We are currently working with young people aged 18 - 29 to help us design a communications campaign to recruit new Research Ethics Committee (REC) members.
Research Ethics Committees, or RECs, review applications for health and social care research in the UK that involves NHS patients, their tissue or their data. They have an essential role to safeguard research participants, making sure that studies are ethical and fair, and reviewing the information which will be used to recruit people to take part. As well as healthcare professionals, RECs are made up of people with no professional experience in health and social care research, whose perspectives are really important. They are known as lay members.
REC members are part of the HRA Community, which is made up of volunteers who also include the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) and public contributors. They are crucial to the functioning of the HRA and our statutory duties. REC members make up the majority of our community, and we have over 800 members. Last year alone, they provided opinions on 3,126 new research projects which equates more than 8 per day, and together volunteered more than 76,000 hours of their time.
To make sure that a range of views are considered during the ethics review, the make up of RECs should reflect the UK population as a whole. Increasing the diversity of the Research Ethics Service is a priority in the HRA Strategy 2025-2028.
Our most recent community survey showed that only around 1% of REC members are under the age of 30, so we’re currently working with people aged 18 -29 to help us design a communications campaign to encourage younger people to apply to become a member of a REC. This targeted campaign aims to increase applications from this age group, and specifically lay members, with no prior healthcare experience.
The young people, who we are compensating for their time and expertise, are sharing their feedback in a series of focus groups. They are helping co-produce a campaign by sharing their thoughts on the messaging and graphics we should use to reach people of a similar age. The second focus group was held last week, where attendees reviewed draft social media posts and agreed a look and feel for the campaign.
The project is an example of a new way of working to involve a wider range of people in our work, so we can improve the experience of our community of volunteers and public contributors, and ensure more diverse perspectives influence our work.
Previously, we consulted the Community Committee, a group of 11 members who represented the views of the HRA Community when advising the HRA Board on operational and strategic decisions.
Louise Braley is our Head of Approvals Support and Improvement, and leads the team who manages our community membership. She said:
Our community at the HRA thrives on diversity. When we bring a wide range of perspectives together, we strengthen our thinking on ethics and make better, more informed decisions about the research we review.
We know that typically our members have experience in health and social care research, but this campaign aims to help people understand that people with no experience can and should get involved.
Ethics in research affects everyone and we really want to hear the perspectives of younger people who have no experience in healthcare. Their views may be informed by their background, family life or lived experience of a health condition, and all are valuable in the context of reviewing applications for research.
I’m delighted that a member of the focus groups has since applied to become a REC member after finding out more about what we do.
I’m really pleased we can involve our target audience in designing a campaign that we hope will have the long-term impact of making our membership more diverse.
The next focus group will be in May. In this session, we will hear feedback on the new designs, before all the materials are designed and finalised. The campaign will launch in autumn 2026.
Interested in joining a REC?
If you or anyone you know is under the age of 30 and interested in becoming a REC member, get in touch to express an interest and receive an email when we are welcoming new applications.