Recruit participants to your study

As the UK's largest Parkinson's charity, we can help you recruit for your trial by sharing your research with our supporters for free. Last year we helped over 40 research trials find participants.

We can help you find people with Parkinson's and their families, friends, and carers for your study through: 

Applying for our support is quick and simple, find out how below. We can share your research without any changes needing to be made to your ethical approval or R&D contract.

Please note: researchers seeking participants are not permitted to approach local groups or post on the discussion forum without prior approval from the Parkinson's UK research team.

For full information about what research we can support read our Research Support Policy (PDF 500kB)

Fill in our Participant Recruitment request form

Simply fill out our Participant Recruitment Request Form (Word, 588.3KB) and return it to [email protected] along with:

  • your full ethical approval or support letter
  • a patient information sheet (in PDF format)
  • a consent form (in PDF format)

We aim to be in touch within 5 working days.

Our 2025 schedule for sharing research opportunities with our Research Support Network is now full. Unfortunately, we may not be able to share your research with our network until March to April 2026. This is due to a disruption in our ability to send emails to our Research Support Network in early 2026. 

We may be able to explore alternative routes to sharing your research in 2025, depending on capacity. We aim to communicate time frames for sharing your research as soon as possible.

Feedback from researchers we've supported

It was fantastic to have Parkinson's UK share our research project. We have already hit our recruitment target for phase one of our physical activity programme trial 8 months early and have put people interested on a waiting list for the new year. We also had interest from local Parkinson's groups who want to take part. Your help has been amazing.

Dr Gill Barry, Associate Professor in Clinical Biomechanics at Northumbria University.

Dr Gill Barry, Associate Professor in Clinical Biomechanics at Northumbria University

I want to thank Parkinson's UK for sharing my research with their Research Support Network and on their Take Part Hub. As a result, I quickly received over and above the required responses to my online questionnaire. I would recommend anyone who is looking for research participants for their study to get in touch with Parkinson's UK.

Aseel Aburub, a researcher at Keele University.

Thank you for your tremendous help. Your team has been absolutely brilliant. I'm very grateful for the quick response especially when we came back to you for guidance regarding increasing diversity in our study and for an extra push to complete our recruitment. Keep up the good work, you are making our studies happen! A big thank you from all of the OxQUIP team in Oxford.

Chrystalina Antoniades, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford.

Discover other ways we can support your research

Staying Connected with your participants
Stay connected with participants

We've developed a toolkit that will help you stay in touch with your participants throughout your research study, making them more likely to be involved in research again.

Staying Connected with your participants
Find out more about patient and public involvement in research
Patient and public involvement in research

There are many ways we can support you to involve people with Parkinson's in a meaningful and timely way, whether you're applying for funding or conducting your research.

Find out more about patient and public involvement in research

Get in touch

If you have any questions or are in the early stages of planning a study and would like to learn more about the support we offer, we'd love to hear from you.

Email us at [email protected].