Inclusive Research

The information on this page is to support researchers undertaking inclusive and diverse research.

NIHR and Oxford Biomedical Research Centre are committed to including diverse communities in research to ensure that it benefits those who need it most and those whose voices are often not heard.

“We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do. Diverse people and communities shape our research, and we strive to make opportunities to participate in research an integral part of everyone’s experience of health and social care services.” NIHR 2022

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NIHR funding requirements

The NIHR has recently made it requirement that funding applications include information on how the research is inclusive of all communities.

To find out more information on how to ensure your funding application meets the NIHR requirements, please watch the recent NIHR training webinar:

The NIHR Research Support Service has provided some draft working guidance for researchers to follow. Updated guidance will be posted here.

NIHR Online inclusive research training for researchers

This NIHR open-access course is about inclusive research and targeted at researchers, from early career onwards, who work in translational clinical research. It takes 2-3 hours to complete.

NIHR INCLUDE Guidance

The NIHR INCLUDE Guidance provides examples of under-served groups and a roadmap for improving inclusion of under-served groups throughout the research cycle.  The following Cochrane webinars describe how to use the guidance.

Improving trial diversity – Trial Forge

Trial Forge is working on a number of initiatives to improve diversity in trials so that research teams can make their trial more relevant to the people for whom the results are intended (often patients) and those expected to apply them (often healthcare professionals): Improving Trial Diversity • Trial Forge

NIHR EDI toolkit

The EDI toolkit supports researchers to better understand how to embed EDI throughout the research cycle. The toolkit is divided into different sections, such as data collection and public involvement. More information can be found in this training video.

NHS Guidance on increasing diversity in research

This document provides practical insights for researchers on how to engage more diverse participants in health research.

NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative » Increasing diversity in research participation: A good practice guide for engaging with underrepresented groups

Increasing diversity patient and public involvement

Diversity in Research Group

The Oxford and Oxford Health BRCs’ Diversity in Research Group supports researchers to include people from diverse communities in research.

Watch: videos about patient and public involvement

Working with under-served groups – Health innovation Oxford webinar series

Strategies

The NIHR’s  Research Inclusion Strategy (2022-2027) and the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (2023-2027) outline the commitment and priorities for including diverse communities in research.