part of Research in no way constitutes our endorsement of the contents therein.

The website presents information without warranty of any kind whether that be:

  • express or implied
  • including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality
  • fitness for a particular purpose
  • non-infringement
  • compatibility
  • security
  • accuracy

Linking to Be Part of Research

You may link to the Be Part of Research website, including via the widget we provide. You must do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.

You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval, or endorsement on our part. We undertake tracking of the widget and links through Google Analytics to analyse the source of visitors to the Be Part of Research site.

Service Availability

Although NIHR RDNCC makes every effort to ensure that all information on Be Part of Research is accurate and available in a timely manner, the Service is provided "as is" and we cannot guarantee that:

  • the information is accurate, complete or up-to-date
  • this service will meet your requirements or needs
  • access to, or use of, the same will be uninterrupted or completely secure

If you find inaccurate information, please let us know by contacting bepartofresearch@nihr.ac.uk.

We endeavour to provide high levels of service availability. However, availability at any point, particularly out of support hours, is not guaranteed. Support is limited to core service hours (9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays).

Using the study search function

The Be Part of Research website lists as much of the research taking place in the UK as possible to enable volunteers to search for studies they may be wanting to take part in.

The search function displays data that we receive from the following registers:

The study details in Be Part of Research are not changed from the original source feed and they contain a link back to that original source. Be Part of Research allows the public to search for research studies taking place in the UK from one site. The system does not have the functionality to add, remove, change or delete any of the data provided by ClinicalTrials.gov and ISRCTN.

As the registers providing the study data are external to Be Part of Research, the service cannot accept responsibility or liability for the content of the information provided.

Some study details also come from the NIHR Central Portfolio Management System (CPMS), which is not publicly accessible. This information cannot be removed, changed or deleted by the Be Part of Research team.

Breaches of these terms of use

These terms of use (together with the privacy notice and cookie policy referred to in these terms of use) set out the entire agreement between you and us in respect of this service.

If you become aware of any breaches in use of this service and the data involved, then you should report it to rdncc.ig@nihr.ac.uk.

Intellectual property

The names, images, and logos identifying the Be Part of Research website are proprietary marks of the NIHR and the Department of Health and Social Care.

We'd be delighted if you would like to help promote this service. If you wish to copy or use any material, then please contact the team on bepartofresearch@nihr.ac.uk.

Further information and contacts

Be Part of Research Privacy Notice for this service, which includes within it contact details for GDPR related information requests.

For reporting anything suspicious in the use of this service e.g. a breach in how this service should be used: rdncc.ig@nihr.ac.uk.

For queries about these terms and conditions: bepartofresearch@nihr.ac.uk.

Disclaimer

Information on the Be Part of Research website, including links to government or third-party products and services, is provided “as is”.

We do not warrant that the information is:

  • accurate
  • fit for purpose
  • up-to-date
  • suitable for your needs
  • not violating or infringing intellectual property rights

We also cannot guarantee that the website and information within it will:

  • always be available
  • work without errors
  • be free from viruses or other harmful components

We cannot be held responsible for any form of loss or damage (e.g. loss of data, income or profits) that may result from:

  • using the website
  • being unable to use this website
  • relying on information provided on the website

We may sometimes monitor or review discussions, chats, posts, messages and bulletin boards on Be Part of Research. However, we are not required to do this.

We are not responsible for any content shared in these areas and have no responsibility or liability arising from that content. This may include content that:

  • contains errors
  • is missing information
  • infringes someone’s rights
  • is defamatory
  • is obscene
  • is inaccurate

This same principle applies to any information shared in any location hosted on nihr.ac.uk.

These terms and conditions are governed by and interpreted under the law of England and Wales. Any dispute related to these terms will be handled under the jurisdiction of courts of England and Wales.

Preparation of these terms and conditions

The terms and conditions for Be Part of Research were prepared on 15th April 2026.

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