Inclusivity within Research Processes
This course aims to provide an introduction to the importance of inclusivity in health research, key issues to consider while designing your study and tools to optimise inclusivity. We will draw from work led by academics at the University of Bristol and other institutions, the literature on developing inclusive methodology and strategies used to reduce inequities in health research. Course content will provide an overview covering multiple under-served groups (e.g., people with autism, those experiencing socio-economic disadvantage), with a focus on strategies that enable inclusivity of ethnic minority groups.
| Date | 17 December 2025 |
|---|---|
| Fee | £250 |
| Format | Online |
| Audience | Open to all applicants |
Course profile
This course aims to provide a broad understanding of the why and how of considering inclusivity throughout the life cycle of a research project, with an added emphasis on ethnic minority group inclusion.
Please click on the sections below for more information.
This online course will be taught over one full day and include interactive lectures and group discussions.
By the end of the course, participants should be able to:
- be aware of the importance of inclusivity in research;
- understand who to include in their research study and what data to collect to monitor for inclusivity;
- be aware of possible barriers for people who want to take part in research and appreciate the importance of including community engagement in their research project;
- gain insight into available tools, guidance and strategies to design and conduct inclusive research; and
- understand how to sufficiently resource an inclusive research project.
This course is designed for:
- Researchers working on studies/trials involving human participants
- Trial managers and co-ordinators
- Chief Investigators / Principal Investigators
- Other specialists looking to understand inclusive research processes including clinicians, health care and public health researchers
The course will specifically cover:
- introduction to inclusivity and why this is an important consideration in health research;
- how to decide who should be in a research study and how to collect data to monitor inclusion;
- community engagement and measures to redress barriers to research participation, such as mistrust in research amongst ethnic minority groups;
- tools and strategies that can be employed to design and conduct inclusive research; and
- how to design and budget for an inclusive research study.
This course is taught by staff from the University of Bristol and other Higher Education Institutions including researchers from Trial Forge and the MRC-NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership Inclusivity subgroup.
Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course to ensure you can get the most from the course.
Bookings are taken via our online booking system, for which you must register an account. To check if you are eligible for free or discounted courses please see our fees and voucher packs page. All bookings are subject to our terms & conditions, which can be read in full here.
For help and support with booking a course refer to our booking information page, FAQs or feel free to contact us directly. For available payment options please see: How to pay your short course fees.
Participants are granted access to our virtual learning platform (Blackboard) 1 to 2 weeks in advance of the course. This allows time for any pre-course work to be completed and to familiarise with the platform.
To gain the most from the course, we recommend that you attend in full and participate in all interactive components. We endeavour to record all live lecture sessions and upload these to the online learning environment within 24 hours. This allows course participants to review these sessions at leisure and revisit them multiple times. Please note that we do not record breakout sessions.
All course participants retain access to the online learning materials and recordings for 3 months after the course.
University of Bristol staff and postgraduate students who do not wish to attend the full course may instead register for access to the 'Materials & Recordings' version of this course: Further information and bookings.
100% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from December 2024.
Here is a sample of feedback from the last run of the course:
"I understood much better how, sadly, current research is not generally done in an inclusive way, and the importance of this omission in practice. It was great to hear how much progress is being made in this field though, with great examples of best practice from the fantastic and knowledgeable speakers." - course feedback, December 2024
"So so useful. Many barriers I had not seen before or ones I did not know we were allowed to remove. So many people are excluded as a standard from studies - It feels freeing to not have to do this and to see if the intervention will end up being used by a population they should not be exclude directly or indirectly." - course feedback, December 2024
"This course was extremely interesting and I felt that the speakers gave very valuable advice and experience on how to make research more inclusive. It was really good to hear from a range of speakers about a few different topics, and I also liked that the speakers gave examples of resources and places where we can access more information." - course feedback, December 2024
"Excellent quality of presentations and information given. Enjoyed the breakout sessions, and the opportunity to ask questions throughout." - course feedback, December 2024
"The course provided interesting talks with lots of signposting of useful resources. It made me think about how the research I have been involved with to date could have been designed in a more inclusive manner. I think the sessions were all closely linked and relevant to understanding the course objectives." - course feedback, December 2024
"This course was excellent, a really good range of very knowledgeable speakers from different perspectives such as RCTs and community based work. Good opportunities to ask questions too." - course feedback, December 2024
"The thing I will take away most from this course is how many ways there are to make our research more inclusive and how important it is that we do so. Ensuring eligibility criteria does not limit participation is something I had never even properly considered. Also how having knowledge and understanding on why people feel they way they feel about research (historical context). Finally, I learnt about some terminology which should and shouldn't be used which I am very grateful for." - course feedback, December 2024
"I will take away that improving inclusivity in clinical research needs to be a continuous process, with sufficient resources, time, funding and engagement allocated to this throughout the lifecycle of each project." - course feedback, December 2024