All-Ireland Hub for Trials Methodology Research
The All-Ireland Hub for Trials Methodology
Research was established much more recently than the other seven
Hubs, with Professor Mike Clarke taking up the post of inaugural
Director in March 2011. The Hub is co-hosted by Queen’s University
Belfast and the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, with Mike
based in the Centre for Public Health at Queen’s. A website for the
Hub is under construction and staff recruitment will take place
during 2011.
The main areas of focus for the All-Ireland
Hub are under discussion, but look set to include:
1. Identification of the research priorities
of practitioners, patients and the public, and the implementation
of clinical trials in these areas (with a particular focus on
public health and mental health)
2. Methods to keep these trials simple and
pragmatic
3. Development of methods to improve the use
of systematic reviews in the design, conduct and interpretation of
clinical trials
4. Evaluation of different means of presenting
the findings of trials (to target decision makers and policy
makers), with comparisons of various techniques, including the use
of social media
5. Use of record linkage data and information
available in the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry and other
databanks to identify potential participants for research and to
target the dissemination of research findings
The Hub will connect to flagship projects
taking place within the host institutions, including, for example,
Evidence
Aid within the Centre for Public Health. Partnerships are being
sought between the Hub and several external organisations,
including institutions in Ireland which may join the Hub with
additional funding from outside the MRC.