What do the public think about commercial research?
Working with the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research National Coordinating Centre (CRNCC) and their Community Champions to find out how and why the public want commercial research to work with them
National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) has a commitment to making sure all of society is included in research and benefits from research activities. Participation in research may provide early access to cutting edge treatments or help to improve outcomes more widely, while patient and public involvement can improve the design and delivery of research itself.
This commitment is central in NIHR’s activities to support the life sciences industry, a.k.a commercial research, or privately funded-research research, to ultimately enable industry to do more for UK research and development. As the Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery report (DHSC 2021) states, “making research more diverse is critical to addressing persistent health inequalities.”
However aside from assumptions and annecdotes, little has been captured regarding public awareness and perception of industry and commercial research: i.e. What do people really think about commercial research and what would help them contribute to it? Therefore, the NIHR CRNCC commissioned Kohlrabi to carry out a scoping exercise and produce recommendations to improve support for research in the life sciences industry, and increase public diversity of that research.
In October-November 2023, Kohlrabi mapped the existing evidence on public awareness and perception of the life sciences industry and commercial research studies using reproducible rapid review techniques. We then held an online workshop with 17 of Community Champions from NIHR’s Research Ready Communities programme to explore our findings and work with diverse members of the public to help shape recommendations which anyone associated with commercial research could be guided by going forward.
​
The five areas of consideration for commercial research are being widely shared in public involvement circles. They include the need for clear explanations of research involvement/participation, using clear, relatable language, the need for researchers and recruiters to build a relationship with the public and to put reasonable resources into public time (e.g. remuneration, travel and carer costs), and to honour the prosocial intentions of many of the public with research efforts which match their values.
​
For more information about clinical research network, click HERE.

“I now have a better understanding of commercial research and really enjoyed the workshop. I felt that i made a valuable contribution based on feedback from other participants, and I also felt that Fran was a brilliant host and made everyone feel that they were heard and you could tell that she and the other facilitators listened really well and took on board ideas and suggestions. I look forward to more in the future.”
Workshop participant (member of the public)