September 8, 2025, by mszteh

Online eczema trials – reducing the carbon footprint of research

By Vaibhav Chaganti and Emma Campbell

Climate change is happening right now, all around us. Across the globe we’re seeing more intense heatwaves, stronger storms, record-breaking floods, prolonged droughts, and more frequent and severe wildfires. These changes are largely driven by human activities that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Within Rapid Eczema Trials, we are keen to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of research. We also strive to make our research as efficient as possible.

We know that clinical trials contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. However, we need them to find out whether healthcare interventions can benefit people. The government, research institutions, and organisations that fund research have all stressed the importance of finding ways to reduce the environmental impact of research.

To learn more about the impact of our own research, we decided to calculate the carbon footprint of one of our trials – the Eczema Bathing Study. This is one of a series of clinical trials that we are running through our Rapid Eczema Trials project. All of these studies take place fully online.

We calculated our trial’s footprint using guidance from the MRC-NIHR Trials Methodology Research Partnership (TMRP) Greener Trials Group. We measured the carbon footprint from the date the first participant was recruited to the date when we first shared the study results. The carbon footprint for this period was 14 tonnes CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent). To put this into context, the other 10 trials that have been footprinted using the same method had a range of 16 – 765 tonnes CO₂e. These 10 trials were all testing different things, and none were run completely online; they all had some activities that were conducted in-person.

The TMRP Greener Trials carbon footprinting drop-in clinics run monthly and are open to all trialists who would like to use the ‘NIHR-funded detailed method and guidance to calculate the carbon footprint of clinical trials’. For more information, see this flyer.

“By attending a carbon footprinting ‘drop-in clinic’ and footprinting a clinical trial, trialists will have a better understanding of the environmental impact of their trials. This could help inform future lower carbon trial design and, as funders begin to ask applicants to consider the environmental impact of their research, could help with describing this in funding applications and progress reports.” Lisa Fox, ICR-CTSU sustainability team.

Office-related emissions were a major hotspot in all of the trials, covering electricity, heating and staff commuting. In the Eczema Bathing Study, emissions from staff commuting contributed most to the carbon footprint. This was followed by emissions from office heating and electricity.

We also found that the carbon footprint of some activities could be changed by making small adaptations. For example, including videos on webpages increased the carbon footprint. Conversely, carbon emissions could be reduced by running online meetings with cameras off rather than with cameras on, and also by sending study invites out by text instead of by post.

The main drivers behind the low carbon footprint for the Eczema Bathing Study were fast online recruitment, which, in turn, reduced overall trial duration, and the reduced need for patient and staff travel. Although not all clinical trials will be suitable for an online-only format, we found that it was an effective way to reduce the carbon footprint of the Eczema Bathing Study.

Working through this carbon footprinting project has been a real eye opener, in terms of both the level of detail needed to collect data for the calculations, and the raised awareness of the carbon emissions associated with each individual task and activity. It really makes you think about every aspect of study design and delivery, weighing up which activities are absolutely necessary, and which can be adapted to be more environmentally friendly. This insight will definitely feed into our discussions about trial design and delivery going forward.

If you would like to find out more about Rapid Eczema Trials, please visit our website or email us on eczema@nottingham.ac.uk

The Rapid Eczema Trials project involves researchers, healthcare professionals and citizen scientists (people with eczema and parents of children with eczema) working together to answer important questions about eczema by designing and running clinical trials together.

The Rapid Eczema Trials programme is sponsored by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research programme (PGfAR NIHR203279). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

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