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Learn about research

What is health research?

Health research asks and answers questions about health, illness and healthcare.

  • Preventing illness
  • Diagnosing health conditions
  • Treating or managing illness
  • Supporting people to live well
  • Improving healthcare services in hospitals and communities

It can help improve things like:

The aim is to learn something useful that can improve health and care for people now and in the future.

Illustrated graphic recording titled “What is Health Research?” created for King’s College London. The image explains that health research is for everyone, values individual uniqueness, and aims to understand what is happening now and find ways to improve health and healthcare. Drawings show innovative solutions, medicines, laboratories, surveys, focus groups, shared stories, and lived experience informing research. Key messages highlight the need for clear information, learning from people with lived experience, overcoming mistrust in research, and improving treatments for different ethnic minority groups. Arrows connect ideas around a central researcher figure surrounded by research tools and question marks.
Audience member speaking into a microphone at a public involvement event

What does health research involve?

Health research can happen in many ways. It might include:

  • Speaking to patients, carers or community members
  • Testing a new treatment or service
  • Reviewing existing care
  • Looking at health data
  • Working with communities to understand what matters to them
  • Sharing findings in ways people can understand and use

Different projects need different types of support.

What is a research participant?

A research participant is someone who agrees to take part in a research study.

They may be asked to:

  • Answer questions
  • Share information about their health or experiences
  • Try a treatment, service or activity as part of a study
  • Attend appointments or interviews
  • Complete surveys or forms

Researchers should always explain what the study involves before someone decides whether to take part.

People taking part in a workshop around a table in a museum room
Illustrated infographic explaining Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) in health research. The graphic shows that people can contribute to research by sharing their experiences, skills, ideas, and feedback, or by taking part in studies. It highlights the importance of lived experience, asking questions, sharing ideas, and working alongside researchers to shape research. Key messages include improving healthcare research one voice at a time, influencing decisions and policy, rebuilding trust and awareness, and ensuring research focuses on what matters most to patients and communities. The graphic also emphasises that anyone can get involved, with training and support available.

Is being a research participant the same as getting involved in research?

People sitting around a table during a group discussion in a bright room

Being a research participant usually means taking part in a study.

So no. They are different.

Getting involved in research means working with researchers to help shape the research. This could include helping decide what questions are asked, how people are invited to take part, or how findings are shared.

Both are important.

Learn how to get involved in research

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