• 01 June 2021 | UK

    COVID-19: Understanding the research behind the global health pandemic

Over one million people in the UK have discovered the benefits of participating in clinical research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with the help of the NIHR's new free online learning course, more people can now delve into the world of health research.

The NIHR is launching a new short course called COVID-19: Understanding the research behind the pandemic. The course aims to uncover the UK’s strong health research operation in conducting critical research in the NHS - which discovered new vaccines and proven treatments in response to the COVID-19 global healthcare crisis.

The two-week online course will only take two hours of your time each week and you’ll explore how the research community rose to the challenge to develop life-saving treatments and vaccines with patient safety at the centre of its work. This was only possible due to the unprecedented support from the public around the world willing to take part in clinical research to help fight this new disease

This course will allow you to:

  • Understand how COVID-19 vaccines and treatments have been developed at speed whilst not compromising the safety of research participants.
  • Learn about research processes and how research is regulated and approved.
  • Hear about the experiences of patients who have been involved in clinical trials and communicate clearly to those who are interested in taking part in research.
  • Reflect on the concerns of patients about research and gain evidence-based information to support conversations about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
  • Reflect on the impact of the pandemic on the future of research.


The course is 100% online and runs until Sunday 8 August with lead educators and mentor support to answer your questions available until Friday 18 June. A certificate is available on completion of the course at the cost of £32 although it is completely free to undertake the course.

Professor Dinesh Saralaya, Director of NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre in Bradford and a leader in the deployment of NIHR COVID-19 vaccine and treatment trials says:

“I would really encourage the public to take part in this short course to learn more about the COVID-19 research underway here in the UK. This is not going to be the first or the last healthcare challenge we’ll face, and health research is vitally important for us to find future treatments and cures when in those situations.”

Register for COVID-19: Understanding the research behind the pandemic.