The Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network (NICRN) was established in 2008 to support the contribution of the clinical research community in Northern Ireland to the work of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) and the associated UK Clinical Research Networks (UKCRN).
Our mission is to develop and enable a well-resourced network of skilled staff which facilitates investigators and patients from throughout Northern Ireland (NI) access to and help in developing and delivery of high quality clinical research studies across all Health and Social Care (HSC) structures.
It was decided that the most efficient model for delivering against this mission was via a managed thematic clinical research network. This brings together existing R&D structures and personnel with proven track records in disease areas of particular relevance to HSC. These groups also broadly map with the topic groups from the other devolved nations therefore allowing easy integration of NI network structures into national models.
This approach, along with the establishment of complimentary Northern Ireland R&D supporting structures such as the Northern Ireland Cancer Network, UKCRC accredited Clinical Trials Units (CTU’s) and a Northern Ireland Clinical Research Facility (CRF) would aid NI researchers in their ability to design and conduct clinical research within Health & Social Care environment to the highest national standards.
To date the HSC Public Health Agency Research and Development Division has supported the establishment of 10 Interest Groups, namely:
- Cardiovascular
- Childrens
- Critical care
- Dementia
- Diabetes
- Primary care
- Renal
- Respiratory Health
- Stroke
- Vision
For further information on these groups and on how to engage with NICRN please contact the NICRN coordinating centre.
