Optimising Recruitment to Randomised Controlled Trials

This 1-day online course will be held live with a mix of interactive lectures and group discussions.

By the end of the course participants should:

1. be aware of common logistical and organisational issues that can impede recruitment;
2. understand the purpose of RCT screening logs and their potential to monitor inclusivity and identify obstacles throughout the recruitment process;
3. understand the ways in which equipoise issues can undermine RCT recruitment and be aware of strategies for overcoming these difficulties;
4. appreciate the importance of understanding potential participants' (e.g. patients') views for/against trial treatments and how strategies can be used to support informed decision making about trial participation; and
5. be aware of how language and terminology can influence potential participants’ interpretations of trial treatments and processes.

This course is suitable for health professionals, trial co-ordinators and researchers who have an interest or active role in the design and delivery of RCTs. It will be of particular value to those who organise and/or discuss trial recruitment with potential participants - especially trials in secondary care hospital settings that are deemed difficult to recruit to.

The course content has been informed by two decades of research into optimising RCT recruitment, conducted by the University of Bristol's QuinteT research group. The QuinteT group have worked on over seventy challenging RCTs, most of which have compared very different types of treatment or 'non-treatment' groups in secondary care NHS settings.

The day long course will cover the following areas, using examples from real RCTs:

1. common organisational and logistic difficulties that can impede recruitment;
2. the purpose of RCT screening logs and their potential to monitor inclusivity and identify obstacles throughout the recruitment process;
3. an overview of the concepts of individual and community equipoise, and their implications for recruitment;
4. strategies for engaging with patient preferences for or against trial treatments; and
5. the implications of language and terminology on recruitment when discussing RCTs with potential participants.

Course leads and tutors are members of the University of Bristol's QuinteT research group and the Bristol Trials Centre. The QuinteT team have specialist knowledge and experience of understanding and addressing recruitment obstacles in RCTs, following two decades of research in this area.

To make sure the course is suitable for you and you will benefit from attending, please ensure you meet the following prerequisites before booking:

Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience and prerequisites. It is important that you have access to the relevant IT resources needed for the course and meet the knowledge prerequisites 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 Ultra) 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 5 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 2026.

Here is a sample of feedback from the last run of the course:

“Interesting and comprehensive, covered important issues and provided links to primary research, helpful and friendly moderators :)" - Course feedback, March 2026

“Good range of material covered, great references provided, knowledgeable speakers, some time in break out rooms." - Course feedback, March 2026

“All the sessions were really useful and clearly presented." - Course feedback, March 2026

“Presenters were excellent, interested, and spoke well." - Course feedback, March 2026

“Quality of speakers was very good; highly knowledgeable. Good mix of practical's and lectures." - Course feedback, March 2026

“I felt the course was well-paced, I found the variety of speakers was good and the breakout rooms quite useful. A lot of the content was very relevant to my work and highlighted some things that I hadn't considered, so it was thought provoking. I've been working as a recruiter for some time, but it was a good course for making me reevaluate the way I present information to participants, especially considering the language I use and how I might actively demonstrate equipoise." - Course feedback, March 2026

“Good variety of presenters." - Course feedback, March 2026

“I thought all the speakers were excellent and our breakout session at the end was facilitated very well." - Course feedback, March 2026