We are known as the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)/ Wellcome Trust Cambridge Clinical Research Facility or Cambridge CRF for short.
We are based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus with Addenbrooke’s Hospital. We work alongside the doctors and nurses at the hospital to find better medicines and treatments for diseases.
You may be joining us to help us with clinical research. Clinical research means looking at treating the human body and understanding how our bodies work.
Anyone under the age of 18 will need to have their parents’, guardian or carer’s permission to take part in a research trial. We then take your permission or consent to agree to take part in the trial. The form you would be asked to sign is an assent form. This is different to if you needed hospital treatment that wasn’t for research.
We ask children and young adults to take part because their bodies are different from adults. We have a very friendly team who will answer any of your questions before, during or after the study, so please don’t be afraid to ask.
If you take part in research we have special rooms away from the young children and adults where the researchers will see you. We have access to Wi-Fi so you can watch Netflix, YouTube, watch DVD’s or play on our PlayStation or Xbox whilst you wait, so you shouldn’t get bored!
Have a look through our website and see what taking part in research in Cambridge here is like.
We want to thank you for wanting to take part in research. Without you we can’t find new medicines to help other people. We look forward to seeing you and remember if you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask! You can follow us on Twitter to keep up-to-date with the latest information.
We have lots of friendly staff who will look after you. One of the main people you may see is Anne our research sister. Anne looks after the children’s and young adult studies and if you have any questions feel free to ask her.
We want your stay to be a comfortable and enjoyable one if you experience any problems please let a member of our team know.
Our staff wear different coloured uniform, it’s so you know what job they do:
Stu is our head nurse and he wears black
Lucy is a Paediatric Research sister and she wears royal blue.
Thelma is a Research Nurse and she wears blue and white stripe
Sharon is our Assistant practitioner and she wears white with green piping on her collar.
We also have a leaflet that explains what clinical research is for download